There's one along the highway in Telluride, too. Not sure if it is very long. In Korea they have a bike commute trail down the MIDDLE of a freeway. Saw it on social media somewhere.
There is a point of no return unremarked at the time in most lives. Graham Greene The Comedians
A clean house is a sign of a misspent life.
It looks like the heavy machines are working on the west end of South Mountain now. It looks like they are cutting through right before the last rolling hill southwest of Bursera.
@chumley
Hmmm I've been seeing them work when I drive 51st back from Tucson. I'll try and get over there and hike something and check it out in the next week or so.
They've been cutting into that ridge next to the powerlines for at least three weeks now. My kids were mad when I told them we couldn't walk up that old road anymore.
@Tortoise_Hiker I believe it's the freeway route. They can't put it west of the power lines since that's the Rez. ADOT or a contractor has been doing soil testing all along the route for the past few weeks, I could see the trucks pulling samples up there too. I'm guessing they got a little bit of a head start on that ridge under the pretense of pulling samples.
On a side note, there was supposed to be a neighborhood built (110 homes) on the north side of that ridge--east of the freeway, and west of the park boundary. It's supposed to have a private access road over that ridge too. That project seems to have been shelved, but I still wonder where exactly that road would fit in there.
At the risk of ignorance, is it even needed? What's it intended to relieve traffic from? I-10? Phoenix has the best traffic I've ever seen in a city this large.
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"It's not the mountains that we conquer, but ourselves"
The South Mountain Freeway is the last piece to complete the Loop 202 and Loop 101 freeway system necessary for high-quality regional mobility.
The project has been a critical part of the Maricopa Association of Governments Regional Freeway Program since it was first included in funding through Proposition 300 approved by Maricopa County voters in 1985. The freeway is also part of the Regional Transportation Plan funding passed by Maricopa County voters in 2004 through Proposition 400.
Will this freeway serve as a truck bypass to relieve congestion from Downtown Phoenix?
The primary purpose of the freeway is not to create a "truck bypass" for downtown Phoenix. The freeway is part of a transportation system developed to improve mobility in the region by increasing capacity and providing traffic alternatives—including truck traffic—to other, already congested routes. Commercial trucks would use the proposed freeway. As with all other freeways in the MAG region, trucks would use it for the through‑transport of freight, for transport to and from distribution centers, and for transport to support local commerce. Like other “loop” freeways in the Phoenix metropolitan area, the South Mountain Freeway would be a commuter corridor, primarily serving automobiles and helping to move local traffic between the eastern and western portions of Maricopa County.
I'm not sure what my spirit animal is, but I'm confident it has rabies.
JasonCleghorn wrote:At the risk of ignorance, is it even needed? What's it intended to relieve traffic from? I-10? Phoenix has the best traffic I've ever seen in a city this large.
As someone who used to live in that corner of the valley, the 202 is much needed. Though I'm glad I don't live out there anymore. The traffic was horrible.