5 road construction projects planned in GV

Get ready, Green Valley drivers.

Five major road projects are planned between July and the spring that will leave roads torn up and plenty of orange cone and barricades.

Construction will begin in mid-July on the much-anticipated Interstate 19 east frontage road project, according to Pima County Department of Transportation Director Priscilla Cornelio.

The project will extend the two-lane frontage road on the east side of the interstate, which currently ends just south of The Springs, to Canoa Ranch Drive. The existing frontage road from Continental Road to its current end will be reconstructed, and I-19 northbound on- and off-ramps will be reconfigured.

The project bid was won in April by Borderland Construction of Tucson, which built the roundabout on the west frontage road and Canoa Ranch Road.

Cornelio said the east frontage road project is Pima County’s first Regional Transportation Authority project. The project is part of RTA’s 20-year regional transportation plan, approved in 2006, which includes various modes of transportation to help connect communities throughout Pima County. The $2.1 billion plan is funded by a countywide half-cent sales tax.

Construction will start at the southern end of the east frontage road and move north, so disruption to the Continental/I-19 interchange won’t be an issue until early next year, Cornelio said.

Due to lack of funding — the $15.5 million project was recently cut by $1.7 million — a proposed roundabout at the east frontage road/Canoa Ranch Drive interchange has been scrapped. Out of the remaining $13.8 million budget, $2 million of that had to be taken from another county project, she said.

But another roundabout is headed this way. This one’s at the awkward Continental Road/Camino Del Sol “T” intersection, which motorists and bicyclists say is dangerous and difficult to navigate.

Currently, drivers heading westbound on Continental who want to turn left at Camino Del Sol have to stop at a stop sign between the split lanes of Continental.

According to PCDOT civil engineer Bob Roggenthen, who is overseeing the project, roundabouts are safer alternatives than traffic signals. He said that a motorist running a stop sign or red light could cause a major accident, with one car T-boning the other. But cars in a roundabout would be more likely to glance off each other and avoid a serious collision.

After several delays, construction is set to begin early next month, with the heaviest work requiring some traffic detours scheduled to be completed by September. Landscaping and installation of a sculpture in the center of the roundabout — sponsored by the GVCCC’s MedianGreen committee — should be completed in the fall, he said.

Cornelio says three road-improvement projects funded with federal stimulus money should begin early next year. PCDOT had initially anticipated the projects for this fall, but waiting on environmental and archeological clearances has pushed the tentative start dates to February.

One project would fix the pot holes and add a seal coat to Continental Road from La Canada Drive to Duval Mine Road, also adding multipurpose lanes for bicycles and golf carts from Camino Del Sol west to Pima Community College.

La Canada Drive from Duval Mine Road to Esperanza Boulevard will be completely repaved — technically called mill and replacement — while another stretch of La Canada, from Esperanza to Continental Road, will be seal coated, a less-extensive process that protects asphalt from cracking.

jrichardson@gvnews.com | 547-9726