Mile-long stretch of Val Vista Drive closed until July 21

Val Vista Drive will have restrictions from Appleby to Brooks Farm roads through July 21. (Tom Blodgett/Community Impact Newspaper)

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By Tom Blodgett | 12:04 PM May 22, 2020 MST | Updated 12:04 PM May 22, 2020 MST

Val Vista Drive closed this week from Appleby Road to Brooks Farm Road for road work and will remain closed until July 21.

Mail, trash and business access will be maintained along the one-mile stretch during the period.

The town is widening Val Vista Drive from Appleby Road—about where Val Vista narrows to one lane in each direction—to Riggs Road. The result will be a six-lane section from Ocotillo Road to Merlot Street with a raised landscaped median, bike lanes, sidewalks and streetlights. It will then reduce to four lanes to the south.

Traffic signals will be installed at Appleby, Ocotillo and Chandler Heights roads.

The $25.96 million project, which began in March, is scheduled to last through July 21. It is being paid for through bonds, town funds and Maricopa Association of Governments funds.

By Tom Blodgett

Raised in Arizona, Tom Blodgett has spent 30 years in journalism in Arizona and is the editor of the Gilbert edition of Community Impact Newspaper. He is a graduate of Arizona State University, where he now serves as an instructional professional in the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication and editorial adviser to The State Press, the university's independent student media outlet.