US 93 In Arizona Progress

[Great Lakes Roads]

Two more roundabouts are coming to the US 93 corridor in Wickenburg as part of a widening project to close the existing gap.

The proposed work is located in Yavapai County, on US 93, between mileposts 189.9 and 194.2, approximately 6 miles north of Wickenburg. The proposed work consists of reconstructing the existing 2-lane roadway to a 4-lane divided highway with a frontage road and two roundabouts. Additional work includes construction of a new concrete girder bridge, installation of pipe culverts and extension of concrete box culverts, replacement of guardrail and guardrail terminals, placement of new signing and pavement markings, and other related work.

It's expected to be let on December 18th.

[KeithE4Phx]

Two more roundabouts are coming to the US 93 corridor in Wickenburg as part of a widening project to close the existing gap.

The proposed work is located in Yavapai County, on US 93, between mileposts 189.9 and 194.2, approximately 6 miles north of Wickenburg. The proposed work consists of reconstructing the existing 2-lane roadway to a 4-lane divided highway with a frontage road and two roundabouts. Additional work includes construction of a new concrete girder bridge, installation of pipe culverts and extension of concrete box culverts, replacement of guardrail and guardrail terminals, placement of new signing and pavement markings, and other related work.

It's expected to be let on December 18th.

I have to ass-u-me that this stretch will be south of where a future I-11 may/will be spun off the current US 93?

[splashflash]

Two more roundabouts are coming to the US 93 corridor in Wickenburg as part of a widening project to close the existing gap.

The proposed work is located in Yavapai County, on US 93, between mileposts 189.9 and 194.2, approximately 6 miles north of Wickenburg. The proposed work consists of reconstructing the existing 2-lane roadway to a 4-lane divided highway with a frontage road and two roundabouts. Additional work includes construction of a new concrete girder bridge, installation of pipe culverts and extension of concrete box culverts, replacement of guardrail and guardrail terminals, placement of new signing and pavement markings, and other related work.

It's expected to be let on December 18th.

I have to ass-u-me that this stretch will be south of where a future I-11 may/will be spun off the current US 93?

Depends on the Ph2 report.  Vista Royale residents want I-11 to turn south at Mike 186 while original plans were closer to Mile 190.
See https://www.protectourwickenburglifestyle.com/

[The Ghostbuster]

Which alternative might be the most likely one chosen?

[howlincoyote2k1]

So even when I-11 is done, traffic actually going to Phoenix is gonna have to get off the freeway and slog through NINE roundabouts in Wickenburg and take Grand Avenue down into Phoenix, or add 20+ miles to the trip to connect directly to I-10.

Well done, ADOT. Outdid yourselves on this one.

[Bobby5280]

Well done, ADOT. Outdid yourselves on this one.

ADOT ,or more likely: elected lawmakers giving ADOT its marching orders, designed the path of the I-11 route based on input from real estate business speculators rather than regular people who live in the Phoenix metro area.

Seeding real estate development is why the proposed I-11 route has its batshit illogical turn due South at Wickenburg. That's why I-11 is proposed to meet I-10 way out West of the White Tank Mountains. The connection with I-10 is even West of the AZ-85/I-10 interchange. Various planned communities are being proposed along Sun Valley Parkway. That's 15 miles West of Loop 303. The thinking is if a new Interstate highway is diverted away from Phoenix and into that area it might accelerate the pace of development and developers making money.

There are problems with this plan. First, I-11 isn't going to get finished anytime soon. It may take decades for it to be completed. In the meantime the United States is in the early stages of a serious, long-term demographic downturn. By the time I-11 is built down to meet I-10 West of Buckeye the residential real estate situation will be very different.

A bunch of these housing developments were designed with baby boomer aged people in mind. The older boomers are starting to die off and many others are empty-nesters reaching the point where they're wanting to sell their big homes and down-size. Generation X is half the size of the boomer age group. Millennials are a bigger group, but their marriage and birth rates aren't nearly as high as the boomer generation. Rates of marriages and births are even lower with the Gen-Z group.

