Existed: 1991 – present CW end: I-17 in Phoenix Constructed 1991 | CCW end: I-10 in Goodyear Length 56.73 km | |
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History: Under construction until after 2023 | ||
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 freeway that serves the northwestern portion of the Phoenix area. The freeway, originally a two-lane rural highway, was maintained by Maricopa County 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.
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Map of AZ-303 Loop, Arizona, USA
Its route runs from Interstate 10 in Goodyear to Interstate 17 south of Carefree Highway. Loop 303 is a full freeway from I-17 to I-10.
Route description
Loop 303 currently begins at a stack interchange with I-10 in Goodyear as a six-lane freeway. It heads north under McDowell and Thomas Roads, then over an interchange with Indian School Road. The road heads through a farmland terrain and passes the Wildlife World Zoo near Northern Avenue. It over passes the BNSF Railway near Olive Avenue. At an interchange with Greenway Road, Route 303 enters a residential community and turns northeast, becoming a two lane highway past Clearview Boulevard. The route heads over a bridge above Grand Avenue (US 60) along with another BNSF railroad line. The route turns eastward and was recently upgraded to a six-lane freeway. It turns north near the Happy Valley Parkway interchange and then east again south of Lake Pleasant, passing through planned arterial interchanges. The freeway comes to an end at a temporary at-grade interchange (eventually to be a stack interchange with I-17 near Skunk Creek. East of this interchange, Route 303 becomes Sonoran Desert Drive. The south end from US 60 to I-10 is frequently used to bypass Grand Avenue.
History
Loop 303 was originally a part of the 1985 Maricopa County Regional Transportation Plan that was funded by a sales tax approved by Maricopa County voters. The freeway, designed to service the Northwest Valley, was originally designated SR 517 in 1985; the Loop 303 designation was first assigned in 1987. The freeway was scheduled to be completed sometime by 2005. 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.
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. 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.
Future
Long-term plans call for the extension of Loop 303 south of the interchange with I-10 in Goodyear 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, and then running concurrent with I-10 and replacing or running concurrent with Interstate 19. 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.
Exit list
The entire route is in Maricopa County.