By Sam Kmack | Arizona Republic
Traffic congestion has historically been one of the most common concerns of both the supporters and opponents of Tempe’s $2.1 billion development deal with the Arizona Coyotes, but experts and the project’s traffic study suggest residents shouldn’t be worried.
The vast majority of nearby intersections wouldn’t see any uptick in congestion during peak hours, according to the Coyotes-commissioned traffic study conducted by Scottsdale-based engineering firm CivTech.
Just one of the 18 intersections in the study — Priest Drive and the Loop 202 East Ramp — would face significant delays once the development is constructed, but that will happen in the near future even without the Coyotes project.
Residents in surrounding neighborhoods are also unlikely to have rowdy hockey fans parking in front of their homes on game days. There would be dozens more parking spaces for the project than there are seats in its proposed arena. Even in the busiest event scenarios, there would be twice as many parking spaces than there are cars driving in.