What this all means is over the next 20 years we're going to see growing numbers of empty, un-sold homes in small towns as well as remote suburb and exhurb areas of big cities. We're going to stop seeing residential homes increase in value and equity over time. Homes will have a far more difficult time increasing in value happen if the population is shrinking. We'll start seeing lots of McMansions get torn down and replaced with smaller homes designed for child-less couples or single adults. A bunch of high priced homes with high priced maintenance costs and high priced property tax bills West of the White Tank Mountains aren't going to be desirable to very many people. Those developments past the White Tank Mountains could become uninhabitable due to the cost of maintaining utilities infrastructure. If you don't have enough residents to spread out those costs then the whole thing will collapse.

Anyway, by the time I-11 gets completed to its junction point with I-10 it may indeed end up being a road to nowhere.

[Rothman]

I dunno.  I think real estate speculators will prop up prices by buying up any desirable slack.  Already occurring in cities which have high property values...and high out-of-town owner rates.

[Bobby5280]

The people (or firms) we think of as real estate speculators -private equity firms, institutional investors, etc. are currently "unwinding" a bunch of their residential real estate properties. They're not going to hold onto those assets and pay property taxes on those assets if buyers look like they're going to disappear.

The residential real estate industry nation-wide is not in a good spot. Homes are still moving between people who are at the very top of the income scale. Sales are slowing down big-time for everyone else. The rate of slow-down varies from region to region. Much of Florida is now in a severe down-turn. Payment delinquencies and foreclosures are increasing.

One thing keeping home prices propped up in many areas is low interest rate lock-in. Many existing dwellers have no desire to sell their homes to either down-size or upgrade. Their current 30 year mortgage might be 2%. Why trade that for another mortgage above 7%? The situation has artificially worsened housing scarcity in various markets, which leads to higher prices. But home buyer demand is cratering in many areas. This stuff has to balance itself out at some point.

Remote developments like Teravalis or Sun City Festival were planned with a 1980's level mindset -assuming both population growth and wealth would continue to increase decades into the future. For the limited number of people who live out there now it has to be a bitch driving 20 miles or more into Phoenix just to visit a grocery store

[howlincoyote2k1]

At this point, I just hope that we can get some kind of bypass connector built around Wickenburg to connect back up with US 60 to the southeast, just so we can skip all those roundabouts. It's not ideal, but it'll have to do.

I guess at this point the dream of an actual, direct Interstate connection between Las Vegas and Phoenix (not Buckeye, not Tonopah, not Gila Bend, not Casa Grande....PHOENIX. You know, the BIG dot on the map) is pretty well dead.

[Max Rockatansky]

Sometimes I wonder what you folks would have thought of the entirety of US 93 in Arizona being comprised of two lanes.  The older traffic light configurations through downtown Wickenburg (Tegner Street) were no treat either.  2009 is when the current alignment opened.

[splashflash]

Sometimes I wonder what you folks would have thought of the entirety of US 93 in Arizona being comprised of two lanes.  The older traffic light configurations through downtown Wickenburg (Tegner Street) were no treat either.  2009 is when the current alignment opened.   

There's a news story still online about this.  Some businesses loathed the "bypass".

https://tucson.com/news/state-and-regional/article_f4564f11-99d7-5794-ac39-ac0a721a6547.html

[Max Rockatansky]

Sometimes I wonder what you folks would have thought of the entirety of US 93 in Arizona being comprised of two lanes.  The older traffic light configurations through downtown Wickenburg (Tegner Street) were no treat either.  2009 is when the current alignment opened.   

There's a news story still online about this.  Some businesses loathed the "bypass".

https://tucson.com/news/state-and-regional/article_f4564f11-99d7-5794-ac39-ac0a721a6547.html

To my knowledge Tegner has never been relinquished and is classified by ADOT as US 93X.