Project History - Loop 202 (South Mountain Freeway)

The Draft EIS examined the potential environmental effects of proposed alternatives for the South Mountain Freeway Project, and where adverse impacts were identified, it discussed measures to mitigate them.

Based on the findings of the Draft EIS, the written and oral comments received during the public hearing held on May 21, 2013, and comments received during the Draft EIS document public comment period that ended on July 24, 2013, ADOT prepared a Final Environmental Impact Statement (Final EIS). Comments received during the Draft EIS public comment period, including those received at the public hearing and community forums, were addressed in the Final EIS.

ADOT invited interested individuals, organizations, and federal, state, and local agencies to comment on the Draft EIS. The document can be downloaded below. The Draft EIS was also available at multiple locations, including public libraries, online and ADOT offices.

Draft Environmental Impact Statement Download

The files below are in PDF format unless otherwise noted. Each complete Draft EIS chapter is available for download and review. Because these are large files, and as an additional security measure, right click and choose Save Target As to save the files to your disk. The chapters are also divided into smaller sections to allow easier download and review of the documents.

Cover, Title Page, Table of Contents Summary Chapter

• Summary Chapter: Background Information
• Summary Chapter: Description of the Proposed Action

Chapter 1: Purpose and Need

• Chapter 1: Purpose of the Document
• Chapter 1: Need and Purpose for the Proposed Action

Chapter 2: Community Coordination

Chapter 3: Alternatives

• Chapter 3: Background and Alternatives Development and Screening
• Chapter 3: Alternatives Studied in Detail and Conclusions

Chapter 4: Affected Environment, Environmental Consequences, and Mitigation

• Chapter 4: Background Information
• Chapter 4: Land Use
• Chapter 4: Social Conditions
• Chapter 4: Title VI and Environmental Justice
• Chapter 4: Displacements and Relocations
• Chapter 4: Economic Impacts
• Chapter 4: Air Quality
• Chapter 4: Noise
• Chapter 4: Water Resources
• Chapter 4: Floodplains
• Chapter 4: Waters of the United States
• Chapter 4: Topography, Geology, and Soils
• Chapter 4, Biological Resources
• Chapter 4: Cultural Resources
• Chapter 4: Prime and Unique Farmlands
• Chapter 4: Hazardous Materials
• Chapter 4: Visual Resources
• Chapter 4: Energy
• Chapter 4: Temporary Construction Impacts
• Chapter 4: Material Sources and Waste Material
• Chapter 4: Irreversible and Irretrievable Commitment of Resources
• Chapter 4: Relationship between Short-term Uses of the Environment and Long-term Productivity
• Chapter 4: Secondary and Cumulative Impacts
• Chapter 4: Conclusions

Chapter 5: Section 4(f) Evaluation

• Chapter 5: Procedures for Protecting Section 6(f) and Section 4(f) Resources
• Chapter 5: Presentation of Section 4(f) Resources, Impacts, and Measures to Minimize Harm
• Chapter 5: Properties Eligible for the National Register of Historic Places
• Chapter 5: Recreational Trails System
• Chapter 5: Public School Recreational Facilities
• Chapter 5: Public Parkland
• Chapter 5: South Mountains and other TCPS

Chapter 6: Comments and Coordination

Preparers, Abbreviations and Acronyms, Glossary, Bibliography and References, and Index

Appendices

• Chapter 1
• Chapter 2
• Chapter 4
• Chapter 5
• Chapter 6

ADOT, FHWA and the study team reviewed over 8,000 comments submitted by the public, stakeholders and agencies during a 90-day Draft Environmental Impact Statement (Draft EIS) review and comment period. All comments, regardless of how they were submitted, were considered and addressed in the Final Environmental Impact Statement (Final EIS), which was publicly released on Sept. 26, 2014, for a review period that closed on Dec. 29, 2014.

The Final EIS formally documents the analysis of potential impacts associated with the preferred alternative, other action alternatives and the No-Action alternative, and it proposes mitigation for all the action alternatives. The Final EIS also incorporates changes based on comments received and updated analysis based on new socioeconomic and traffic projections. Responses to public and agency comments on the Draft EIS can be found in Volume III of the Final EIS.

As part of the public review period for the South Mountain Freeway Final EIS, it was noted that 10 comments submitted in 2013 on the Draft EIS were not documented in the Final EIS. As a result, ADOT and the Federal Highway Administration issued a formal Notice of Omission in the Federal Register on Nov. 7, 2014, and published an Errata to the Final EIS on Nov. 28, 2014. The Errata contained the 10 additional comments to the Draft EIS that were inadvertently not recorded in the Final EIS and also included the responses to those comments.

