Paradise Parkway
Paradise Parkway was first proposed as part
of the 1960 Phoenix freeway plan. The road was originally
proposed to be along the Bethany Home Road corridor, approximately
four miles north of Interstate 10.
The freeway was incorporated into the 1985 Phoenix
Freeway plan, to be funded with Proposition 300 tax dollars.
The final design of the freeway led to a beginning at Loop
101 between Camelback Road and Glendale Avenue, then east
to Interstate 17, and ultimately to Arizona 51. Paradise Parkway
was tentatively designated Arizona 317 until being renumbered
as Arizona 50.
This map shows (as a grey line) the general alignment
of Paradise Parkway (Arizona 50) as ultimately designed. Notice
the dense development that the freeway would bisect.
The freeway was planned to run through already
developed areas, as well as the densely populated Camelback
Corridor between Central Avenue and Arizona 51. As a result,
the freeway was controversial to begin with, and was to be
the most expensive in the regional freeway system.
When a funding shortfall hit the freeway system,
certain routes were sacrificed. The South Mountain Freeway
(Loop 202) was one of the routes hit with loss of funding,
as well as Loop 303. The Paradise Parkway ended up being cancelled
due to the funding shortfall, high construction costs ($55
million per mile, for a 13 mile freeway) and the previously
mentioned community opposition. No efforts have been made
to add the route back to the state highway system.
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