There was an interesting article in the Ahwatukee Foothills News the other day talking about how frustration over the proposed South Mountain Freeway extended to ADOT's advisory team.  Nice to know that those of us living in Ahwatukee are not the only ones that are frustrated by the proposal and it's impact on our community.

It turns out, that the plan to build the freeway was created in 1988 and has not been updated since then!  It appears that assumptions were made in 1988 that are not true, or are no longer true. One of the big fundamental assumptions being challenged is the environmental impact of blasting 4 million cubic yards of rock out of South Mountain Park to make room for the freeway.  Apparently the impact of this blasting on water runoff and overall geology has not been explored.

So, let's look at Ahwatukee in 1988 when the plan was drawn up, and Ahwatukee as it stands today.  The population of our community has doubled in that time, and the homes that are going to be impacted by the freeway were not even built back then.  I am amazed that ADOT would even be talking about building this freeway through an area that looks nothing like it did when the plan was first drawn up!  They are talking about spending $1.7 billion on this freeway and they do not have an accurate view of the impact on the environment or on the families living any where near the area where the proposed freeway is going to run.

The more I learn about this, the more ludicrous the whole scenario seems.