Loop 303 link to I-17 opens in May

Next month, the region's newest freeway, a 14-mile stretch in the northwest Valley, will open to fanfare and traffic, the Arizona Department of Transportation announced Wednesday. The four-lane, divided section of Loop 303 will connect Interstate 17 in north Phoenix to Happy Valley Parkway in Peoria. ADOT has scheduled opening ceremonies for May 7 and has invited Gov. Jan Brewer to speak and the public to walk, bike or jog on the pristine roadway. The freeway is expected to open to traffic within days of the event. The Loop 303 extension has been described by ADOT as the region's most significant highway improvement in a decade. It's the first freeway built with money from Proposition 400, a 2004 Maricopa County initiative that raised the sales tax. Regional planners say the highway is needed to relieve congestion on I-17 and to accommodate forecasted residential and commercial growth in the northwest Valley. The new stretch of the loop cuts across open desert and empty washes.

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