We’ve already had people expire because there’s no roads to this area and I can’t stress to you how hard it is. From my house I can see Mountain View.”

Supervisor Todd House

By Richard Dyer
Twitter: @RHDyer

Establishing 2.9 miles of Mountain View Road as a county highway from State Route 88 to Broadway Avenue and also 1.4 miles of Jacob Waltz Street from Mountain View to Holmes Road was approved recently by the Pinal County Board of Supervisors.

A portion of Mountain View Road in the City of Apache Junction, which is owned by the Arizona State Land Department, was closed to traffic several years ago.

Supervisor Todd House said he has lived in the area since the 1980s when there were four roads in and out. Now there is only one way in or out, he said prior to the vote.

“This issue got me into politics. This is what started my political career,” he said at the meeting.

“What instigated this last go-around was I received a petition from --- now it’s about 148 --- people saying that they want a second egress and ingress from the area. That’s what instigated this most-recent attempt at doing it,” he said.

It will make it a safer area for the residents, he said.

“We’ve already had people expire because there’s no roads to this area and I can’t stress to you how hard it is. From my house I can see Mountain View,” he said.

Resolution approved

The supervisors voted unanimously June 3 to approve a resolution on bringing the roads into county jurisdiction.

“The establishment of the roadways described below as county highways gives the county authority to appropriate public funds to be spent on said highways and to lay out, maintain, control and manage said highways,” the resolution states.

“(T)he board has considered the feasibility, advantages and necessity of establishing the roadways described below as county highways and has determined that establishing such roadways as county highways is a public necessity,” it states.

Public hearing held

Residents of Apache Junction and unincorporated Pinal County spoke in favor and against the project during a public hearing prior to the vote. For written comments, there were 15 in favor and 14 against, the supervisors were told by the clerk of the board.

Some members of the public asked why the county was working on the road prior to the vote.

Pinal County Traffic Support Technician Joseph Ortiz said surveyors were on-site and dirt had to be brought in to get trucks in.

“We did actually have our surveyors go out there in anticipation of hopefully getting the road approved, only because there’s a timing issue with scheduling our crews and so it’s either we get them scheduled now or we got to wait and have to wait until next spring,” he said to the board.

“And, that was part of that dumping --- it was basically to get access for that survey truck to get in there. And, all it was, was just two or three dumps. That was it. At that point they cut it off and they’re done. We’re waiting to hear from today,” Mr. Ortiz said.

A portion of the roads are slated to be upgraded with a double chip seal and erosion-control measures at a cost of $250,000, he said.

Crystal Ruthko, a resident of unincorporated Pinal County who lives in the area, is disappointed at the decision by the supervisors, she said in an e-mail after the vote.

“This is greatly disappointing that they went ahead with this. Even after all the facts pointed to it not being fully resolved or to even consider the public’s view on this,” she said.

“They had already planned on starting construction on the roads for June 8, so I am sure our voices of concern was in vain. I hope the state steps in and stops this until it is resolved,” Ms. Ruthko said.

Subdivisions with more than 30 homes should have at least two ways in and out, Superstition Fire and Medical District Chief Mike Farber said to the board.

During a recent brush fire, residents of the area had only one way to get out of the area, he said.

“As you could see when we had the Lost Dutchman Fire, there was panic and certainly there isn’t” a second way out, Chief Farber said.

Opening the road will reduce the response time for crews to get to medical and fire emergencies at homes in the area, he said.

“My responsibility is community safety. That road used to always be open and we used to take our fire trucks there,” Chief Farber said.

The district-wide average response time is four minutes and 13 seconds. For the area near Mountain View Road, it is a 11-minute average response time from the closest fire station, with 5.2 miles to travel, he said.

If Mountain View Road was opened, the average response time would be roughly five minutes and 30 seconds to go 2.7 miles, Chief Farber said.

“That five minutes and 30 seconds is a lot of time. Time equals tissue in the brain,” he said.

Richard Dyer
Managing Editor | East Valley
@RHDyer

rdyer@iniusa.org

Richard Dyer has worked at Independent Newsmedia, Inc.. USA, since 1987. Since 2009, he has worked as a volunteer to design The Blue Guitar Magazine, Blue Guitar Jr. magazine and Unstrung magazine, which are projects of The Arizona Consortium for the Arts; and since 2014, has been overseeing the art submissions. He also is an artist of welded-steel sculptures, selling his artwork at juried and non-juried art shows