The impact of major development projects like One Scottsdale and Palisene will be at the forefront of discussions next week involving $25 million in plans that would widen Scottsdale Road and install a frontage road along Loop 101.
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“Scottsdale Road and the 101 is placed to be one of the key intersections in not only Scottsdale, but the Valley, with a tremendous amount of development nearby on both sides of the line (between Scottsdale and Phoenix),” said Dave Roderique, the city’s economic vitality director. “Businesses are looking for good transportation systems to ensure traffic can move well.”
The City Council is scheduled Monday to consider funding the widening of Scottsdale Road between Frank Lloyd Wright Boulevard and Thompson Peak Parkway from four lanes to six with a landscaped median. Also up for a decision is an agreement with the Maricopa Association of Governments, or MAG, that would fund a westbound frontage road along the north side of Loop 101 between Scottsdale and Hayden roads.
“It’s basically to address the long-term needs of the corridors,” said Mary O’Connor, the city’s transportation director. “The current infrastructure is pretty minimal.”
O’Connor said the intent is to head off the anticipated increase in traffic from major projects like One Scottsdale — a 120-acre, $1.5 billion development expected to include more than 1-million square feet of commercial, retail and office space, 400 resort and hotel rooms, and 1,100 residential units on the northeast corner of Scottsdale Road and Loop 101.
The roadway improvements also are expected to handle future traffic from Palisene, a 2,200-acre Westcor masterplanned community to be centered on a 72-acre mixed-use development just across Scottsdale Road in Phoenix.
Scottsdale would pay nearly $21 million up front for the Scottsdale Road widening, but would receive $13 million in reimbursement later from Phoenix and from the future developers of vacant land currently owned by the State Land Department along the road, O’Connor said.
“It’s trying to allow for the traffic demand that’s going to be generated by development on both the Phoenix and Scottsdale sides of Scottsdale Road,” she said.
Karrin Taylor, vice president of entitlements for DMB Associates, which owns One Scottsdale, said the city will let the company know how much it will have to contribute. Last year, DMB asked the council for $50 million to pay for roads to serve One Scottsdale, but withdrew that request in November after determining the council would not support it.
“The expanded roadway is necessary because of background traffic and because of One Scottsdale and Palisene,” Taylor said.
The road widening is expected to be done by next summer, O’Connor said, in time for One Scottsdale’s projected opening in 2009. Palisene has a projected opening in 2009 or 2010.
“The designs are complete,” she said. “This is a request to actually do construction.”
The cost of the nearly $5.5 million Loop 101 frontage road would be borne initially by Scottsdale, as well. But the city would be reimbursed for 70 percent of that by regional transportation funds from MAG, O’Connor said.
Rick Kidder, Scottsdale Area Chamber of Commerce president, said relieving traffic on Scottsdale Road and Loop 101 will become crucial for area businesses.
“If we don’t have adequate east/west connectivity, we’re going to find that the business community will start to suffer from, ‘It’s so busy no one goes there anymore,’” Kidder said. “For the city to get out ahead of the curve is incredibly important.”
Ari Cohn, Tribune
