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State gives Queen Creek break on $10M loan
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Ellsworth Road between Cloud Road and Hunt Highway in Queen Creek. Nov. 5, 2009.
Thomas Boggan, Tribune
Queen Creek will have 13 more years before a $10 million loan for an Ellsworth Road construction project comes due. The money was to be paid back by 2012.
The extended timeline was one of the impacts the Arizona Legislature had on Queen Creek this year, according to a presentation that lobbyist Mike Williams gave to the Queen Creek Town Council Wednesday night.
The $10 million noninterest loan stems from a project to widen Ellsworth between Cloud and Empire roads, which was the last stretch of Ellsworth to be two lanes as it runs through Queen Creek and into Pinal County, said Town Manager John Kross.
Ellsworth has been identified as a regional road by both Maricopa and Pinal counties, Kross said. About 18,000 cars travel the stretch of road daily, with 40,000 projected by 2026, Kross said.
However, it wasn't funded in the region's transportation plan.
So a few years ago the town approached the Legislature to ask for help paying for the project.
The result was a loan from the congestion mitigation fund, which helps areas with high growth rates expand roads to benefit the region, Kross said.
Both Queen Creek and Anthem received no-interest loans that would have come due in 2012, Williams said.
But thanks to the legislative action, Queen Creek has 15 years from the issue date of the loan - instead of five - to pay it back.
"It's extremely helpful for us because of this economic time we're in. Hopefully in 15 years we'll be out of this deep economic recession," Kross said. "That timing is very, very manageable in respect to resources."
The loan will be due in one lump sum. Instead of saving over 15 years to pay back, Queen Creek will likely start saving the money later on, when the economy is better and there's more cash coming in, Kross said.
The total cost of the 2-mile project is $17 million, which is split between Queen Creek, Maricopa County and Pinal County. Kross expects construction to start in March and finish by January 2011.
It will widen Ellsworth to six lanes plus bike lanes.
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