Queen Creek and Mesa dignitaries celebrated the opening of Signal Butte Road at the State Route 24 (SR 24) yesterday.
The City of Mesa’s completion of the Signal Butte Road expansion offers an alternate access route to SR 24. The southeast Mesa project near Queen Creek opened to traffic at noon Dec. 14, connecting Signal Butte Road from Germann Road to Williams Field Road, a vital two-mile stretch of roadway for the Southeast Valley.
This newly completed extension of Signal Butte Road stretches to the border of Queen Creek, with a four-lane arterial roadway to the north and two lanes for future expansion to the south. The project improvements also include drainage infrastructure, new streetlights and traffic signals.
Mesa officials say the roadway will improve traffic flow between the two communities, offering additional access to the SR 24, US 60 and Loop 202. This alternate access route is also vital to the area’s growing commercial, industrial and residential developments. The project was funded by the Federal Highway Administration’s Surface Transportation Block Grant program (84%) and the City of Mesa’s 2020 Street Bond program (16%).
“The completion of Signal Butte Road to Mesa’s south border is an important milestone for the City of Mesa,” said Erik Guderian, Mesa’s transportation deputy director. “This project, one of many approved by the voters in 2020, will provide an additional north-south connection for the City of Mesa and its neighbors and provide additional access to the newly completed SR 24 project in southeast Mesa.”
The City of Mesa, in partnership with the Arizona Department of Transportation, encourages residents to use caution and follow traffic laws on the new roadway with a reminder that SR 24 is not a freeway, rather an expressway with traffic signals at the intersections.
In addition, the City of Mesa has installed Axsis radar speed and red light camera equipment at the northbound South Ellsworth and East Pecos roads intersection approaching SR 24, in front of Bell Bank Park. The same is expected to happen on Signal Butte Road now that access to SR 24 is open, so drivers beware of the new speed radar and red light camera equipment.
