When construction wraps up on SR 24 later this year in southeast Mesa, the new freeway will span one mile between Loop 202 and Ellsworth Road.

Known also as the Gateway Freeway, SR 24 certainly will help alleviate traffic congestion in the area. However, that’s not the only reason why this project is valuable to the East Valley...

“It will become a gateway, if you will, to the farther southeast Valley,” says Citizen’s Transportation Oversight Committee Chairman Roc Arnett in the video above. “It will help the airport, it will help Queen Creek, it will help southeast Mesa, it will help Apache Junction.”

Project acceleration

Work started just over a year ago even though SR 24 originally wasn't scheduled for construction until 2016.

The schedule was moved up because Mesa used Highway Project Advancement Notes to get things started a few years early.

"I do have to commend the city of Mesa for looking into the future and working with ADOT on not only the near term of what's needed, but in that outward look, that 20-year look on the horizon of where they're going to grow and how they want to grow," says ADOT Director John Halikowski in the video above. "That's a good thing for the taxpayer. It's a wise investment of their transportation dollars."

Mesa will be paid back in the year SR 24 construction was originally slated.

The Superstition Mountains served as backdrop Tuesday when a group including contractors, ADOT and local government officials, gathered in the East Valley to mark the construction start of SR 24.

Work begins this month on the first stretch of the state route also known as the Gateway Freeway. This initial section will span one mile between Loop 202 (Santan Freeway) and Ellsworth Road in southeast Mesa. The freeway will feature an interchange with elevated ramps connecting to and from Loop 202 near Hawes Road. The project is scheduled for completion in fall 2013.

Before the ceremonial groundbreaking, Mesa Mayor Scott Smith talked about how investment in infrastructure leads to economic opportunity and said SR 24 would help the nearby Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport continue to grow.

Mesa Mayor Scott Smith at the event held Tuesday at the SR 24 site.

ADOT State Engineer Jennifer Toth spoke, too, and mentioned the important role freeways serve in linking communities, adding that SR 24 represents an innovative partnership between ADOT and Mesa.

SR 24 is part of the Maricopa Association of Governments’ Regional Transportation Plan approved by county voters in 2004. The city of Mesa was able to advance the start of construction on the $71.4 million project by four years by issuing bonds.

Future phases of SR 24 are proposed to continue the freeway south into northeast Pinal County, however those additional phases will wait until the North-South Corridor Study in Pinal County advances.