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Arizona State Route 202 (SR 202) or Loop 202 is a semi- beltway circling the eastern and southern areas of the
Phoenix metropolitan area The Phoenix Metropolitan Area – also the Valley of the Sun, the Salt River Valley, or Metro Phoenix (known by most locals simply as “the Valley”) – is the largest metropolitan area in the Southwestern United States, centered on the city ...
in central
Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...
. It traverses the eastern end and the southern end of the city of Phoenix, in addition to the cities of Tempe, Mesa, Chandler, and
Gilbert Gilbert may refer to: People and fictional characters *Gilbert (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters *Gilbert (surname), including a list of people Places Australia * Gilbert River (Queensland) * Gilbert River (South A ...
, and is a vital route in the metropolitan area freeway system. Loop 202 has three officially designated sections along its route; the Red Mountain Freeway, the SanTan Freeway, and the Congressman Ed Pastor Freeway, previously named the ''South Mountain Freeway'' (which it is still colloquially known as). The Red Mountain Freeway runs from the Mini Stack Interchange with
Interstate 10 Interstate 10 (I-10) is the southernmost cross-country highway in the American Interstate Highway System. I-10 is the fourth-longest Interstate in the United States at , following I-90, I-80, and I-40. This freeway is part of the originall ...
(I-10) and State Route 51 (SR 51) in Phoenix to the
SuperRedTan Interchange The SuperRedTan Interchange is a symmetrical four-level freeway interchange in eastern Mesa, Arizona. Completed in 2007, the interchange provides access between U.S. Route 60 and Loop 202. It is fully directional, meaning that a motorist trav ...
with U.S. Route 60 (US 60) in Mesa. The SanTan Freeway runs from there to an interchange with Interstate 10 (I-10) in Chandler. The Congressman Ed Pastor Freeway runs from there to I-10 in western Phoenix. Loop 202 was created after different sections of freeway within the Phoenix metro were given the designation, with the first section was designated in 1990. The SanTan Freeway was completed in 2006, while the Red Mountain Freeway section was completed in 2008. The Congressman Ed Pastor Freeway was officially opened on December 21, 2019.


