The Simpson Stump - May 2019
- Randi and Steven Still
- May 1, 2019
- 2 min read
Hello again fellow Simpson residents!
Changes are afoot across the entire city, and many of them will have an impact on Simpson Neighborhood. I’ll be covering these items briefly in this month’s meeting as well, but wanted to provide a list here, as well as websites where additional information can be found, if available.
Light Rail: Light Rail will likely be on the ballot yet again for the August special election. While the Camelback Road Extension is on indefinite hold currently, the proposed measure will eliminate all planned future extensions. Most of the information is limited to articles for the time being, and will hopefully have more information for July before the election.
Indian School (and Camelback Road) Interchange at I-17: Design is proceeding with a new type of surface street / freeway intersection, of which the first to be installed is expected to be Indian School Road and I-17. This intersection include three levels of traffic, and will provide a means to bypass the intersection entirely while travelling on the interstate as well as on Indian School. This comes at a price as the roadways around these intersections will get extremely wide(8 to 12 lanes), and encroach on adjacent businesses. Camelback is on the list of future roadways to get this type of interchange, but Bethany Home Road is not.
Trees along Bethany Home: Speaking of our northern boundary, many have noticed that new trees have been planted along the median south of Bethany Home, between 23rd and 21st Avenue! This was done as part of Phoenix Streets and Transportation Departments ongoing landscape maintenance and replacement programs. If you have an interest in more trees in and around Simpson, phoenix has a new program looking to create more shade: Citizen Foresters.
Street Designs and Resurfacing: Streets and Transportation also attended our March meeting to speak about their planning activities for next year, particularly in regards to resurfacing or maintaining existing streets. They’re looking for the community’s input to provide problem areas they can evaluate, and schedule work on. This include rough pavement, cracks in the roadway, and potholes. Simpson has streets with one or all of those issues, and we need some help making certain they’re accurately reported!
Camelback Light Rail Corridor: We have mentioned this group in the past, and are active in the current iteration. This is a group of nonprofits and neighborhoods along Camelback Road between Central and I-17 focusing on bringing in development, working to ensure it’s the development that benefits the neighborhoods, and generally improving the quality of life in the area by working with the city on other issues (such as traffic, crime, parks, etc). We would love to have more of a Simpson presence in this group, so if you’re a business owner, member of employee of a nonprofit organization, or an interested resident, please let us know!
Comments