Frustrated by congestion, Queen Creek residents demand promised State Route 24 funding
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Two main northbound streets take Queen Creek and San Tan Valley residents into the metro Phoenix area, and both are quickly outgrowing their capacity.
To alleviate that traffic congestion, an extension of State Route 24 has long been envisioned as critical. It also serves to add value to vacant state-trust land earmarked for major development, local leaders say.
The state distributed $87.5 million as part of the current fiscal year budget to Queen Creek for the project. The town, Pinal County and the Arizona Department of Transportation would join forces to extend State Route 24 and build an interchange at Ironwood Drive.
A Pinal County analysis found that 98% of residents in the San Tan Valley region commute west for work. Other traffic studies show Ellsworth Road and Ironwood Drive already carry more traffic than they are designed for, and that without state Route 24 they would have the worst possible congestion rating within six years.
Between 2030 and 2040, traffic on the five-mile stretch of State Route 24 is anticipated to grow by nearly 143%.
But state politics are starting to get in the way of those plans, and local planners warn that delays could force them to redo key traffic studies.
Residents are frustrated with the delays and demand State Route 24 to alleviate the “congestion mess” in the southeast region.
Queen Creek resident Nancie Naylor is angry at the political impasse and said that Ellsworth Road is like a parking lot. "We’re treated like the red-headed stepchild,” she said.
Months of delays to an agreement between the town and ADOT prompted Queen Creek Mayor Julia Wheatley to write two letters to Gov. Katie Hobbs' office to release the funds to the town. In one letter, Mesa Mayor John Giles and Apache Junction Mayor Chip Wilson, along with Pinal Supervisor Jeff Serdy signed.
"The freeway's development on the State Trust lands ... will promote economic development opportunities and provide relief to the Valley's housing crisis through the access of considerable developable land," the letter from Jan. 2 stated.
Facing a more than $1 billion deficit in the state budget over two years, Hobbs proposed several “clawbacks," including the $87.5 million reserved for the vital highway link. State Rep. Neal Carter, R-Queen Creek, said he’s not willing to approve a budget that cuts the project.
For Wheatley and the town, the buildout isn’t just a backyard project but a key piece to develop more than 4,000 acres of state-trust land that is earmarked for industrial development.
To the north of State Route 24 in Apache Junction, more than 10,000 homes are in the pipeline in the Superstitions Vistas master-planned community. The improved and extended highway would help open up that area for growth.
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Why the holdup of funds?
It would be the last Maricopa County freeway connecter to the southeast Valley. Planned to be built over five phases, it’s currently at an interim Phase 2 as a four-lane freeway with signal-light traffic intersections from Williams Field Road to Ironwood Drive.
The long-term goal is to have State Route 24 connect to the U.S. 60. with two lanes in each direction to create an east-to-west corridor. The right-of-way for the route would be 400 feet to accommodate future widening.
Pinal County applied for a federal transportation grant in 2022, requesting more than $300 million to accomplish that goal. The county estimated the total project cost to be more than half a billion dollars but failed to win grant support last year.
To date, $283 million has been spent on state Route 24 between Loop 202 and Ironwood Drive, according to the Maricopa Association of Governments, or MAG. The highway could have another $119 million in funding to further build out that five-mile section to grade standards if Maricopa County voters in November approve Proposition 479, an extension to a countywide half-cent sales tax.
“There is no funding for the State Route 24 east of Ironwood (Drive) with the exception of this state appropriations,” Heather Wilkey, Queen Creek’s intergovernmental relations director, said.
After Hobbs signed the bill in May that approved funding for State Route 24, the town and ADOT began drafting an agreement. A revised contract deviated from ADOT’s standard agreements with language to reflect the town's role in funding the project, Wilkey said. Those provisions elevated the contract to the governor’s office and later to the Arizona Department of Administration for approval, causing months of delays.
