Stop Lights on SR 347 Three Months Away

The transportation Santa Claus might very well have a Christmas present for Maricopa residents. Unfortunately, it won’t be an early one.

Securing a traffic signal at the entrance to Rancho El Dorado has been a high priority for local public safety officials. But despite many accidents, including two fatalities in the vicinity, the process has been characterized as much by finger-pointing and delays as teamwork and swiftness.

Just last week Vice Mayor Brent Murphree responded to residents’ inquiries of when the much-anticipated traffic signal would be installed saying “At this point, I have no idea. The light will go up when it goes up.”

Vice Mayor Murphree came away from a recent meeting with transportation, law enforcement, fire and City officials frustrated with the lack of communication from the Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT). “Unfortunately, we did not get a definitive answer and I don’t know that we will ever get a definitive answer,” he said.

Vice Mayor Murphree noted that the majority of the agencies involved are collaborating and working toward a common goal. “The City, DPS, Sheriff’s Office and Fire Department are all working to have a coordinated effort to increase safety on SR 347.” He emphasize that “Safety is our primary concern.”

Traffic along SR 347 at the entrance to Rancho El Dorado increases daily.

When asked by inmaricopa.com for details on the traffic signal project, ADOT’s regional traffic engineer, Reza Karimvand, said “You need to talk with the developers and not to us. I cannot give you any timetable because it is not in my hands.”

Larry Braund, member of Western Holdings, LLC, developer of the Cobblestone Farms community, expressed his desire to expedite the process, saying “We’d like to make the light operational the day after tomorrow.”

However, no one can install the equipment that doesn’t exist and the delay, at least at this juncture, appears to center around an equipment backlog. Mr. Braund indicated the new traffic signal would “probably not be operational within 90 or 120 days.”

That timeframe was confirmed by Contractors West, the company Western Holdings has hired to install the signals. Carlie Bowmer, estimator for Contractors West, said it will be another 9-10 weeks before the signal arms arrive and two weeks thereafter to complete the installation. The result is traffic signals that likely won’t be operational until around Christmas.

Two traffic lights are expected to be installed simultaneously on SR 347, one at the entrance of Rancho El Dorado (also the north entrance of Cobblestone Farms) and one just south of the intersection at Cobblestone Farms’ south entrance. Ultimately, there will be as many as seven stop lights in the three mile stretch of SR 347 through Maricopa.

A second light between Ranche El Dorado’s entrance and Smith-Enke will be erected along with the one just a few hundred yards north of it.