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I-10/I-19 New Link May Get PAG Study |
ARIZONA DAILY STAR
A council of Pima County governments may decide next month whether to study a new alignment for a proposed link between Interstates 10 and 19 south of Tucson. Under the proposal, the Sahuarita Corridor runs right through the master-planned community of Rancho Sahuarita, which eventually is to have 10,680 homes. The proposed corridor is a 17-mile, four- to six-lane highway that would link I-10 south of Vail Road and I-19 south of the Pima Mine Road intersection.
Cherie Campbell, a transportation planning director with the Pima Association of Governments, said no specific new alignment has been identified. The corridor's alignment was originally studied in 1990, said Don Freeman, a transportation programming manager with the association.
"Since then, there has been some other development and construction, which would require that the original alignment be re-evaluated and possibly relocated," he said. Freeman said traffic coming from south of Tucson on I-19 is required to come into Tucson to connect to I-10. The new road could connect these roads farther south, allowing drivers to avoid the current I-10/19 interchange.
This corridor was originally planned for trucks connecting to eastbound I-10 wanting to bypass metropolitan Tucson, said Phil Swaim, architect and chairman of the Southeast Planning and Coordinating Committee.
"Determining where the alignment is, is pretty critical right now," said Swaim. Sahuarita's town manager, John Neunuebel agrees. He said the town has expressed disappointment at the possibility of a major road, like the corridor, near the development. The Pima Association of Governments "recognized the fact that a controlled-access freeway can't go through an established residential community," he said. The possibility of studying this issue may be presented to the association's council next month, said Campbell.
Copyright © 2003 Dan Swango and Associates