In December, Wheatley wrote a letter to the governor’s office voicing her concern for the delays to the release of the funds.
The town was not made aware the funding would be cut in Hobbs’ executive budget. Wheatley said neither she nor the town have had any communication with Hobbs or her office about this issue.
Wheatley and Wilkey worry the delay will diminish the buying power for the $87.5 million in part because of inflation.
An economic link
In 2019, the town approved a pre-annexation development agreement with the State Land Department for nearly 4,150 acres.
LG Energy Solutions is the first purchaser of that state land trust and will invest more than $5 billion to build a battery plant manufacturing facility. The company has already begun preparing to break ground on the facility.
“We’re also having significant interest from high-profile advance manufacturers looking to locate in that region as well,” Wheatley said.
Having access to the state route in that area makes the land more attractive and increases the value, she said. Profit from state land trust sales largely benefits K-12 schools.
Queen Creek Chamber of Commerce President Chris Clark said he hopes the buildout of the state route aligns with the industrial development and that is crucial to “get people moving on that.”
He called State Route 24 a “vital link” to the economy. “The more jobs we bring to Queen Creek the less commuting that there is,” he said.
Residents experience traffic woes
Naylor works from her Queen Creek home most days but when she needs to meet with clients she dreads the drive and tries to work around peak traffic hours. She and her neighbors share on social media word about any major traffic slowdowns to help each other maneuver the roads.
During rush hour, Ellsworth Road, one of the two main arterial streets to commute west, is like a parking lot, she said.
She credits the town for doing its best to add surface streets but is disappointed and angry the state government is pulling out the funding for State Route 24.
"(Hobbs) doesn't even give us the time of day to give us more than two interchange lanes and options on this," she said. "I'm just furious at the fact that she thinks this is so insignificant."
San Tan Valley resident Jeanne Stockton also feels that she is getting brushed aside to fund Maricopa County projects.
“We don’t get the funding we need but the ‘state of Maricopa’ gets all the funding they need,” she said.
Fed up with spending on studies that plan for the roads, Stockton said it's time to put the roads in place.
The state of the roads by the numbers
Queen Creek is one of the country’s fastest-growing communities next to San Tan Valley, another large unincorporated community.
Between the two communities, they make up a population of about 186,000 residents, according to data from the U.S. Census reporter.
The Maricopa Association of Governments projects the average daily traffic volume on State Route 24 to Ironwood Drive will be:
28,000 vehicles per day in 2030
68,000 vehicles per day in 2040
85,000 vehicles per day in 2050.
MAG also projects the stretch on State Route 24 between the Loop 202 and Ellsworth Road interchange could reach 93,000 vehicles per day in 2030.
ADOT’s most recent data for the stretch on State Route 24 between the Loop 202 and Ellsworth Road interchange averages 59,728 vehicles per day.
Surface roads are also seeing large vehicle per day volumes.
Along Ellsworth Road between Germann and Pecos roads, there are about 57,000 vehicles per day trips, according to data provided by Queen Creek.
At the other main entrance of State Route 24 at Ironwood Drive between Pecos Road there are 44,100 vehicles per day trips, according to data provided by Queen Creek.
A joint study between Pinal County and Queen Creek found that the capacity of a four-lane road is about 35,000 vehicles per day.
Without the extension of State Route 24 and the Central Arizona Parkway by 2030, the town estimates the two main arterials would reach an F level of service.
The definition of that level means the traffic flow is forced or broken and occurs when it is approaching its capacity.
Queen Creek Public Works Director Mohamed Youssef in a presentation to the Town Council, said without the extension of State Route 24 the projections and studies would become “invalid.”
Reporter Maritza Dominguez covers Mesa, Gilbert and Queen Creek and can be reached at maritza.dominguez@arizonarepublic.com or 480-271-0646. Follow her on X, formerly Twitter: @maritzacdom.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Queen Creek residents were promised an $87.5M buildout of Route 24
