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New Loop 202 South Mountain Freeway To Honor Former Congressman Ed Pastor

The new 22-mile South Mountain Freeway portion of Loop 202 will have signage honoring a longtime Arizona congressman.

The signage will recognize the stretch as the Ed Pastor Memorial Freeway after the longtime representative who died in 2018. The recognition was requested by state Rep. Diego Espinoza. 

Espinoza discusses why he recommended Pastor.

“Ed for us is very instrumental. He loved the communities he represented even as a county supervisor and into a congressional leader over in D.C. He definitely inspired many of us to do some great things and continue to move on into politics," Espinoza said.

Tom Herrmann, a spokesman for the Arizona Department of Transportation, says despite the signage honoring Pastor, the Loop 202 portion will still be known officially as the South Mountain Freeway.

“Just as there are sections of I-10 in Arizona that are referred to as the Pearl Harbor Memorial Highway,” Herrmann said. 

Pastor was a member of the House Appropriations Committee and served in Congress for more than two decades, retiring in 2015. He is credited with playing a critical role in funding and building the Valley's transportation system. ADOT said the freeway is expected to open to traffic later this year.

EDITOR’S NOTE: A previous version of this story misstated the manner in which Ed Pastor’s name would be applied to the new freeway.

Nakiesha Johnson was an intern at KJZZ in 2019.