Stoplight expected to change life – or at least traffic – in east Maricopa

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Where Honeycutt Road meets White and Parker is often a traffic backup during morning rush hour. Photo by Jim Headley

 

While Maricopa might be considered small by some, in-town traffic is starting to become a problem.

The City of Maricopa is looking at solving many of its problems in the Fiscal Year 2020 budget. It includes is a laundry list of capital improvement projects (CIP) that will make life much better for the average citizen.

One of the items on the wish list is the installation of a stoplight at the intersection of Honeycutt and White and Parker roads.

Heavy traffic flows out of Tortosa, Rancho Mirage and Sorrento subdivision every morning between 7 and 8:30 a.m. Drivers are heading into town, or north onto Smith-Enke Road and ultimately State Route 347 as they travel to the Phoenix metro area for work.

The bottleneck at Honeycutt and White and Parker backs up 15 to 20 minutes daily during the morning rush and again in the afternoon. The problem is exacerbated during the school year when the two schools in Tortosa – Santa Cruz Elementary and Desert Winds Middle School – let out classes.

“We have already reached out to a consultant to get them under contract for the design of that stoplight,” said Joshua Plumb, city engineer. “This fiscal year, starting in July, we will be constructing that traffic signal.”

Plumb said everything identified as a CIP project in the new budget is top priority for staff to complete.

“We will start design at the beginning of the year. Design is usually a six-month process but probably faster for a traffic signal,” he said. “This has some civil work with it. We will probably be doing construction in early 2020.”

The cost of a traffic signal is generally $250,000 to $350,000, according to Plumb, but this one will cost a little more as the intersection will be realigned and a right turn lane will be added to westbound Honeycutt onto northbound White and Parker.

Bowlin Road will also be extended to the east, into the Rancho Mirage subdivision, which is expected to relieve even more stress on the Honeycutt and White and Parker intersection.

“That is also on our CIP for next year,” Plumb said. “We are going to put in an elevated water crossing through the wash so vehicles can traverse the wash. That is not possible right now. It will be a temporary pavement connection on Bowlin Road. It’s not going to be a permanent road, but it will allow traffic to go back and forth.”

The completion of all the city’s CIP projects, including the stoplight at Honeycutt Road and White and Parker is contingent on the approval of the new budget coming before the city council in early June.