November 09, 2006     
 
MARICOPA - Until 2003, Maricopa hadn't changed much in over a hundred years.

In the 1860s, the Southern Pacific Railroad company was racing the Central Pacific Railroad line to build the first transcontinental railway across the United States. That SP line still runs today under the Union Pacific's banner, a section of it cutting right through Maricopa.

"The railroad has been here long before Maricopa," HDR Engineering representative Chet Teaford says. "They are why Maricopa is where it's at."

But despite the historic relevance of the railroad, and the transforming effects it had on the Western territories of the U.S. (by making it possible to ship trade materials and to travel across country in under 10 days), it's now become a hindrance to the modern travelers - car drivers.

When the city incorporated in 2003, neighborhoods began to bloom all around Maricopa, increasing population and inevitably the populace of cars. Current stats place the number of people since the city's 2006 Special Census at 15,934 - a significant jump from just under 5,000 in 2004. And that's not likely to stop growing. City officials project that by 2020, there could be 179,000 residents within city limits. That means an increase of traffic from 15,000 cars per day to 65,000 by 2030, with Honeycutt Road and the Maricopa-Casa Grande Highway following suit.

But trains passing through the city block the main artery through Maricopa's center on Arizona 347 up to 60 times a day. This plays havoc on peak-time traffic flow on the northbound and southbound single-lane corridors. It also puts lives and already dangerous situations into jeopardy when police, ambulance and fire trucks are prevented from crossing the tracks when on a call. And with the possible expansion of the railroad with another set of tracks coming through the area, and an increase in traffic to possibly 80 trains a day passing over 347 - city officials have realized something has to be done, and soon.

A year-long study of the transit patterns along those roads around the schools, communities and commercial areas has been put into motion, with hopes of wrapping up within the next six to 12 months. City residents have been invited to several informative meetings in the past few months, inquiring what citizens are looking for, and what they worry about.

Some concerns that had sprung up at the last meeting on Oct. 25 involved: the impact on local businesses already built on the current main thoroughfare by moving the main roads somewhere else completely; the construction timetable, meaning the time up until it starts, and its duration; and safety, quickest travel time and construction time of each of the five road map options presented to residents.

All five options told residents that city officials and highway engineers are working with the Arizona Department of Transportation to structure a six-lane highway to the east of what is currently Arizona 347 south of the tracks, and a crossing, whether over or tunneled under, the train tracks. Present roadways could be sold and redeveloped, or kept as access roads to businesses already occupying those areas. But the study will terminate in the next year or so, followed by months of design planning. In the best-case scenario, according to Teaford, construction may begin within the next seven to nine years. Besides the impact on the city and its current infrastructure, funding has also promised to be a challenge.

"(Funding is) going to depend on ADOT and Federal Highways," Teaford explained. "It's not just the city's decision, because we don't think we want to build this just with the city's money. The city has some money, but they have tremendous needs. And these other stakeholders, ADOT and Federal Highways, if we go for federal money, they have their processes that need to be followed and they typically take a lot of time."