Final Environmental Impact Statement and Errata Download

The files below are in PDF format unless otherwise noted. Each complete Final EIS chapter is available for download and review. Because these are large files, and as an additional security measure, right-click and choose Save Target As to save the files to your desired location. The chapters are also divided into smaller sections to allow easier download and review of the documents.

• Notice of Omission from the Federal Register
• Final EIS Errata

Volume I, Main Text

• Cover, Title Page, Table of Contents, Prologue
• Summary Chapter
• Chapter 1: Purpose and Need
• Chapter 2: Community Coordination
• Chapter 3: Alternatives
• Chapter 4: Affected Environment, Environmental Consequences, and Mitigation
• Chapter 5: Section 4(f) Evaluation
• Chapter 6: Comments and Coordination
• Preparers, Abbreviations and Acronyms, Glossary, Bibliography and References, and Index

Volume II, Appendices

• Chapter 1 (1 of 6)
• Chapter 1 (2 of 6)
• Chapter 1 (3 of 6)
• Chapter 1 (4 of 6)
• Chapter 1 (5 of 6)
• Chapter 1 (6 of 6)
• Chapter 2 (1 of 3)
• Chapter 2 (2 of 3)
• Chapter 2 (3 of 3)
• Chapter 3
• Chapter 4
• Chapter 5
• Chapter 6

The 90-day comment period on the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) for the South Mountain Freeway began on April 26, 2013, and closed on July 24, 2013. During that period, 8,221 comments were submitted to the Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT) and Federal Highway Administration through various media, including the ADOT project website, emails, telephone hotline, letters, and oral and written testimony.

The comment documents and responses are presented side-by-side in this appendix. Comments are organized alphabetically by the affiliation of the commenter (see Table of Contents). Anonymous comments are located at the end of the Citizen Comments and Responses section. Comments received after the July 24, 2013, deadline are at the end of the entire document. The responses are structured to be comprehensive and address the content of the comments. The reader may be referred to other similar responses and/or the text in the DEIS or Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS); this is done to create a more concise response section and to help guide the reader to the sections of the DEIS and FEIS where the information about the content of the comment is contained.

Volume III, Comment Responses

• Table of Contents, Agencies
• Special Interest Groups
• Frequent Responses, Businesses, Form Letters, and Petitions
• Citizen A to G
• Citizen H to Q
• Citizen R to V
• Citizen W to Z, Anonymous, Comments received after deadline

Volume IV, Errata to the FEIS
 
Technical Reports

The left column presents the technical reports that were prepared for the DEIS. These reports were updated for the FEIS and either an addendum was prepared or a complete new technical report was prepared. The updated documents are presented in the right column. Portions of the Section 4(f) Report and some of the cultural resource reports have been redacted due to sensitive cultural resource information.

Validation of Alternatives Screening Process at the FEIS Stage

In March 2015, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) issued a Record of Decision on the Loop 202 South Mountain Freeway, selecting a build alternative. The Record of Decision (ROD) is the final decision-making document for the project, signaling formal federal approval of the project’s Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) and authorizing ADOT to proceed with design, land acquisition, and construction.

Record of Decision Download

The files below are in PDF format unless otherwise noted. Each complete chapter is available for download and review. Because these are large files, and as an additional security measure, right-click and choose Save Target As to save the files to your desired location. The chapters are also divided into smaller sections to allow easier download and review of the documents.

Volume I, Main Text

• Cover, Signature Page, Table of Contents, Glossary,  Abbreviations and Acronyms
• Chapter 1: Introduction
• Chapter 2: Purpose and Need
• Chapter 3: Alternatives
• Chapter 4: Measures to Minimize Harm
• Chapter 5: Treatment of Resources Afforded Protection Under Section 4(f) - At the FEIS Stage
• Chapter 6: Project Commitments
• Chapter 7. Monitoring and Enforcement
• Chapter 8. Permits and Approvals
• Chapter 9. Public Outreach and Comments Received on the FEIS and Errata
• Chapter 10. Statute of Limitations
• Chapter 11. Design Phase
• Chapter 12. Construction
• Chapter 13. Postconstruction
• Chapter 14. Determinations and Findings
• Chapter 15. Environmentally Preferable Alternative
• Chapter 16. Conclusions
• Chapter 17. Bibliography/ References