Route description

Loop 202 begins as the Red Mountain Freeway at the
Mini Stack The Mini Stack is the freeway interchange among Interstate 10, State Route 51, and Loop 202 in Phoenix, Arizona, United States, located northeast of downtown. Reconstructed in 2004 to its current setup, the interchange, which is the busiest ...
, a four-level confluence with I-10 (Inner Loop) and SR 51 (Piestewa Freeway) in
Central City In urban planning, a core city, principal city metropolitan core, or central city, is the largest or most important city or cities of a metropolitan area. A core city is surrounded by smaller satellite cities, towns, and suburbs. A central cit ...
, Phoenix. Heading eastward, the route passes through Eastern Phoenix and encounters partial interchanges with SR 143 (Hohokam Expressway) and Sky Harbor Blvd, both which provide motorists direct access to the Sky Harbor Airport. The freeway then skims the northern bank of the Salt River as it passes through Tempe with its downtown skyline visible across the Town Lake. It then crosses the river diagonally on a long bridge before encountering its first major junction with Loop 101 around
milepost A milestone is a numbered marker placed on a route such as a road, railway line, canal or boundary. They can indicate the distance to towns, cities, and other places or landmarks; or they can give their position on the route relative to ...
9.5. At this point, Loop 202 enters the city of Mesa. It avoids the Salt River Pima–Maricopa Indigenous Community lands and has a junction with SR 87. It also passes the Falcon Field and the adjunct Boeing Mesa Facility. Just shy of the Superstition Mountains, the freeway turns southward and serves the
Mesa Community College Mesa Community College (MCC) is a public community college in Mesa, Arizona. It is the largest of the 10 community colleges in the Maricopa County Community College District, the largest community college district in the United States in ter ...
and the Red Mountain District Park. At milepost 30, it encounters US 60 (Superstition Freeway) on the
SuperRedTan Interchange The SuperRedTan Interchange is a symmetrical four-level freeway interchange in eastern Mesa, Arizona. Completed in 2007, the interchange provides access between U.S. Route 60 and Loop 202. It is fully directional, meaning that a motorist trav ...
. This segment features HOV lanes from the start of the route to University Drive, with ongoing plans to extend the lanes. Past the interchange, Loop 202 becomes the SanTan Freeway. Near Eastmark, the route curves west and encounters the western terminus of SR 24 (Gateway Freeway). Simultaneously, Loop 202 provides access to the Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport and the ASU Polytechnic campus. The freeway enters
Gilbert Gilbert may refer to: People and fictional characters *Gilbert (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters *Gilbert (surname), including a list of people Places Australia * Gilbert River (Queensland) * Gilbert River (South A ...
and serves the
Santan Village SanTan Village is an open-air, super regional lifestyle center located in Gilbert, Arizona that spans of gross leasable area. It sits at the core of a project that, upon planned full build out, will encompass of retail, restaurants, entertain ...
shopping district and the Mercy Gilbert Hospital. Next, it passes through Chandler, serving the namesake airport and encountering SR 87 again about south of the downtown area. At milepost 50, it has a second interchange with Loop 101, which terminates here, beside the
Chandler Fashion Center Chandler Fashion Center is a regional shopping center located in the city of Chandler, Arizona, and is the second largest mall in the Phoenix metropolitan area. The mall is owned by Macerich and was developed by Westcor a former subsidiary of Mac ...
mall. At milepost 55, Loop 202 has a full-on junction with
I-10 Interstate 10 (I-10) is the southernmost cross-country highway in the American Interstate Highway System. I-10 is the fourth-longest Interstate in the United States at , following I-90, I-80, and I-40. This freeway is part of the originally p ...
by Pecos Park. This section of Loop 202 has HOV lanes through I-10 out to Gilbert Road, also with long-term plans to extend the lanes eastward. Continuing westward as the Congressman Ed Pastor Freeway (sometimes referred to as the South Mountain Freeway by locals), Loop 202 enters Phoenix as it follows the Pecos Road alignment between the gated communities of the Ahwatukee Foothills Village and the Gila River Indigenous Community. Near Komatke, the freeway curves northward and cuts through the western foothills of the South Mountain Preserve, with a direct interchange to a hotel and casino. The route passes through Laveen and crosses the Salt River again, which is the site of the future SR 30 junction. Loop 202 takes up the 59th Avenue alignment through the warehouse districts before finally terminating at milepost 78 with I-10 (Papago Freeway) about west of
Downtown Phoenix Downtown Phoenix is the central business district (CBD) of the City of Phoenix, Arizona, United States. It is located in the heart of the Phoenix metropolitan area or Valley of the Sun. Phoenix, being the county seat of Maricopa County and ...
.


History

The final section of the Red Mountain Freeway opened on July 21, 2008, thus marking the completion of the original Regional Freeway System as approved by Maricopa County voters in 1985 by Proposition 300. The portion of the Red Mountain Freeway west of the Pima/Price Freeways was formerly known as the "East Papago Freeway," and it was initially designated SR 217. The remainder of the Red Mountain Freeway was to be SR 216. In 2006, this portion of Loop 202 was used to portray a
Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the Ara ...
n superhighway in the 2007 film, '' The Kingdom''. Filming also took place at Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport and the Arizona State University Polytechnic Campus. The city of Mesa received $40,000 for the use of the freeway from NBC Universal. The SanTan Freeway was completed in 2006. This section of freeway was originally numbered as SR 220. It was given current designation on December 18, 1987, along with the East Papago and Red Mountain Freeway corridors and the portion of the SanTan Freeway east of Price Road. Between Price Road and the I-10 interchange, the freeway was to be part of , and is officially designated as such, even though maps and road signs show it as part of Loop 202. The third and final leg of Loop 202, the Congressman Ed Pastor Freeway, named in honor of longtime U.S. Representative Ed Pastor (D-AZ), received final approval from the Federal Highway Administration on March 10, 2015, with construction completed at the end of 2019. Initially, the freeway was officially named as the South Mountain Freeway during its conception and construction (and still colloquially known as such), but received its current official name on October 22, 2019. The construction phase divided it into two distinct segments: the "eastern segment" that straddles the Ahwatukee-GRIC border and the "western segment" that parallels 59th Avenue through Laveen. Together, these segments form a bypass around
Downtown Phoenix Downtown Phoenix is the central business district (CBD) of the City of Phoenix, Arizona, United States. It is located in the heart of the Phoenix metropolitan area or Valley of the Sun. Phoenix, being the county seat of Maricopa County and ...
, linking the metropolitan area's southwestern and southeastern suburbs. The Congressman Ed Pastor Freeway was to be SR 218. By July 19, 1991, it was renumbered as part of Loop 202. A stretch of Loop 202, between 40th Street and 17th Avenue, includes a wide shared-use path. The pathway is on the south side of the freeway and is also open to pedestrians and cyclists. The path was added because the former Pecos Road had been a popular cycling route for years.


