That hasn’t been the case.
Pima County officials are moving forward with plans to widen La Cañada Drive on the northwest side from Ina Road to Calle Concordia.
 The road widening project along La Cañada between Ina Road and Calle Concordia has drawn ire from some residents who want more sound-proofing walls. |
Most residents along the west side of the widening project have similar concerns, especially over the county’s plan against building a continuous noise mitigation wall along the roadway.
When the project was first approved by the county in 2001, the project called for 13 separated walls. But that plan was shelved due to lack of funding. It was resurrected as part of the 20-year regional transportation plan that was approved by voters in May 2005.
“This corridor is extremely important and is needed,” said Dave Davis, president of the volunteer La Canada Magee Neighborhood Association. “But you need to take care of residents’ concerns when you are going to come through an area.”
Andrew Ford, a Realtor with Coldwell Banker and area resident, said he believed property values in homes that will now sit along a five-lane road will decrease.
“Pima County officials told me to show them the proof that it would,” Ford said. “But you aren’t going to be able to prove it until it is done for a couple years, and while there are other market conditions involved, it is going to be difficult to pinpoint what is having an negative effect on the value of the homes.”
He believes homes along the roadway will not sell easily.
“There is going to be severely less interest to live next to a five-lane road versus a two-lane road,” Ford said. “I imagine we will see more foreclosures of homes along this widened road over the next few years and that in turn will affect everyone in the neighborhood. I get that there’s not a lot of money going around, but that doesn’t make it right.”
To put a continuous wall along the entire project would cost the county an additional $11.5 million, according to Pricilla Cornelio, director of the Pima County Department of Transportation.
“I just don’t have that laying around,” she said. “They ask if we can build the walls slightly shorter or do something with the design to make them less expensive, but even if we were able to cut the costs in half, I still don’t have $5 million laying around I can put into that.”
According to research done before the 2001 plan was developed, 13 noise mitigation walls would be necessary. But that was before the county took into consideration the reduced noise impact of using rubberized asphalt on roadways.
The plan to widen La Cañada Drive had always anticipated using rubberized asphalt.
“When we picked up the project again we conducted another study utilizing this credit and found that only three walls were necessary in this project,” Cornelio said.
That prompted more complaints from nearby residents who wanted the county to stick with the agreed upon 13 walls.
The county has agreed to do that but Cornelio said walls beyond the 13 are “wanted, but not warranted.”
Davis disagrees with the assessment that the county is doing something magnanimous. An engineer with IBM, he says using the county’s own traffic noise model system (TNM 2.5) there should be even more walls. Davis said there are four to six homes that need more noise protection.
“In acoustical physics, when you cut the distance in half from something, sound intensity increases four times,” Davis said. “There’s currently a home 118 feet from the corner of the house to the road, but when it’s all done the home is going to be 55 feet from the road with no wall. Yet across the street, there are homes 150-, 180- and even 200-feet away from the road that will have walls.”
By his calculations, Davis said the county is off by 22 percent on the noise generated from the road.
“I actually went out and measured it and their distance is off by 22 percent, so the sound will be twice as high to the house as they estimate,” he said. “Their response was that it was still within their acceptable range.”
With this miscalculation, Davis said he’s concerned other county estimates won’t not hold up.
“When they upgraded the traffic estimates in 2008, we had already surpassed the estimates they put together in 2001,” Davis said. “That was supposed to be a 20-year projection.”
The La Cañada Drive widening project is currently out for bids. Mike Bertram, project manager with HDR Engineering, said he expects the county to award a contract at the county Board of Supervisor’s meeting on Oct. 6. Utility companies are currently relocating infrastructure along the roadway. Bertram said he anticipates construction will begin either late this year or early next year.
Contact reporter Joe Pangburn at jpangburn@azbiz.com or (520) 295-4259.
Comments
Dave wrote on Oct 2, 2009 1:02 PM:
What the County repeatedly doesn't publish, is that not only is the roadway getting wider, but that it is moving the centerline west by at least 10ft. Beyond that, there is also now wider lanes (14ft), and a wide emergency/multipurpose land(10ft). Additionally, there will be a paved sidewalk, and a separate multi-use/equestrian trail. Everyone knew there was going to be a roadway some day, but it is the County that outgrew the 150ft, not the residents complaining about nothing. THAT is why the Lancasters are loosing 17ft.
With all these changes, is it still fair? Do you know that they can come to your neighborhood next? Don't you think you would wish some sort of privacy/security/noise wall to separate you from these encroaching changes beyond the original scope?
In 2002 and in 2008, petitions were signed and delivered to the County about this issue, they have fallen on deaf ears. The chair of the Community Advisory Committee (CAC) for the project resigned, because PCDOT and C. Huckelberry refuses to listen to the residents. These are new marching orders that Huckelberry is drafting. This is the first road project operating under them, ...coming to a neighborhood near you soon... "
Donna wrote on Oct 1, 2009 11:22 PM:
archcc wrote on Oct 1, 2009 4:32 PM:
Roberto wrote on Sep 30, 2009 11:11 AM:
TucsonJim wrote on Sep 29, 2009 1:47 PM:
As to the noise walls, I completely agree that they are needed by those who are the most impacted. Even using the so-called rubberized asphalt, once the road is widened, the traffic will far exceed the 2001 estimates due to the tremendous number of homes located at the northern end of La Canada in Oro Valley who use La Canada as a major north-south arterial daily. "