A $10 million freeway interchange proposed by the Arizona Department of Transportation to connect Interstate 10 with the Vee Quiva Casino on Gila River Indian Reservation has aroused opposition from residents who would be impacted by the project.
At a meeting last week, a spokesman for ADOT said “This would provide direct access to that casino and take traffic off the local roadway network and provide a more efficient way for them to get to the casino.” Traffic projections are that about 2,000 vehicles per day would use the interchange.
Several dozen residents attended the meeting. One of them, teacher Anne Rogers, told officials: “For them to put it onto a residential street, especially dead end, it’s unprecedented. I have no idea how they would put a 65 mile per hour road onto a 25 mile per hour, dead end residential street.”
She has formed a group called “Save DLC” to oppose the interchange.
Transportation officials say they are studying the interchange and haven’t made any decision. Feedback will help them make that decision, they say.
Resident Mary Fremont, who lives near the proposed interchange, said it should be relocated. “We don’t feel that, as a convenience to the Indians, we should be subjected to the interchange.” Fremont said. “We’re not opposed to them having access, just not there.”
