Pinal RTA sees challenges in SR 347 project

Garnering voter support for a half-cent sales tax increase designed to fund more than 15 county transportation projects, including the widening of State Route 347, is only part of the struggle for Pinal RTA.

The Pinal Regional Transportation Authority held a community open house Tuesday at Maricopa City Hall on the sales tax, which is slated to be on the county’s November ballot. See map

Pinal County Principal Planner Andy Smith said even if the tax is approved and the funds are provided for widening SR 347, the Gila River Indian Community must also be onboard for the expansion, something he thinks may be problematic.

“There is a relationship issue, a trust issue, that we need to solve,” Smith said.

In recent years, he said, the tribe has been reluctant to work with local transportation authorities after funds they were promised by the Arizona Department of Transportation as part of the Interstate 10 expansion were not used in the fashion they had agreed upon.

The money, according to Smith, was supposed to be spent on I-10 corridor developments that would provide Gila River with easy access to I-10 via on and offramps and frontage road developments. Instead, he said, the money was channeled through the Bureau of Indian Affairs and spent on housing and other infrastructure projects.

However, despite their bumpy past, Smith is optimistic current community leaders could help “mend the fences.”

“They [Gila River] have a much better relationship with the current mayor of Maricopa than they have in the past,” Smith said.

Considering all the moving parts, a project like this could take a considerable amount of time.

In a user poll conducted by InMaricopa in March, 53 percent of readers believe the widening will happen in the next 10 years, while only 39 percent think it will take much more time to complete.

Initial RTA surveys indicate 81 percent of Pinal County residents approve of the half-cent tax, while only 14 percent disapprove.

The initiative still has several hurdles to jump before reaching November’s ballot, including a necessary approval by the Pinal County Board of Supervisors. If approved, voters will have a chance to not only vote on the tax increase but also which public project they would like to fund.

All in, the SR 347 project is estimated to cost around $29 million, according to a report from Pinal County. In the first five years the RTA tax should raise somewhere between $97 million and $100 million countywide, and by 2037 between $640 million and $660 million.