Volume II, Appendix A

• Table of Content
• Federal Agency Comments and Responses
• Tribal Entity Comments and Responses
• State Agency and Elected Officials Comments and Responses
• Business Comments and Responses
• Special Interest Group Comments and Responses
• Responses to Frequently Submitted Public Comments
• Citizen Comments and Responses
• Public Requests for Information
• Citizen Comments Received After Comment Deadline

Volume III, Appendices B, C, and D

• Table of Contents
• Appendix B-1 Newspaper Advertisements
• Appendix C-1 Gila River Indian Community Coordination
• Appendix C-2 Gila River Indian Community Public Forum
• Appendix D Record of Decision Supporting Documents

Tables

• Table 1: Alternatives and Design Options Eliminated from Further Study during the Screening Process
• Table 2: Environmental Factors Accounted for in the Decision
• Table 3: Commitments and Mitigation Measures
   

Technical Reports

The left column presents the technical reports that were prepared for the DEIS. These reports were updated for the FEIS and either an addendum was prepared or a complete new technical report was prepared. The updated documents are presented in the right column. Portions of the Section 4(f) Report and some of the cultural resource reports have been redacted due to sensitive cultural resource information.

Validation of Alternatives Screening Process at the FEIS Stage

Post-ROD Stage Technical Documents

Information provided in this section is meant as a resource for this project. Files can be large and take time to download to your computer. Adobe Reader may be needed to view these documents.

Public Involvement for the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS)

• Public Involvement Summary Report

Citizens Advisory Team (CAT)

• CAT Overview and Final Recommendation Summary

Recommendation Papers, Decision Documents and Technical Summaries

2008

• ADWR Well Locations (May 2008)
• Draft Biological Resources (April 2008)
• Draft Cultural Resources (August 2008)
• Draft Cumulative and Secondary Impacts (October 2008)
• Draft Economic Impacts (July 2008)
• Draft Energy (May 2008)
• Draft Environmental Justice (June 2008)
• Draft Estimated Costs (September 2008)
• Draft Floodplains (March 2008)
• Draft Geotechnical (May 2008)
• Draft Hazardous Materials (May 2008)
• Draft Jurisdictional Waters (March 2008)
• Draft Land Use (April 2008)
• Draft Noise (June 2008)
• Draft Prime and Unique Farmland (July 2008)
• Draft Public Comments (October 2008)
• Draft Section 4(f) and 6(f) resources (August 2008)
• Draft Social Conditions (September 2008)
• Draft Social Conditions 6.08 (June 2008)
• Draft Utilities (July 2008)
• Draft Utilities 5.08 (May 2008)
• Draft Visual Resources (April 2008)
• Draft Water Resources (March 2008)
• E1 Alternative - Initial Screening (February 2008)
• E1 Alternative - Profile options along Pecos Road section (February 2008)
• E1 Alternative - Profile options at the South Mountains' ridges (February 2008)
• Eastern Section (August 2008)
• Hazardous Materials Sites and Facilities (May 2008)
• Maricopa County Trails System - Western Section (August 2008)
• Northeastern Section of the Western Section (August 2008)
• Northwestern Section of the Western Section (August 2008)
• Prime and Unique Farmland Within the Study Area (July 2008)
• Southeastern Section of the Western Section (August 2008)
• Southwestern Section of the Western Section (August 2008)

2007

• August 2007 Matrix: Summary of Impacts (Eastern and Western sections) (Updated August 2007)
• Community Facilities: Eastern Section (From December 2005)
• Community Facilities: Western Section (From December 2005)
• Draft Energy Report Summary (August 2007)
• Draft Geotechnical Report Summary (August 2007)
• Draft Social Conditions Report Summary (August 2007)
• Employee Concentration: Major Industries (From December 2005)
• Employment Growth, 2000 to 2030 (From December 2005)
• Population Growth, 2000 to 2030 (From December 2005)

2006

• Evaluation Criteria: This is a list of the evaluation criteria the SMCAT used to evaluate the alternatives.
• Criteria Importance Graph: This graph shows the criteria that were the most important to the SMCAT members.
• Alternative Matrix: The members rated how well the alternative met each of their evaluation criteria using a scale of 1-9 with 9 being the best. This matrix shows the values given to each alternative for each criterion.
• Alternative Comparison Graph: This graph compares how each alternative was rated by criteria.
• SMCAT Letter to ADOT: This is the SMCAT letter submitting their recommendation to ADOT, which is signed by each member of the team that participated in the April 27, 2006, evaluation process.
• Biology Report Map (January 2006)
• Draft Air Quality Report Summary (February 2006)
• Draft Biology Report Summary (January 2006)
• Draft Cost Estimate Report Summary (April 2006)
• Draft Cultural Resources Report Summary (January 2006)
• Draft Cumulative and Secondary Report Summary (March 2006)
• Draft Economic Impact Report Summary (January 2006)
• Draft Hazardous Materials Report Summary (December 2005)
• Draft Public Comment Report Summary (March 2006)

