Starting Monday, road construction will stop traffic on sections of Farrell and Porter roads. Photo by Mason Callejas

A section of Farrell Road and Porter Road will be closed for “reconstruction” during an extended period this month to allow for a complete rebuilding of the road, according to City of Maricopa officials.

Director of Public Work Bill Fay said he makes a point to drive the road every day to check on its condition. Now that the road is rife with potholes and pavement cracks, he said it’s time to fix it.

Previously built by a group of farmers more than a decade ago, this section of road is worn “well past its usefulness,” Fay said.

The “chip seal” type of construction being reinstalled is typically used for low-traffic rural roads. It’s designed to last only seven to 10 years, Fay said. The project is a temporary fix funded by Maintenance Fund dollars as opposed to a permanent improvement drawing from Capital Improvement Project (CIP) funds.

“This [rebuild] is not a permanent solution,” Fay said.

The road, though safe, won’t be constructed to the same standards that a typical high-traffic city street is, Fay said. He described the road as being constructed to a “glorified parking lot” standard, which is not considered substandard for a road with such little traffic.

Farrell Road east of Palo Rojo Road and Porter Road south of Iron Pointe Drive will be closed June 5-23 as part of a maintenance program the city has initiated for the two-lane semi-rural road.

As the Palo Brea neighborhood grows along with the rest of the city, efforts will likely be made to widen the road to four lanes. However, the city will need to work with both private land owners and the Ak-Chin Indian Community to reach that goal.

The city had intentions to begin the project much earlier in the year. However, considering school buses often use the road, Fay said the city “pushed it out to the end of the school year” to avoid any issues.

Right now, the road primarily serves as an alternate route for those who want to avoid the ominous State Route 347/Maricopa-Casa Grande Highway intersection by traveling laterally through the south side of the city.

For the better part of June, those drivers will have to continue to SR 347 or take White and Parker Road south to Peters and Nall Road.