P.25| |OPINION OPINIONP.34| P.36 BUSINESS BUSINESS P.37 P.42|REAL |REALESTATE ESTATERE1| INSIDE: COMMUNITY P.20| P.27| AROUND AF P.31 P.RE1|GETOUT GETOUTP.47 P.41| | SPORTS SPORTSP.55| P.45|CLASSIFIED CLASSIFIED P.58 P.47 INSIDE: COMMUNITY
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PRIDE PRODUCTION
Wednesday, February 6, 2019
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fter years of anticipation – or dread, depending on how you feel about the South Mountain Freeway – Pecos Road will start disappearing next week, bringing with it nearly a year’s worth of traffic disruptions for motorists who use it. Come 5 a.m. next Monday, a 2-mile stretch of Pecos between 17th Avenue and Desert Foothills Parkway will be closed and traffic will be diverted onto a piece of the actual South Mountain Freeway, though that piece
will be far narrower than the finished product will be. “This is a huge step for the project,” said Dustin Krugel, spokesman for the Arizona Department of Transportation. “It’s a big and necessary step because we’ve hardly been able to do anything with the 17th Avenue interchange.” Of course, there’s no gain without pain where most road projects are concerned, and this one is no exception. Traffic in both directions will be diverted from two lanes of Pecos Road both ways onto one lane in each direction on the free-
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Street light conversion complete in Ahwatukee
KNIGHTS ON THE TOWN
BY PAUL MARYNIAK AFN Executive Editor
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@AhwatukeeFN
Long goodbye begins for Pecos Road BY PAUL MARYNIAK AFN Executive Editor
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@AhwatukeeFN |
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f you’ve noticed the streets in Ahwatukee seem a little brighter at night, don’t worry: it’s not your eyesight. New LED lights have been installed not only along all of Ahwatukee’s streets but on most throughout Phoenix. And while the project began less than two years ago, Streets Transportation Department spokeswoman Monica Hernandez said the city has replaced about 86,000 of its 100,000 high-pressure sodium lights with 2,700-kelvin LED lights. Kelvin is a unit of temperature, and scientists say the higher the number, the more dangerous the lights. Ahwatukee’s lights have all been converted, according to an interactive map showing the progress of the project on the Phoenix government website at http:// files.evari.io/PhoenixStreetlightViewer. And that doesn’t make at least one resident too happy.
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John Broussal, who lives near Ranch Circle North Drive, said he worries about the impact of the new lights not only on nocturnal wildlife but on residents as well. Last November he wrote interim Mayor Thelda Williams and Councilman Sal DiCiccio, complaining about the “obtrusive glow more associated with that of a lit-up football stadium” and expressed concern that “the piercing glare of the 2,700 kelvin lamp is extremely uncomfortable to the human eye, and is a safety factor to drivers.” Andrea Gaston, a staffer for Williams, sent a reply stating, “The Mayor appreciates your input and the amount of research you have done on the topic. Your engagement in the process is welcomed and your comments have been noted. As you are probably aware, a contact number and email address have been created for those seeking additional information, or wishing to relay concerns, regarding the LED Street Lights. Thank you again.”
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way segment. Traffic to and from 17th Avenue will be using what will become an off-ramp on the interchange while traffic at Desert Foothills Parkway will be using what will eventually be a freeway on-ramp. While each direction of the South Mountain Freeway will have three lanes plus an HOV lane, motorists will only be seeing a fraction of that on the segment. They’ll be diverted onto only half of the eastbound lanes – one lane in each direction – and “will see a lot of open space for now,”
(Pablo Robles/AFN Staff Photographer)
Eva Perry, 7, of Ahwatukee, attended Kyrene School District’s Day of Play at Aprende Middle School Jan. 27. For a report on what the distrct is doing and has done for thousands of Kyrene students, see Superintendent Jan Vesely’s State of Kyrene report on p. 36.
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