August 12, 2022 Update
Quality infrastructure is a critical component of any successful community. A public trust in ensuring residents, visitors and business owners can efficiently and safely travel throughout our Gilbert community is at the heart of what we do.
ST0990 represents a transportation improvement project that is designed to meet not just current needs but future needs of Gilbert. Feedback provided by property owners within the project area is important to this goal. Additionally, to the greatest extent possible, this project endeavors to meet these needs in a manner that also aligns with other connecting segments of the Ocotillo Road corridor and just as importantly, meets the needs of the entire Gilbert community.
There have been a few requests for an update on this project. Since the project team began reaching out to the community this spring, there have been 98 comments. Given the volume of and varying nature of the feedback, the project team sent two notifications in June and July to those who signed up to receive information, informing property owners that the team was working to address the extensive feedback and would provide updates once that effort was completed.
The majority of the comments appear to fall into 4 areas of inquiry/request:
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Why a Minor Arterial?
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Please explain the various uses planned within the right of way (ROW);
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Can the ROW width be reduced; and
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Please eliminate the proposed sidewalks and/or multi-use paths.
Ocotillo Road has been identified as a Minor Arterial in Town and Maricopa County transportation planning documents since 2004/2005. Traffic modeling summarized in the 2014 Town of Gilbert Transportation Master Plan (TMP) indicates that increasing traffic volumes projected for the subject reach of Ocotillo Road will result in a deterioration in the roadway’s ability to provide an adequate Level of Service (LOS) ) in the near future. That deterioration will require expansion to the Minor Arterial cross section. Traffic modeling prepared for the updated (2022) TMP shows traffic levels higher than what were anticipated in the 2014 TMP.
Since the 1990’s, the Town’s Minor Arterial cross section has included 65’ of ROW for each ½ of the roadway and the Ocotillo Road Improvement Project began moving forward based on that standard. With the feedback received, the project team was asked to revisit these ROW standards and determine whether or not a reduced ROW in this corridor could still accommodate present day and future critical infrastructure needs. This analysis is time-consuming and complex because there are multiple Town of Gilbert uses contained within this ROW as well as additional external users of this ROW. As a result, the project team’s analysis is not yet complete. It should be completed within the coming weeks and will be shared with the public at that time.
At the time this additional analysis was launched, the project team requested the County to pause initiating any further appraisals. The limited number of appraisals that had already been initiated with permission of the property owner were allowed to continue.
We share your goal of keeping Gilbert a thriving, vibrant and great place to live, with a community feel and quality of life that is truly exceptional. We understand that this time of waiting has been frustrating for some and ask for your understanding. Our goal is to provide the optimal design after consideration of all the relevant factors.
