Mesquite VB star a coach
Higley ponders bond vote
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An edition of the East Valley Tribune
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Gilbert Design Board OKs controversial adventure park plan
Sunday, April 11, 2021
New command Gen. Kerry Muehlenbeck, a Gilbert resident, addressed reporters last Thursday after Gov. Doug Ducey named her adjutant general of the Arizona National Guard – the first woman in Arizona to hold that post. For details, see p. 12.
BY CECILIA CHAN GSN Managing Editor
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COMMUNITY......... 19 Gilbert cancer victim a telethon star.
A
n outdoor family fun center with a go-kart racing track overcame furious neighbors’ objections last week from nearby residents concerned with noise and plans to open by the end of the year. Planning Commissioner members, acting as the Design Review Board, last Wednesday voted 5-2 to approve the site plan for Santan Adventure Park, which will also include an 18-hole miniature golf course and a free public splash pad. The project sits on 4 acres at Crossroads District Park at
Gilbert travel agent circumnavigates pandemic.
COMMUNITY....................................... 19 BUSINESS..............................................21 SPORTS....................................... 25 PUZZLE....................................... 27 CLASSIFIED..........................................28
see SANTAN page 4
Revenue squeeze puts brakes on ADOT plans BY PAUL MARYNIAK GSN Executive Editor
BUSINESS..................21
(Howard Fischer/ Capitol Media Services)
M
ore electric and fuel-efficient motor vehicles and a gas tax that hasn’t been changed in 30 years are making it increasingly more difficult for Arizona to provide a highway system that can serve its rapidly rising population. During a briefing last month for the PHX East Valley Partnership, Floyd Roehrich Jr., an executive officer of the Arizona Department of Transportation, said shrinking revenue has
cut by a third the state’s annual spending on its highway system. As annual revenue has shrunk from $1.6 billion to about $1 billion, ADOT is focusing its dollars on preserving the state’s highway network and cutting back on projects that upgrade or extend it. “We’re trying to deal with an ever-increasing demand on the system of growing state, but the revenue stream for it has not kept up with those demands,” Roehrich told the business and community leaders who are part of EVP.
But that won’t impact two of the biggest projects looming on the horizon for Gilbert motorists over the next five years. One is work on the SanTan Loop 202 Freeway. That includes widening the freeway to two lanes in each direction between the Loop 101 Price Freeway and Gilbert Road; one lane in each direction between Val Vista Drive and Gilbert Road; and completing the Lindsay Road-freeway interchange. The other is the three-year, $600 million
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