Gila River community votes down freeway plan

by Associated Press (February 7th, 2012 @ 9:38pm)

SACATON, Ariz. - Members of the Gila River Indian Community have voted down a plan to move the proposed South Mountain Freeway a half-mile south, out of the Ahwatukee Foothills.

The state has already spent millions on studies buying dozens of Ahwatukee Foothills homes in the existing right of way.

Tribal voters considered one question with three possible answers- should the Loop 202 extension from Chandler to Laveen be built on the existing Pecos Road alignment through Ahwatukee Foothills, be it built on tribal land to the south or not at all.

A vote to oppose either route won't stop the state from going ahead with the freeway through Ahwatukee Foothills.

Plans for a South Mountain Freeway have been around since the early 1960s as a critical east-west reliever for Interstate 10.

(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)


Last 5 Comments

  • Reply Abuse Vote
    Dumb plan for today's times.
    Patrick M
    When the initial freeway opens under today's plan, it will have very limited expansion capabilities for more lanes when they will need them. Think how many times in the past I-10 had to be expanded. It's going to prove to be an incredible waste of money to build this thing based on plans from 30 years ago.
  • Reply Abuse Vote
    Proposal was flawed
    Patrick M
    The most ridiculous options were presented in this vote. The tribe insisted that South Mountain was sacred to them and would be desecrated with the Pecos road alignment, yet did they not see that a vote for "No Build" was nothing more than a vote for the Pecos alignment? So now instead of the many benefits they could have made for themselves with the potential of development along a freeway south of the current alignment, and the saving of land they cringe to see bulldozed, they will sit with worthless desert land as it exists today.
  • Reply Abuse Vote
    It doesnt matter
    nokidding
    The alternative to running through the reservation is to take the whole project a quarter mile away. So it's going to happen anyway, deal with it, its called progress. You want to live in the boondocks then move further out of town.
  • Reply Abuse Vote
    Looking the bigger picture
    nbrice
    Long ago the Salt River Valley was home to Pima/Maricopa tribes.Gila River was cut off by non-Native farmers resulting in famine&starvation of the Pima/Maricopa.Distribution of processed food by the government changed diet &resulted in high rates of obesity/diabetes.With scarce jobs available on the reservation, &loss of farming, these people have faced widespread poverty, a loss of culture &former way of life.Now they are on reservations that are miniscule when compared to the entire Valley of the Sun. If they don't want a freeway running through their land, that decision should be respected
  • Reply Abuse Vote
    Gila Pima to the rest of the Valley:
    Michoacan
    You want to live in urban sprawl with a crappy mass tranist system? You deal with your problem. Don't come crying to us for our land. You've screwed us enough already.
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