Arizona State Route 303

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"Loop 303" and "Arizona Loop 303" redirect here. For other uses, see List of highways numbered 303.

State Loop 303 marker

State Loop 303
Bob Stump Memorial Parkway
Route information
Maintained by ADOT
Length: 35.25 mi[1] (56.73 km)
Existed: 1985 – present
Major junctions
CCW end: I-10 in Goodyear
  US 60 in Surprise
CW end: I-17 north of Phoenix
Highway system
← SR 289 SR 347 →

Arizona State Route 303, also known as Loop 303 (spoken as three-oh-three) or Bob Stump Memorial Parkway formerly called Estrella Freeway, is a state highway that was maintained by Maricopa County[2] in central Arizona serving the far western suburbs of the Phoenix metropolitan area until 2004 when the Arizona Department of Transportation again took the control of upgrading the interim road to a freeway. As of 2004 it was renamed "Bob Stump Memorial Parkway" to honor former Arizona congressman Bob Stump.[3]

Its current route is from just north of the Cotton Lane exit of Interstate 10 in Goodyear to Interstate 17 south of Carefree Highway. Unlike Loop 101 and Loop 202, most of Loop 303 is currently not a controlled-access highway ("freeway") from Interstate 10, although there are portions currently under construction between I-10 and US 60 to make it a freeway by the end of 2014. The section of highway between Happy Valley Parkway/Vistancia Boulevard to Interstate 17 is currently a controlled-access freeway. Although it has not been fully constructed, portions of Loop 303 from Lake Pleasant Parkway to Interstate 17 officially opened to traffic on May 13, 2011.

Old colored Arizona Loop 303 shield that is being phased out

Contents

Route description [edit]

Loop 303 begins at an interchange with I-10 in Goodyear. It heads north and intersects McDowell Road and Indian School Road. The road heads through a farmland terrain and passes the Wildlife World Zoo near Northern Avenue. It intersects the BNSF Railway near Olive Avenue.[4] Past an intersection with Greenway Road, Route 303 enters a residential community and turns northeast. The route meets another BNSF railroad line near an intersection with US 60, Grand Avenue.[4] The route turns eastward and becomes a controlled-access highway at El Mirage Road. It turns north near the Happy Valley Parkway interchange and then east again south of Lake Pleasant, coming to an end at an interchange with I-17 near Skunk Creek.[5]

History [edit]

Loop 303 was originally a part of the 1985 Maricopa County Regional Transportation Plan to be funded by a sales tax approved by Maricopa County voters. The freeway, designed to service the Northwest Valley, would have been completed sometime by 2014. However, funding shortfalls and increasing construction costs forced cutbacks in the plan, and in 1995 the freeway was dropped from the regional plans.

Maricopa County took charge of what was then called the Estrella Freeway project when it was dropped from the regional freeway plans, maintaining it as an interim 2-lane highway along the original corridor while keeping the state route designation. The county has made significant improvements to the roadway, extending it several miles north and east of US 60. While the highway is still largely a 2-lane rural road, the extension north of US 60 along with the southern terminus just north of Interstate 10 have been upgraded to a 4-lane divided parkway, and the segment between US 60 and Bell Road in Surprise has been partially upgraded to controlled-highway standards with overpasses and right-of-way for on-ramps.[6]

With the extension of the sales tax approved in 2004, the highway has once again been added to the Regional Transportation Plan. As Maricopa County has completed much of the required study and preparation work, construction on the freeway is already underway with a planned completion date of the I-10 to I-17 segment by 2015. In mid-2011 the segment between Happy Valley Parkway and I-17 was completed as a four lane highway with an interchange at Lone Mountain Parkway completed but closed to the public. Currently, motorists must pass through a signaled interchange until a freeway to freeway interchange is built between Loop 303 and I-17. According to a recent agreement between the state legislature and the state department of transportation, STAN (Statewide Transportation Acceleration Needs) funds were used to build a partial interchange at Bell Road in summer 2010, several years before previously intended.[7]

Future [edit]

Long-term plans call for the extension of Loop 303 south of the interchange with I-10 in Avondale to the planned I-10 'Reliever Route' Freeway, SR 30, and continuing south through Goodyear to connect with the planned alignment of future Interstate 11. Loop 303 would run concurrent with I-11 for several miles, before splitting off southward towards its ultimate terminus at Interstate 8 west of Casa Grande.[8] If completed, Loop 303 will serve as a Phoenix bypass route for the southwestern suburbs of Goodyear, Avondale, and Buckeye as well as an alternate Phoenix bypass route for I-10 traffic headed westbound to the Greater Los Angeles Area and northbound via I-17 to Flagstaff.

