In the first week of July, a reader emailed me asking what was happening with the plan to build a new freeway through Avra Valley as part of the Canamex Corridor.
The last time I wrote about the idea, panning it for its environmental threats, was in May 2019 and I hadn't followed the progress since. My breezy response to the reader: "I had the sense previously that it was at least dormant, if not dead."
Boy was I wrong.
The idea of building a new freeway through Avra Valley, it turns out, is the idea that won't die. It's floated around for more than a decade as a Tucson bypass route, and as part of a Mexico-to-Canada trade corridor. It got renewed life this month.Β
On July 16, state and federal officials released an environmental impact study on Interstate 11, as the new highway is known, from Nogales to Wickenburg.
The plan has two options for the Tucson area: Adding capacity along the I-10 corridor in Tucson, or building a new I-11 in Avra Valley.
Yep, the idea is still kicking around.
Laura Douglas, the Arizona Department of Transportation spokeswoman on the project, framed it this way when I spoke with her Friday. The fact that the Avra Valley route is one of two alternatives is a change from when the draft impact study came out in 2019. At that time, Avra Valley was the sole recommended route.
"We got a lot of comments," Douglas said. "We listened, and people did not want us to put that corridor through that western section," meaning Avra Valley.
That continues to be the strong drift of opinion as reflected in the current environmental impact study. It's a "Tier 1" study, which means that a "Tier 2" study has to take place on any section of the project before it is built.
The fact that it's still there on paper, though, means the project is possible, even if most people seem to dislike it.Β
Among the thousands of citizen comments included in the current study, those opposing the Avra Valley route are among the most numerous. In more recent comments, the federal agencies, too, either oppose or highly question the Avra Valley route.Β
Among the citizens making a strong case, in June 2019, was Liesl Scheffel, of Marana: "This proposed roadway will turn a quiet rural area into a freeway. But more concerning are the impacts to the Greater Tucson area. The proposed route goes very close to Saguaro National Park and the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, both of which are huge tourist draws in the area. Negative impact on these areas will have a negative impact on the economy of Southern Arizona.
"In addition to the economic impact, this route will be disruptive to wildlife and the people who live in the area. I truly cannot understand why an Interstate route would be planned around Tucson instead of widening the existing interstate and thereby pumping needed money into the Tucson economy, especially since the proposed interstate rejoins I-10 north of Tucson."
This is the tenor of the citizen comments that convinced ADOT and the Federal Highway Administration to put a corridor through Tucson back into the plan. Federal agencies carried the same tune in response to the current study.Β
They especially blasted the plan to put the new freeway through the Tucson Mitigation Corridor. This is a 2,514-acre parcel, purchased by the Bureau of Reclamation in 1987 to mitigate the effects of the new Central Arizona Project Canal on wildlife.Β
Over time this mitigation corridor, confusingly referred to as the "TMC" (like Tucson Medical Center), has been designed to funnel wildlife through seven crossings of the CAP canal.
A Department of Interior reviewer wrote: "The true value of the TMC is the functional and critical role the property plays in maintaining the primary wildlife movement corridor between the Tucson Mountains and west across Avra Valley to the Roskruge Mountains and Ironwood Forest National Monument. The corridor supports multiple biological processes that are critical to the ecological health of Saguaro National Park and Tucson Mountain Park."
"The West Option through Avra Valley would defeat the purpose of the TMC," the reviewer concluded.
The Arizona Game and Fish Department, National Park Service, Coronado National Forest, Bureau of Reclamation and other agencies weighed in with similar blasts about the effects of the proposed freeway on the mitigation corridor or Saguaro National Park, among other properties.
Despite the paucity of supporters, though, the idea persists.
Looking for supporters, I asked the Arizona Trucking Association if they want a new freeway built through Avra Valley. President and CEO Tony Bradley told me his group doesn't really care.
"Weβre supportive of the I-11 corridor being built," he said. "We havenβt taken a position on any specific routes."
The Tucson City Council and Pima County Board of Supervisors have passed resolutions opposing a freeway through Avra Valley. But the county's resolution passed in 2007; the city passed its resolution in June 2019. And the county's resolve seems wobbly.
In July 2019, County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry sent a response to the draft environmental impact statement that preceded the current study, saying, essentially the county opposes the Avra Valley route unless its impacts can be mitigated and suburban sprawl prevented. That's not as strong as the board's blanket opposition in 2007.
Even Sharon Bronson, the supervisor who represents Avra Valley, declined to reject the idea completely when I talked to her Thursday.
"Whether you go through downtown or you go through Avra Valley, itβs an expensive proposition, and thereβs no money," she said.
Carolyn Campbell, of the Coalition for Sonoran Desert Protection, suspects that it's the federal highway administration and the state department of transportation, channeling the wishes of the governor's office, who are keeping the idea alive. The county, she says, now seems ambivalent despite the 2007 resolution.Β
"Itβs never over till itβs over," she said. "I donβt know if it will ever be over, because this keeps coming back, decade after decade."
That's frustrating, considering that it's an expensive project hardly anybody wants.Β