Controversy

The Congressman Ed Pastor Freeway was the most controversial segment of Loop 202. Construction was delayed due to tension between three groups: regional transportation planners, who insisted that the freeway was necessary to ensure smooth traffic flow in the coming decades; residents of the adjacent
Ahwatukee Ahwatukee Foothills (also Ahwatukee) is an urban village of Phoenix, Arizona. Ahwatukee forms the southernmost portion of Phoenix, and is considered part of the East Valley region of the Phoenix metropolitan area. In 2022, ''Niche'' rated Ahwatu ...
community, who would have lost 120 homes to
eminent domain Eminent domain (United States, Philippines), land acquisition (India, Malaysia, Singapore), compulsory purchase/acquisition (Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, United Kingdom), resumption (Hong Kong, Uganda), resumption/compulsory acquisition (Austr ...
depending on the road's final alignment; and leaders and residents of the adjoining Gila River Indigenous Community (GRIC), who have oscillated between opposing and supporting the freeway in recent years. The specific alignment of the freeway, initially referred to in 1983 as the "Southwest Loop Highway", was revised several times since 1985, when Maricopa County voters originally approved its construction as part of the regional highway network envisioned under Proposition 300. In 1988, the Maricopa Association of Governments (MAG), the region's transportation planning agency, suggested an alignment of the freeway's western segment along 55th Avenue and an alignment of the eastern segment along Pecos Road. A federal study in 2001 required
ADOT The Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT, pronounced "A-Dot") is an Arizona state government agency charged with facilitating mobility within the state. In addition to managing the state's highway system, the agency is also involved with p ...
to reexamine those suggestions, and the task of recommending the final alignment fell to a Citizen's Advisory Team formed in 2002. In April 2006, that panel released their final recommendations to route the western portion of the freeway four miles further west to connect with Loop 101, and to reject the proposed alignment of the eastern portion along Pecos Road, suggesting that the latter be built on Gila River Indigenous Community land instead. Two months later, ADOT overruled the panel's suggestion for the western segment and opted for the current 59th Avenue alignment instead. In February 2012, a non-binding referendum was held in the Gila River Indigenous Community on whether the eastern portion of the freeway should be built on community land several miles south of Pecos Road. Options in the referendum were to build on community land, off community land, or not at all. The "no build" option won a plurality of votes, receiving 720 votes out of a total 1,481 cast. MAG sent out a press release soon after making it clear that construction of the freeway would move forward as planned along the Pecos Road alignment. Expecting this outcome, MAG and ADOT had previously (in 2010) shrunk the freeway's footprint from 10 lanes to eight to minimize its impact on Ahwatukee. Fearing the worst possible outcome of the freeway being built without exits onto community land (as would be the case with the Pecos Road alignment), Gila River Indigenous Community residents quickly formulated plans for a new referendum that would exclude the "no build" option, leaving only "yes on Gila River or no on Gila River." The tribal government rejected this proposal in July 2013. As late as September 2013, the freeway still faced active opposition. A non-profit group called the Gila River Alliance for a Clean Environment filed a civil-rights complaint with ADOT in July, claiming the freeway would disproportionately and adversely affect tribe members. A freeway opposition group called Protecting Arizona's Resources and Children planned an environmental lawsuit. And the
Environmental Protection Agency A biophysical environment is a biotic and abiotic surrounding of an organism or population, and consequently includes the factors that have an influence in their survival, development, and evolution. A biophysical environment can vary in scale ...
in August 2013 raised several objections to the state's 12-year, $21 million draft environmental impact statement that had deemed construction of the freeway to be more beneficial to the environment, by improving traffic flow and thus reducing pollution, than building no freeway at all. The EPA claimed that the statement contained overly optimistic traffic projections, did not sufficiently address air quality concerns, and could harm neighboring communities and environmental resources. By April 2017, ADOT had purchased , or 90% of the land needed for the freeway. While construction was underway in 2017 on both ends of the freeway segment, no work had occurred on a five-mile (8 km) center segment adjacent to
South Mountain South Mountain or South Mountains may refer to: Canada * South Mountain, a village in North Dundas, Ontario * South Mountain (Nova Scotia), a mountain range * South Mountain (band), a Canadian country music group United States Landforms * Sout ...
until a final decision was made by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. A ruling was released in mid-2018 in the action brought by the Gila River Indigenous Community. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals rejected Gila River Indigenous Community's claims in December 2017.


