GVCCC wants kilometer signs to stay

Special to the Green Valley News

The GVCCC’s Traffic and Arroyos Committee is sending a letter to the Arizona Department of Transportation asking it to drop plans to replace kilometer signs on Interstate 19 with mile markers.

Sandra Stone, chairwoman of the Green Valley Community Coordinating Council committee, said the $1.5 million project is too costly and the kilometer signs tout the interstate as the special site of a U.S. metric experiment. The committee also is concerned about the renumbering of exits along I-19 because it would affect businesses and maps that use the exit numbers as a guide.

Current I-19 exits are numbered based on the distance measured in kilometers from the point where the interstate begins at the U.S.-Mexico border. For example, exit 63 at Continental is 63 kilometers from the start of I-19 in Nogales. It could become exit 38 or 39 if measured in miles. Most states, including Arizona, number exits according to mile markers.

Stone cited the print changes that would need to be made for locations of businesses and remaking of maps as a major reason for the opposition.

The state transportation board this month approved the project to replace signs on the 63-mile stretch of I-19 from Tucson to Nogales. The funding is part of the federal stimulus package, which is providing $521 million to the state for roads and bridges.

The kilometer signs were placed on I-19 in 1980 as part of a federal experiment with metric conversion. They proved unpopular with motorists, who complained from the beginning that they were confusing. Mile markers were added in 1998, but were placed at a 90-degree angle to the interstate so motorists couldn’t see them and potentially be confused by the dueling numbers. The project would replace large signs that use kilometer designations and turn the mile marker signs 90 degrees so drivers could see them. I-19 is the only U.S. interstate marked in kilometers.

In other business:

The committee discussed public concern over visibility at Camino Lucientes and Circulo de la Lomas off Camino del Sol near Desert Hills II, and a north/south visibility concern on Mission Twin Buttes Road as it intersects with Camino del Sol.

Bidding for the Continental/East Frontage Road project by the Pima County Department of Transportation and ADOT could begin about April 20 with construction expected to begin in June. The contractor must agree to work on the Continental interchange only between March 31 and September 30 when there are fewer people here. The Continental Road/Camino del Sol intersection construction is expected to begin in late April or early May, Stone said.

The committee discussed “cultural trenching,” or searching for historical artifacts, on Whitehouse Canyon Road from Continental Road to the railroad in anticipation of a proposed bike path to Continental School. Once completed, construction could begin in late 2009 or early 2010.

Ellen Sussman is a freelance writer in Green Valley. Contact her at ellen2414@cox.net.