Gates Pass Safety Improvements

Pima County, Arizona

Gates Pass Road, one of the only two roadways that cross the Tucson Mountains, is a primary route between the Tucson metropolitan area and several cultural, tourism, and residential destinations on the west side of the Tucson Mountains. The roadway provides access to several campgrounds, hiking trails, scenic overlook areas and beautiful sunset viewing opportunities as well as being a favorite corridor for cycling enthusiasts. SAGE was part of the team that was hired by the Pima County Department of Transportation to address the safety concerns, the visual sensitivity, and the recreational aspects of the site. The project segment of Gates Pass Road is a paved, two-lane roadway with limited pavement and shoulder widths, which winds through the mountainous terrain of the Tucson Mountains and lies between two scenic pullouts. Given the roadway safety concerns and the volume of traffic, accidents have the potential to be extremely dangerous. The roadway improvements included roadway widening; traffic control; geotechnical and lasting work; native plant, visual analysis, and mitigation; and storm water prevention and pollution mitigation. The roadway was striped and signed appropriately to provide a safe and drivable travel way. Since a major element of this project was the visual sensitivity of the site, the creation of finished slopes that are natural in appearance was a major goal of the project. The road was opened nearly a week earlier than required. The project also produced material that was used as bank protection elsewhere, thereby saving the County money that would have been expended hauling in material. Roads and Bridges Magazine named this project the Third Best Road Project in the country for 2006, and notes that it was perhaps the "most complex" of all of their Top 10 Best Road Projects.