Pinal County’s Small Area Transportation Plan moving ahead; Maricopa-Casa Grande Highway a top priority

In the computer game of “Sim City,” the task for players is to create a city with infrastructure such as roads and transportation corridors for the simulated residents to travel. The job is relatively simple; if there is enough money in the government’s coffers, the roads are a mouse click away.

If it really were that simple! In fact, there are now three major transportation-related initiatives underway that involve the county, local governments, neighboring counties, and the Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT).

Pinal County Transportation Planners, following the lead of the Board of Supervisors, are planning for the future of moving people from point “A” to point “B.” Entering the second phase of the Small Area Transportation Study (SATS), Pinal County’s transportation planners are looking in depth at the roads they call “regionally significant,” along with projects that should be placed on a priority status.

The SATS have designated Pinal County into three specific areas. The areas are not drawn by each Board of Supervisor’s district, but by areas that exhibit common traffic and growth patterns. The SATS process began in July 2005 and should be completed by July 2006. Pinal County Transportation Planner Doug Hansen said that 80% of the cost for the study is being picked up by ADOT.

The county, along with the most of its incorporated cities and towns, are in various phases of conducting their SATS. Transportation planners say everyone having SATS in place will mean that the entities should be on the same page when it comes to planning for future road projects. The SATS process collects and analyzes specific population and growth data with the goal of identifying traffic loads on all major roadways.

“We’re looking at what the incorporated cities say their significant roads are,” said Hansen, “and we are going to connect the dots. This is the first time we have done a SATS; we have a transportation plan, but this is the first SATS. The neat thing is that many of the incorporated areas are doing one as well, and we will be able to tie into them. This is the only area in the state that is doing such a project.”

“Connecting the dots,” Supervisor David Snider says, “is the most important factor in the SATS. Using the SATS information from all participating entities, we will be able to gain a true picture of the transportation loads in our county, and that’s the first step to understanding how to ‘cure’ the problems. The county’s SATS will incorporate local SATS data and conclusions directly into the county’s document.”

Maricopa traffic is problematic as John Wayne Parkway approaches the Maricopa-Casa Grande Highway intersection.

The District 3 Supervisor looked over a road map of the area around Casa Grande and Maricopa in his office. Expressing cautious optimism, Snider says that being ahead of the curve will make transportation problems easier to handle in the future.

“Do we want to be reactive or proactive?” Snider questioned. In answering his own question, Snider said, “We must be attacking these issues head-on, or we are going to be behind the eight ball for the next twenty years or more.”

Transportation planners have identified some priorities they feel will impact the residents of northwestern Pinal County. First, they have placed an emphasis on transportation between the cities of Maricopa and Casa Grande. Pinal County is currently in the process of working with the two cities to study the Maricopa-Casa Grande Highway and see how to improve it. The goal is to maximize traffic flows while minimizing the possibility that the highway might turn into a “Grand Avenue.” Limited access to the highway, grade-separated railroad crossings (i.e. over or underpasses), and possibly frontage roads on the south side of the railroad are all elements being considered.

The county is also working with Casa Grande and ADOT on a much-needed traffic interchange for Val Vista Road and I-10. By creating this interchange, access to the freeway for both residents and commerce will flow much more evenly throughout Casa Grande. The county is also collaborating with the city to fund repairs to Thornton Road from Peters Road south to I-8. The governments are pooling their funds in order to complete the project sooner than later.

Another significant planning project in the works is a Freeway Corridor Definition Study for western Pinal and southern Maricopa counties: the study will focus on the area bounded by Casa Grande/I-10 on the east, I-8 on the south, I-10 on the north and Gila Bend on the west. Transportation planners feel that the work they put in now will pay off in a much smoother commute for drivers in the future. Planners from Pinal County are working with Maricopa County, the Cities of Maricopa and Casa Grande, ADOT and the Central Arizona and Maricopa Associations of Governments on this issue. “The growth is coming to that area,” Pinal Public Works Director Greg Stanley said. “We need to be prepared and get ahead of the game.”

Both Snider and the county’s transportation planners believe that last February’s Transportation Summit helped pave the way to begin talking about major road projects with incorporated cities and neighboring counties. Resolutions of support (and identification of critical staff participants) are being collected from all Pinal cities, towns and Indian tribes in the county as the county’s first Regional Transportation Planning process gets underway.

“To the Board of Supervisors’ credit,” Hansen explains, “this was the first time we’ve had that large and diverse a group in one place to talk strictly about transportation. It has eased the way to meeting with people in various areas on a regular basis.”

While you may not see results as quickly as you would on a video simulation game, the effort to make positive change, while facing the challenges of funding and land acquisition, is absolutely a priority of everyone who has a stake in the future of transportation inside and outside of Pinal County.