ADOT to begin freeway demolition despite suit, not owning homes
Aug 6, 2015, 3:14 PM | Updated: 8:15 pm
PHOENIX — The Arizona Department of Transportation is scheduled to begin tearing down homes at the end of this month to make room for the South Mountain Freeway despite a lawsuit from the community and not yet owning all of the properties it plans to destroy.
The agency plans to begin demolition on Aug. 26. It will remove two homes per day from the freeway’s eventual path just south of the community of Ahwatukee. When it’s completed, it will extend the Loop 202 by 22 miles to connect Interstate 10 in Chandler and Laveen.
However, some roadblocks may remain.
Dustin Krugel said the department has completed the purchase of 85 homes and has an additional 42 in escrow. Construction plans call for the purchase and demolition of 200 homes, meaning 73 are not under state control. ADOT is hoping to avoid any delays in the project.
Opponents of the freeway filed a lawsuit to block it in March.
“Move the freeway somewhere else or just scrap the idea,” Pat Lawlis with Protecting Arizona Resources and Children said when the suit was filed.
Lawlis said the freeway would place 17 schools with 15,000 students into a zone that would be negatively affected by air pollution, something ADOT spokesman Tim Tait said is untrue.
“We have freeways that are nearby many communities and we don’t see the problems that (the lawsuit is) alleging,” Tait said.
Lisa Briddle with the Gila River Alliance for a Clean Environment said ADOT neglected to include Native American concerns in its study.
“This mountain is sacred to us,” she said. “It’s like a church to us.”
Last week, a judge refused to let the community suit block the roadway. U.S. District Judge Diane Humetewa said the group had not shown the freeway would cause imminent and
irreparable environmental harm.
Krugel said both the remaining homes and lawsuit should not pose an obstacle, as ADOT followed federal regulations to buy properties and conduct an environmental impact study.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
