Surprise, AZ News blog

Jack Batdorf liked what he saw of the design to extend Loop 303 from Happy Valley Parkway to I-17 in north Peoria.

“It’s definitely needed,” the retiree said. “We are excited about it.”

Batdorf said he was recently driving on I-10 and that had the Loop 303 extension been in place, he would have arrived sooner at his Terramar home at 67th Avenue and Happy Valley Road

 Batdorf was one of more than 70 residents who recently attended an informational open house on the yet to be built 14-mile freeway through Peoria. Loop 303 is now a 21-mile road that goes from I-10 to Happy Valley Parkway.

The design plans are nearly completed, said Brock Barnhart, spokesman for the Arizona Department of Transportation, which is building the freeway. The project is part of the Maricopa Association of Governments’ Regional Transportation Plan, funded by a half-cent sales tax.

The $311 million interim extension will consist of two rubberized asphalt lanes in each direction that will expand to three lanes in each direction in 2017.

ADOT expects to begin construction next summer and to complete it in 2012.

ADOT project manager Michael Delleo said officials hope to move up construction to as early as this fall, but that depends on how fast agreements move with the Arizona State Land Department. The highway will traverse through mostly state land.

The Loop 303 connection would benefit both drivers and the city of Peoria.

City officials are banking on growing commercial development along the future Loop 303 corridor, projecting that up to 116,000 jobs could be created over 25 years.

The City Council in December 2005 adopted a specific plan that spells out land use for commercial and residential development within a 32-square-mile corridor along the 303.

The Arizona Department of Transportation last week presented design plans, which include interchanges at Happy Valley, Lone Mountain and Lake Pleasant parkways. Eventually, the 303 will stretch 40 miles in the West Valley from the proposed State Route 801 south of I-10 in Goodyear to I-17.

Officials said there are no plans to extend the 303 beyond I-17.

Traffic will be detoured to the south side of Happy Valley Parkway during construction of the 303 in Peoria.

Peoria resident Julius Shore, who attended the presentation, said the 303 connection couldn’t come soon enough.

“It’s a long time coming,” said the retiree, who lives in Trilogy at Vistancia. “They should have done it quite a few years ago.”

Shore said the freeway would take much of the truck traffic heading toward Flagstaff away from downtown Phoenix, which means less congestion and air pollution for the area.

Surprise resident John Maher also applauded the incoming connection.

As pastor of the nearly 2-year-old Prince of Peace Episcopal Church, which holds its Sunday services at West Wing Elementary School north of Jomax Road, he said the 303 will make it easier to get to the church.

“I feel good about it,” he said. “It will impact the northern part of Peoria. The Valley will be a lot more connected.”