Transportation Committee My View By  Gary Bourne, P.E.  SCHOA  Director-Transportation Chairman   All residents of Sun City got welcome news recently, when ADOT confirmed they will begin a feasibility study next month in regard to grade separations for crossing Grand Avenue at 103rd and 107th Avenues in Sun City. If this study comes out positive, vehicles will be permitted to cross Grand Ave at 103rd and 107th without stopping. We urge all residents to monitor progress of the study as reported via the news media and to participate in opportunities for citizen input as the study progresses.  However, before looking ahead to the most desirable study outcome, it would be good to look first to the past. Del E. Webb negotiated a successful purchase of one of the Boswell family’s cotton ranches in 1959 for a major retirement community. It was likely believed that having U.S. Highway 60 bisect his future community would be a true advantage for Sun Citians to travel to Phoenix. At that time Grand Avenue was no more than a dusty, slim, two lane highway connecting virtually uninhabited portions of West Maricopa County with Phoenix, Sky Harbor, shopping and medical facilities. How things have changed in 50 years. Now fast forward to 2011.  By then the two additional lanes slated for construction on Grand Avenue through Sun City will be completed.  Now that sleepy little trail will consist of six lanes of through traffic which is estimated to be near 60,000 vehicles per day in 2025. Throw in railroad tracks as part of the crossing adventure, and a safe crossing of the span becomes an increasing concern for residents of a retirement community.  Compound that scenario considerably by adding to the mix a chosen mode of travel in Sun City, the gasoline/electric powered golf car, and a recipe for a safety dilemma of major proportion is a virtual certainty.  It is unlikely that anyone could mount a viable argument that the additional travel lanes on Grand Avenue are not necessary.  That is not a point of contention, as everyone is aware of the virtual explosion of building activity in the West Valley now and of the anticipated escalation of that activity in the future.  However, SCHOA believes that solving or relieving one problem while creating a safety problem for Sun City residents is NOT a viable tradeoff and does NOT constitute sound transportation planning.  Is there a solution?  The good news is that grade separations are the focus of the feasibility study.  Part of the study will look at the costs of constructing either overpasses or underpasses at the intersections of 103rd and 107th with Grand Avenue. Another part of the study will address the engineering challenges of various options.  The desired conclusion for the study would be that grade separations for crossings at both intersections are viable from an engineering perspective.  If there is a positive recommendation for including these grade separations, both intersections would be included in the Regional Transportation Plan. SCHOA believes a common sense approach would dictate these crossings be scheduled to coincide with the construction of the additional lanes of traffic.  Most of us have shaken our heads at some point in our lifetime, while observing a newly constructed street being dug up for utility construction before the asphalt or concrete had hardened.   Would not retrofitting grade separations at the intersections noted, shortly after the construction of the additional lanes, constitute today’s $64,000,000 question? With all of that said, the good news is that transportation planners are going to take a very thorough look at the situation.  Know that you, the reader, will be kept in the loop as information is forthcoming.  No developer or planner today would even consider the possibility of developing a new retirement community of more than 42,000 residents and have it bisected by a six lane federal highway.  However, this is the reality facing our community. The response of Sun City is that these grade separations at 103rd and 107th Avenues are of paramount importance to all our current and our future residents.