Oro Valley's chief executive wants to punch a major road through the Tortolita Mountains, to create a relief route for North Oracle Road and serve that region's expected explosive growth.
Town Manager Chuck Sweet said he wants to extend La Cholla Boulevard through the mountain range to Arizona 79 in southern Pinal County.
His idea is to give future Pinal County residents another way to drive into the Tucson area besides Oracle and Interstate 10, already plagued by rush-hour traffic jams.
But he is assured of stiff opposition from environmentalists and Pima County officials because the road would split an area planned for expansion of Tortolita Mountain Park. La Cholla currently stops just short of the mountains.
Hundreds of thousands of newcomers are expected to move into southern Pinal County over the next 20 to 30 years to live in new subdivisions that county has approved.
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For example, SaddleBrooke Ranch near Oracle Junction will start selling the first of its 6,000 homes next year.
Oracle Road is congested along much of its route, particularly south of Oro Valley in Pima County. Its traffic has jumped by at least 30 percent in some stretches, and by more than 100 percent on others, since 1990.
Because of Oro Valley's request, a regional government association is studying the proposed La Cholla route as part of a potential loop system of bypass routes around metro Tucson, to speed traffic flow inside and outside the urban area.
Sweet said he hopes to see the extension built in the next 10 to 20 years, and envisions a four-lane road of about eight to 10 miles.
"We see impending growth coming just north of the Catalina area, in Oracle Junction and the Oracle areas, and we see a fairly significant impact on the traveling public," Sweet said Friday. "This extension will relieve Oracle. Otherwise, everyone will be forced onto Oracle Road. It will approach its capacity as new population comes into it."
In a side benefit, the road would aid Oro Valley's plans to annex state land in the area, he acknowledged.
Environmentalists and County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry say the La Cholla extension would blade too much desert, increase air pollution, hurt ranching in the area, cause roadkill of wildlife and damage cultural resources.
They also said it would be incompatible with several long-range plans for the area, led by the county's Sonoran Desert Conservation Plan.
The mountain area is owned in part by the State Land Department and the federal Bureau of Land Management. But Pima County has planned to buy the state land, to expand Tortolita Mountain Park, and to add the BLM land to the park.
"We don't put roads through parks," Huckelberry said Friday. "That's our view of life."
As for Pinal County drivers, Huckelberry said that if they want to travel into Tucson, they will have to learn to put up with relatively long commutes. They should be prepared to stick to the Oracle Road corridor, and take buses to work if necessary, he said: "That's life."
Pima County has allowed two roads to cross its Tucson Mountain Park, but those roads have created traffic problems with drunken drivers, speeding and accidents, which result in cars leaving the roads and harming the desert, said Steve Anderson, a county parks planner.
Sweet said he recently asked the state to study the La Cholla extension, in response to a request from a State Transportation Board member to plan a system of state roadways in southern Pinal County.
But because La Cholla isn't a state highway, it won't be studied as part of this effort, said attorney Si Schorr, Southern Arizona's representative on the state board.
The Pima Association of Governments started studying the La Cholla route and several others in the proposed loop system three years ago. It plans to finish the study in another year, officials said Friday.
Stacy Sherwood a Pinal County sheriff's deputy, and his wife, Julia, said they welcomed Sweet's proposal.
"Everybody wants to build here, but nobody wants to build roads," said Stacy Sherwood, who came to Oro Valley's Rancho Vistoso subdivision from Pinal County six years ago. "Tucson is way behind in transportation."
As Oracle Road's stoplights keep increasing, anything that can take traffic off Oracle is a good idea, Julia Sherwood said.
"That's just part of growth and development," she said. "We live here because of the mountains. But the people who come here, we have to accommodate the growth."
But Oro Valley activist Hector Conde said extending La Cholla would violate several provisions of the town's general plan. They include pledges to carry out the county's land-saving Sonoran Desert plan, encourage natural open space connection to an expanded Tortolita park and protect scenic vistas from Tangerine Road.
In response to the criticism, Sweet said citizens' and officials' concerns will be heard and addressed "or the roadway just won't happen."
● Catalina area: 23,500 vehicles daily in 2004, compared with 11,000 in 1990.
● Rancho Vistoso area: 32,800 in 2004, up from 18,000 in 1990.
● Near First Avenue: 50,300 in 2004, up from 31,000 in 1990.
● Hardy Road: 51,600 in 2004, up from 38,200 in 1996.
● Ina Road: 59,800 in 2004, up from 31,000 in 1990.
Source: Pima Association of Governments
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