Construction

In March 2015, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) issued a Record of Decision approving the project and selecting a build alternative. ADOT immediately thereafter commenced right-of-way acquisition and the procurement of final design and construction services in the form of a design-build-maintain contractor or "developer." The developer will have been selected at the end of 2015 (actual date was a couple months after) and freeway construction will have begun in early 2016 (construction started later that same year), with the Chandler Boulevard extension project to facilitate local access beginning in summer 2015. However, new lawsuits in June 2015 from the group Protecting Arizona's Resources and Children, the
Sierra Club The Sierra Club is an environmental organization with chapters in all 50 United States, Washington D.C., and Puerto Rico. The club was founded on May 28, 1892, in San Francisco, California, by Scottish-American preservationist John Muir, who b ...
, and the Gila River Indigenous Community threatened to delay the freeway's construction. On August 26, 2015, ADOT started demolition of the first houses along the route for the South Mountain Freeway (Congressman Ed Pastor Freeway). On February 27, 2016, the contract to design, build, and maintain the freeway was awarded to Connect 202 Partners, a joint venture led by Fluor Corporation, with Fluor,
Granite Construction Granite Construction Inc. is a civil construction company and aggregate producer, a member of the S&P 600 Index based and founded in Watsonville, California , and is the parent corporation of Granite Construction Company. The company is both a ...
, Ames Construction, and Parsons Brinckerhoff being responsible for the final design and construction, and with Fluor and DBi Services, LLC being responsible for maintenance for 30 years. The first phase of construction of the South Mountain Freeway (Congressman Ed Pastor Freeway) began on September 19, 2016, with improvements to the I-10/Loop 202 (Santan Freeway) interchange. In early 2017, ADOT announced an updated design for the freeway, including Arizona's first
diverging diamond interchange A diverging diamond interchange (DDI), also called a double crossover diamond interchange (DCD), is a subset of diamond interchange in which the opposing directions of travel on the non- freeway road cross each other on either side of the in ...
s at Desert Foothills Parkway and 17th Avenue; a reconfiguration near 51st Avenue that moved the freeway interchange to Estrella Drive in order to avoid a GRIC well; and a pedestrian bridge to connect the Del Rio subdivisions bisected by the freeway. The freeway opened to traffic in late 2019 as originally planned, with construction being finalized in early 2020. The shared used path between 40th Street and 17th Avenue along the south side of the freeway and the 32nd Street interchange were both opened to the general public on October 31, 2020. The final part of Loop 202 to open was the diamond interchange with Lindsay Road (exit 43) on the SanTan Freeway section in
Gilbert Gilbert may refer to: People and fictional characters *Gilbert (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters *Gilbert (surname), including a list of people Places Australia * Gilbert River (Queensland) * Gilbert River (South A ...
. Initially not a part of the existing freeway, the interchange was planned through a partnership with ADOT and the town government in order to provide direct access to the central business district and other surrounding businesses and neighborhoods. Construction on the interchange began in January 2021 and the interchange opened to traffic on September 15, 2022, following a ribbon-cutting ceremony.


Exit list


Spur route

State Route 202 Spur (Arizona Spur 202) is an unsigned state highway located in Phoenix. It begins at the Red Mountain Freeway (Loop 202) at exit 5. It continues west, intersecting the Hohokam Expressway (SR 143) and ends at
Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport is a civil–military public airport east of downtown Phoenix, in Maricopa County, Arizona, United States. It is Arizona's largest and busiest airport, and among the largest commercial airports in t ...
. This is an unsigned route, marked by westbound exit signs from Loop 202 as Sky Harbor Boulevard. The spur route was commissioned in 1993.


Major intersections


See also

* * * Roads and freeways in metropolitan Phoenix * Loop 101 * Loop 303 * Public-private partnerships in the United States


References


External links


Current ADOT information on the Congressman Ed Pastor Freeway


{{Authority control 202 202 Transportation in Maricopa County, Arizona Gilbert, Arizona Transportation in Chandler, Arizona Transportation in Mesa, Arizona Transportation in Tempe, Arizona Public–private partnership projects in the United States