If the Arizona Department of Transportation and Federal Highway Administration just based their decision to add a South Mountain Freeway interchange at 32nd Street largely on citizen reaction, the proposal would win hands down.
A review of more than 1,400 emails and website comments sent by Ahwatukee residents to the agency last spring shows the vast majority approve of the plan, with some urging it be built now rather than after the freeway opens late next year.
“I worked for decades in traffic law and enforcement, and I am gravely concerned about the plan to construct the new freeway without an interchange at 32nd St.,” wrote one commenter, warning that traffic to the schools near 32nd Street “would flood neighborhoods already suffering from traffic issues” and that “40th Street would become tremendously busy and nearby intersections are not engineered for this huge change.”
