PHOENIX – A little over one year ago the Loop 202 South Mountain Freeway opened with the expectation that it would be a busy alternate route for drivers traveling from one side of the Phoenix area to the other w while avoiding potential congestion in the downtown area.
That has not happened.
According to the Arizona Department of Transportation, with COVID-19 forcing people to work from home, traffic on the freeway has been lighter than expected in the first year. At the beginning of December 2020, nearly 60,000 vehicles were using the freeway each day, about half of the projected traffic.
Valleywide, freeways experienced a 50% drop in traffic in mid-2020, and have rebounded to carry about 75-85% of normal traffic in recent months.