For those traveling around Surprise, getting caught in traffic along U.S. 60, where it bottlenecks between R.H. Johnson Boulevard and 163rd Avenue, is an all too familiar occurrence.
Residents like Rebekah Massie have sat in traffic for about half an hour just to move a few miles. Conditions are certainly worsened in the mornings and early evenings when people are headed to or coming home from work.
“And if there’s an accident, forget about it,” Massie said, citing instances where lanes were shut down because of a collision.
Such an occurrence happened just last Friday when a crash involving two semi-trucks and a car closed a stretch of the 60’s eastbound lane from just before 10:30 a.m. until about 3 p.m.
“Friday, I had errands to run in the afternoon,” she recalled. “I couldn’t get out (of the traffic).”
With Surprise continuing to see rapid population and employment growth, state transportation and city officials have been exploring ways to give commuters some much-needed relief through that 1.7-mile stretch of U.S. 60, or Grand Avenue.