Councilwoman Peggy Neely's
Tatum Sun Times Column

June 2006

Public Input Moves Sonoran Parkway Alignment Plan Forward

Input from the community is a keystone of all major planning at the city of Phoenix, and my office does all it can to make sure residents have a strong say in all major decisions that affect them.

With the recent recommendation from the East Sonoran Parkway Alignment (ESPA) Committee, residents, with support from city staff, took input, evaluated ideas using appropriate criteria and came up with a strong recommendation for our northeast Phoenix community.

In case you haven't been following this issue very closely, here is the background. The Sonoran Parkway is a future east-west city street between the 101 and Carefree Highway. It will be a scenic corridor through beautiful desert, like Galvin Parkway in Papago Park by the Phoenix Zoo.

The big question was where the parkway would connect on its eastern side, to serve areas like Tatum Ranch, Desert Ridge, Tatum Highlands and Dove Valley.

More than a year ago, I decided that people living in this area were the best to come up with a recommendation on the Sonoran Parkway's eastern alignment. We appointed 12 residents and gave them the support of our Street Transportation Department. The group included residents from all of the nearby communities, with former State Representative Clancy Jayne serving as Chairman.

After many hours of hard work, countless meetings and 18 potential alternatives, the group narrowed it down to three at its April meetings.

Their goals in the decision-making process reflected the community's wishes: improving traffic flow; distributing traffic equitably; achieving consensus; and minimizing social and environmental impact.

Their recommendation was that the parkway should provide access points to the future Black Mountain Parkway and to Dynamite Boulevard, Tatum Boulevard and Lone Mountain Road. You can see maps and a summary of the committee's work at phoenix.gov/ESPA.

The committee also recommended a speed limit on the Sonoran Parkway posted at 45 miles per hour; rubberized asphalt for the road to cut down on noise; and continued land acquisition in the area to protect the Sonoran Preserve.

These are all great ideas.

Our thanks and appreciation go out to Chairman Clancy Jayne, the other volunteers on the committee, Chaun Hill from our Street Transportation Department and all of the residents who gave their input or simply became educated on the process.

The recommendation is scheduled to be considered by the full Phoenix City Council in June.

Working together, we are coming up with solutions that will make northeast Phoenix an even better place in the future. And the only way to do that is to make sure the public is involved with important decisions every step of the way.

Phoenix City Councilwoman Peggy Neely represents District 2, which includes most of northeast Phoenix. She can be reached at 602-262-7445 or through e-mail at council.district.2@phoenix.gov.