2005

• Barrier Locations: Eastern Section, Eastern Portion (November 2005)
• Barrier Locations: Eastern Section, Western Portion (November 2005)
• Barrier Locations: Western Section, Northern Portion (November 2005)
• Barrier Locations: Western Section, Southern Portion (November 2005)
• Disabled Populations Map (November 2005)
• Draft Environmental Justice Report Summary (November 2005)
• Draft Farmland Report Summary (October 2005)
• Draft Floodplain Report Summary (October 2005)
• Draft Jurisdictional Waters Report Summary (October 2005)
• Draft Land Use Report Summary (December 2005)
• Draft Noise Report Summary (Updated December 2005)
• Draft Visual Resources Report Summary (November 2005)
• Draft Water Resources Report Summary (October 2005)
• Elderly Populations Map (November 2005)
• Existing Land Use (December 2005)
• Female Head of Household with Children Map (November 2005)
• Future Land Use (December 2005)
• Generic Traffic Interchange for Eastern and Western Alternatives (November 2005)
• Jurisdictions' Planning Area (December 2005)
• Low Income Populations Map (November 2005)
• Minority Populations Map (November 2005)
• Proposed Southern Road Cut, West End of South Mountain Park/Preserve (November 2005)
• Proposed Traffic Interchange at 55th Avenue and I-10 (November 2005)
• Proposed Traffic Interchange at 71st Avenue and I-10 (November 2005)
• Proposed Traffic Interchange at 99th Avenue / I-10 / Loop 101 (November 2005)

The project team met with various groups to present study information. Groups included the Citizens Advisory Team, village planning committees, service organizations, homeowners associations, Maricopa County, Maricopa Association of Governments, Gila River Indian Community and the cities of Tolleson, Avondale, Goodyear, Chandler and Phoenix.

For meeting information prior to 2013, please contact [email protected](link sends e-mail) or call 855.712.7530.

Citizens Advisory Team

A Citizens Advisory Team (CAT) was organized as part of the public involvement plan for this project. The CAT is an important group for the lead agencies to obtain stakeholder input beginning very early in the project planning process when needs are assessed, objectives formulated and alternatives evaluated for feasibility.

The CAT provides a forum that allows interactive discussions by representatives from various groups having interest in the project. It provides opportunities to inform and educate stakeholders, to serve as a conduit for getting information out to the community, to enable the lead agencies to understand stakeholder issues in greater detail, to help stakeholders recognize the variety of viewpoints within the community and to allow community members to work together to formulate new ideas or to resolve differences. CAT members agree to attend CAT meetings as representatives of their interest group (such as residents or businesses), to seek input from the group they are chosen to represent and to share those perspectives with the committee through open discussions at CAT meetings. Learn more about the history of the CAT, the member organizations and their Final Recommendation Summary.

Community Forums

As an additional participation opportunity, especially for those unable to attend the public hearing, six community forums were held throughout metropolitan Phoenix.

These forums provided an informal opportunity to learn more about the study and the Draft Environmental Impact Statement. At the forums, technical staff was available to answer questions, and study materials, including the study video, were available to view. No formal presentation or "hearing" occurred at these community forums (i.e., no formal three-minute comments in front of a panel). However, court reporters were available to take individual verbal comments with no time limit, and written comments could be submitted.

Meetings in 2013

Community Forums

July 11 | Hilton Garden Inn, Phoenix, AZ
July 9 | Laveen Education Center, Laveen, AZ
June 25 | Windmill Suites, Chandler, AZ
June 22 | Komatke Boys and Girls Club, Gila River Indian Community
June 18 | Foothills Golf Club, Phoenix (Ahwatukee), AZ
June 4 | Sunridge Elementary School, Phoenix, AZ

CAT Meetings

June 11 | South Mountain Community College
Summary | Presentation | Parking Lot Items

April 22 | South Mountain Community College
Agenda | Summary | Presentation

Public Hearing

May 21 | Phoenix Convention Center
100 N. Third St
Phoenix, AZ 85004

	General Purpose and Need		Chapter 4 Affected Environment, Consequences and Mitigation
	Chapter 1 Purpose and Need		Chapter 5 Section 4(f) Evaluation
	Chapter 2 Gila River Indian Community Coordination		Chapter 6 Comments and Coordination
	Chapter 3 Alternatives