New study highlights roads in need of improvement along Grand Avenue as Surprise grows

The Maricopa Association of Governments published a corridor study of Grand Avenue, highlighting roads in need of improvement to handle future growth.

The study focused on the area between State Route 74 and Loop 303. The results were presented for the first time at the Surprise City Council meeting on Tuesday.

The city of Surprise and Arizona Department of Transportation are eyeing improvements to Grand Avenue to handle current and future growth, including changes to intersections to improve traffic flow.

Using future projections for growth and traffic, the study highlighted areas in need of improvement along Grand Avenue, such as the intersection with Loop 303.

“The interchange is not going to be able to handle all of the growth and traffic for the next twenty five years and beyond,” said Bradlee Williams, a traffic engineer with the Maricopa Association of Governments. “What we learned is there are so many miles on either side along the 303 where there is no other access.”

Williams says ADOT’s improvements to the interchange at 155th Avenue and Loop 303 need to be completed before work begins on Grand Avenue.

“Traffic congestion in this area was really getting bad, and we recognized very early in the study that this was, basically, a very important issue that had to be dealt with as quickly as possible,” Williams said.

The study also included rural areas projected to have an increase in commercial truck traffic. The study projects these rural areas will remain rural into the 2050s.

Williams said the projected growth in traffic will make it unsafe to turn on to the road without a traffic signal.