Goodyear, conservationists prefer alternatives to proposed Interstate 11

PHOENIX – The proposed route for Interstate 11 through part of the Phoenix area has stirred up two requests for a change – one minor, the other more substantial.

The Goodyear City Council passed a resolution last week in favor of a corridor alternative that moves one mile west of the proposed roadway farther away from 1,500 homes near South Estrella Parkway and Willis Road.

Conservationist group Audubon Society has been campaigning the Arizona Department of Transportation for an even more western route, citing a threat to an ecosystem that keeps endangered birds alive.

Public comments on the Tier 1 environmental impact statement close Monday.

Plans called for the I-11 stretch in Arizona to run from Nogales to Wickenburg, about 280 miles.

Arizona and Nevada are already linked by U.S. 93 but it is hoped the new freeway, which is to reach Reno, Nevada, would take north-south travel to Canada and Mexico off Interstate 5 in the West Coast states.

Each of the proposed routes has a 2,000-foot-wide corridor that will narrow to 400 feet. The council wants the narrowing near Rainbow and Willis roads, where there is less traffic.

The conservationists’ petition wants the project to follow State Route 85, Interstate 8 and I-10 starting in the Gila Bend area.

ADOT hosted three open meetings from April 29 to May 1 in Buckeye, Wickenburg and Casa Grande on the Tier 1 draft.

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