In response to a projected budget shortfall of $6.6 billion brought on by the recession, the Maricopa Association of Governments voted to suspend funding to numerous projects during a meeting on October 28, 2009. Some modifications to Route 303, such as a scaled-back design of its interchanges with I-10 and US Highway 60, were made to cope with the budget shortfall. Funding for the extension south of I-10 to the planned alignment of SR 30 was removed, effectively postponing the extension until after 2025.[9]

Exit list [edit]

The entire route is in Maricopa County.

Location Mile[1] km Exit Destinations Notes
Goodyear 3.80 6.12 Cotton Lane Former southern terminus
3.93 6.32 I-10 (Papago Freeway) – Los Angeles, Phoenix Stack interchange under construction, anticipated completion Fall 2014
4.14 6.66 McDowell Road No future interchange planned
5.19 8.35 105 Thomas Road, Cotton Lane Future half interchange, anticipated completion Fall 2014
6.19 9.96 106 Indian School Road Future interchange, anticipated completion Fall 2014
Goodyear–Glendale line 7.19 11.57 107 Camelback Road Future interchange, anticipated completion Fall 2014
Glendalea 8.19 13.18 108 Bethany Home Road Future interchange, anticipated completion Fall 2014
9.19 14.79 109 Glendale Avenue Future interchange, anticipated completion Fall 2014
10.19 16.40 Northern Avenue Future half interchange, anticipated completion Fall 2014
Northern Parkway Future interchange, anticipated completion Fall 2014
11.19 18.01 Olive Avenue No future interchange planned
Glendale–Surprise line 12.20 19.63 112 Peoria Avenue Future interchange, anticipated completion Fall 2014
Surprise 13.20 21.24 113 Cactus Road Future interchange, anticipated completion Fall 2014
14.20 22.85 114 Waddell Road Future interchange, anticipated completion Fall 2014
15.20 24.46 115 Greenway Road Future interchange, anticipated completion Fall 2014
16.20 26.07 116 Bell Road Future interchange, anticipated completion Fall 2014
Surprise–Sun City West line 19.33 31.11 119 US 60 (Grand Avenue) – Wickenburg, Glendale, Phoenix Partial interchange, to be completed by 2015
Sun City West 21.20 34.12 El Mirage Road Future interchange (2016-2025)
  24.81 39.93 125 Happy Valley Road, Vistancia Boulevard
Peoria 26.31 42.34 127 Lone Mountain Parkway
27.81 44.76 131 Lake Pleasant Parkway
Phoenix 30.95 49.81 133 Pyramid Peak Parkway (67th Avenue) Construction delayed, date undecided
32.23 51.87 135 Stetson Valley Parkway (51st Avenue) Construction delayed, date undecided
35.23 56.70 I-17 (Black Canyon Freeway) – Flagstaff, Phoenix Northern terminus; at-grade intersection; site of future stack interchange (2016-2025)
  •       Concurrency terminus
  •       Closed/former
  •       HOV only
  •       Incomplete access
  •       Tolled/ETC
  •       Unopened

^a The City of Glendale has strip annexed land surrounding these exits, though they currently are not within the city's corporate boundaries.

See also [edit]

References [edit]

  1. ^ a b Arizona Department of Transportation. "2008 ADOT Highway Log". Retrieved April 8, 2008. 
  2. ^ "MCDOT Rightroads Program". 
  3. ^ "Maricopa County Board of Supervisors minute book". 
  4. ^ a b Arizona Department of Transportation (September 2011). Arizona Railroads (Map). Cartography by Multimodal Planning Division. http://www.azdot.gov/mpd/gis/maps/pdf/railroads.pdf. Retrieved April 9, 2012.
  5. ^ Google Inc. Google Maps – SR 303 (Map). Cartography by Google, Inc. http://maps.google.com/maps?saddr=AZ-303+Loop+N%2FN+Cotton+Ln&daddr=AZ-303+Loop&hl=en&ll=33.657495,-112.157364&spn=0.539533,1.056747&sll=33.77344,-112.11874&sspn=0.067351,0.132093&geocode=FSuV_gEd0IBM-Q%3BFYxGAwId1gdR-Q&mra=me&mrsp=1,0&sz=14&t=m&z=11. Retrieved April 9, 2012.
  6. ^ "Loop 303 (North of I-10)". ADOT. Archived from the original on 8 February 2008. Retrieved 2008-02-02. 
  7. ^ "L303 Overview". ADOT. Archived from the original on 8 February 2008. Retrieved 2008-02-02. 
  8. ^ "Interstate11.org". Retrieved 2012-08-17. 
  9. ^ Holstege, Sean (2009-10-29). "Valley freeway projects shelved". The Arizona Republic. Retrieved 2009-11-04. 

External links [edit]
Radial freeways
Circumferential freeways
Interchanges and other
Future freeways
Former freeways

Route map: Google / Bing

KML file (edit)
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