Carefree Highway plans may include six lanes
by Jennifer Krahe

NORTH VALLEY – “Why six lanes? I don’t think they need six lanes. It (Carefree Highway) is going to be crowded and traffic will move at a much faster, dangerous pace,” asserted Vida Churchich, a resident of Cave Creek.

Thoughts similar to Churchich’s circulated quietly (and sometimes not so quietly) through the common room at Carefree Church the evening of May 30. The overall feeling at the Carefree Highway Corridor Study public information meeting was one of curiosity and a bit of incredulity.

The corridor runs east from I‑17 along Carefree Highway to Scottsdale Road, and south from Cloud Road to Dove Valley Road.

“I’m really excited,” said Renee Probst, a Maricopa County Department of Transportation project team member. John Lynch of the City of Scottsdale expressed his jurisdiction’s “wait and see attitude.”

It’s not yet clear as to what the ultimate recommendations of the large study team will be because the corridor study itself has just begun.

“The idea is to get all jurisdictions moving forward,” said Roberta Crowe, MCDOT public information officer. Carefree, Cave Creek, Phoenix, Scottsdale, Maricopa County, the Arizona State Land Department and the Arizona Department of Transportation are all involved in decisions regarding what the area from I‑17 east to Scottsdale Road and Cloud Road south to Dove Valley Road will look like in the near future.

According to literature distributed at the meeting by MCDOT, in 1997 the agency put forth a Transportation System Plan (TSP) for all areas of the county that were unincorporated. In formulating its Regional Transportation Plan (RTP),  the Maricopa Association of Governments (MAG) looked to the TSP’s recommendations.

The regional plan determined a need to widen Carefree Highway between Cave Creek Road and Scottsdale Road to four lanes, and $7.7 million was earmarked for construction. A future need to widen Carefree Highway to six lanes between I‑17 and Scottsdale Road was also identified. The good news is that Carefree Highway has been designated by the Department of transportation as a scenic roadway, meaning it’s necessary to minimize the impact of construction on surrounding desert and what MCDOT refers to as “the corridor’s environment.”

The next step, a corridor improvement study, is now underway.  Its purpose is to evaluate Carefree Highway between I‑17 and Scottsdale Road, ensuring accessibility–a major concern of those living in what was until recently a very rural area.  “We’re concerned about traffic,” said resident Gerry Matz.

Following Tuesday night’s gathering–what MCDOT referred to as a Public Scoping meeting, there are two more sessions planned and the public is invited. The second is an Alternatives Analysis public meeting, scheduled for January 2007.  The last meeting before the final report is submitted will cover Study Findings and Recommendations.

Bob and Doris Barry, husband and wife, expressed mixed feelings about upcoming road work.

“The plans are to change (the roads), but with completion dates 10‑14 years from now,” Bob Barry said. “Most residents in Carefree will be long dead–we will all be long gone. Why wait? Property taxes are going up. Let’s tax everyone to death–otherwise we won’t see these changes.

This place is 10 years behind in development.”   

Doris Barry was less enthusiastic about corridor expansion. “Since I live on Stagecoach Pass and Carefree Highway (just west of Scottsdale Road), I’m not anxious to see a four‑lane highway right outside my door,” she related. “In the meantime, however, the south side of Carefree Highway should be straightened out–no point in having a four‑lane highway run through there if trucks will fall off the windy road.”

Reach the reporter at jennifer@thedesertadvocate.com.