Plans for I-19 Canoa Road closing announced

Motorists who travel on Interstate 19 and its east and west frontage roads between Continental and Canoa roads will face some inconvenience and extra miles when the I-19 underpass at Canoa Road closes Oct. 1, a consultant for Pima County told members of the Green Valley Community Coordinating Council’s Traffic & Arroyos Committee Wednesday at a meeting here.

The I-19 underpass will be closed near the roundabout under construction on the west frontage road at Canoa until Nov. 15 for safety reasons, said Darrell Playford of Pinnacle One, project manager for the roundabout in conjunction with his brother, Steve, Pima County and the Arizona Department of Transportation.

Playford said construction will involve tearing up the roadway, shoring up the underpass and installing storm drains and flood control pipes.

“The fact that we have quite a bit of work to do and not a lot of space mandated closing the underpass for safety reasons,” Playford said.

Sandra Stone, chairman of the Traffic & Arroyos panel, said the group met Tuesday with public safety officials, including the Pima County Sheriff’s Department, the Green Valley Fire District, the Arizona Department of Public Safety and the Border Patrol to advise them about the upcoming closure.

In response to concerns expressed at Wednesday’s meeting about how emergency response times to Elephant Head would be affected by the closing, Green Valley Fire District’s Assistant Chief Bill Bohling acknowledged that it will take longer for Southwest Ambulance and other public safety vehicles traveling south on I-19 to reach Elephant Head residents because they will have to use the I-19 Arivaca Exit 48 instead of Canoa Road, then double back to head north on the east frontage road.

“There will be a slight delay because we have to go some more miles, but four to five extra minutes is sometimes a lot,” he said.

Construction on the west frontage road roundabout, a $4.1 million project, financed by impact fees, began in May and is expected to be finished in June, 2009.

In tandem with the roundabout, developer Fairfield Properties LLC is financing construction of a new road, Canoa Ranch Road, which will run from the west frontage road at the Canoa interchange to Camino del Sol, providing motorists with an extension of north-south access to Green Valley and to new residential and commercial development planned near the interchange.

In response to residents’ concerns about destruction of rural ambiance at the interchange and possible damage to wildlife corridors, Playford said traffic safety improvements are implemented with a “30-year time frame,” adding that Southern Arizona has lagged substantially behind the Phoenix area in traffic planning for increased population and development.

Kathy Engle is a freelance writer who lives in Amado.

Who will be affected

Motorists who travel on the I-19 west frontage road will not be able to access northbound I-19 at Canoa during the Oct. 1-Nov. 1 closure. Instead, they will have to travel north on the west frontage road to Continental or south to the Arivaca exit (Exit 48), depending on which is closer, to get on I-19 north.

Motorists heading north on the east frontage road, such as residents of Elephant Head, will still be able to access I-19 northbound, but not I-19 southbound. Southbound drivers on I-19 will need to use the Arivaca exit and double back north on east frontage road to reach Elephant Head. Arivaca and other Amado residents will still be able to travel south on I-19 to the Arivaca exit to reach Arivaca Road.

A temporary detour on the west frontage road to reach southbound 1-19 will remain open. Motorists on the west frontage road will be able to drive both north and south to get to I-19, to either Arivaca Road or Continental, depending on the distance.

Detours for area motorists involve a maximum of about five miles or less.