Town launches massive road-widening project

By 9 a.m. Tuesday, the drums of the Sahuarita High School marching band were pounding in front of a concrete truck, the brass was sounding, dignitaries were munching on food catered by the high school, and speeches were being readied for the groundbreaking event of the Sahuarita Road widening project.

By 10 a.m., the speeches had been given and pictures had been taken of officials pushing gold spray-painted shovels into the dirt. Across the street, Jason Radford of YBK Contracting Services was pushing a measuring wheel along the southern edge of Sahuarita Road, marking off every 100 feet with white paint.

Just to the west of the entrance to Town Hall, three employees of Northern Utilities were using a backhoe and dirty shovels to dig a trench as part of the first phase of the road- widening work. Workers are constructing storm drains and utility trenches before any new pavement is built.

The Sahuarita Road Improvement project will add two to four new travel lanes, landscaped medians, new pavement and cross-drainage facilities to improve all-weather travel, paved shoulders and sidewalks to improve bicycle/pedestrian connectivity and three new traffic signals, at La Villita Road, at the entrance to Town Hall and the high school, and at Salome Drive, the entrance to the middle school and primary school.

A bouyant Mayor Lynne Skelton hailed it as not only the largest public works project in the town’s history, but as a vital physical and emotional connection among the town’s government, school, commercial and residential sectors.

The groundbreaking celebration was held at the north end of the future Sahuarita Road pedestrian underpass, just east of the Sahuarita school district administration building and west of the varsity baseball field.

Phase I of the project, which extends from Interstate 19 to La Villita Road, is expected to be completed in late 2010. Phase I was expected to cost more than $10 million, but the recession meant contractors were bidding low and the cost came in around $6.5 million, with Southern Arizona Paving winning the contract. Planning is underway for Phase II, which runs east to Country Club Road and which could include two bridges, one at the Santa Cruz River and one at the Union Pacific Railroad tracks east of Nogales Highway. That phase also may involve relocating Nogales Highway away from the railroad tracks.

The overall project is getting major funding — $31 million — from the voter-approved Regional Transportation Authority (RTA) plan, which is to last 20 years and spend $2.1 billion countywide. The town also is contributing significant funding and Sahuarita Unified School District is contributing money for the pedestrian tunnel from the district’s adjacent ways funds, which cannot be spent on education.

The ceremony included appearances by numerous SUSD, town, and other officials, including RTA Executive Director Gary Hayes, RTA Board Chairman Ed Honea, mayor of Marana, as well as Oro Valley Mayor Paul Loomis.

Though work started Tuesday, the traffic flow is not expected to be affected for at least two months. After the storm drains and utility trenches are built outside the existing roadway, a temporary road will be constructed south of the current roadway, with work proceeding west from La Villita Road. Impacts on traffic are expected to increase after the temporary road is built when all traffic will be shifted onto that surface so the permanent westbound roadway can be built north of the center line, town Construction Manager Rick Robinson said.

As a gauge of how big the expanded roadway will be, the current two-lane roadway will be covered by the median strip of the future road, which will include two lanes north and two lanes south of the current roadway. Years in the future, when traffic volumes increase, it is expected that the wide median will be narrowed so two more lanes can be added, roughly where the current lanes are located.

In order to get construction updates and information to residents and other stakeholders, the town has launched a project blog at http://www.sahuaritaroad.com. Residents may also receive e-mail construction updates on activities that will impact traffic and may contact the Sahuarita Public Works Department at 344-7100 or roadinfo@ci.sahuarita.az.us.

pfranchine@sahuarita.com| 547-9738