| State Route 153 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sky Harbor Expressway South 44th Street |
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| Route information | ||||
| Maintained by City of Phoenix | ||||
| Length: | 2.12 mi[1] (3.41 km) | |||
| Existed: | 1992 – 2007 | |||
| Major junctions | ||||
| South end: | University Drive | |||
| North end: | Washington Street | |||
| Location | ||||
| Counties: | Maricopa | |||
| Highway system | ||||
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State routes in Arizona
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State Route 153, also known as SR 153 and the Sky Harbor Expressway, is a former state highway in Maricopa County, in the U.S. state of Arizona, that ran from the intersection of 44th Street and Washington Street in Phoenix south to University Drive. It was a controlled access arterial expressway, with a speed limit of 45 mph (72 km/h), lower than the standard freeway speed of 65 mph (105 km/h). Route 153 was a north–south route that skirted the eastern edge of Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, and along with SR 143, Route 153 served a portion of East Valley residents with access to the airport. Many motorists used Route 143 (the Hohokam Expressway) instead, because of its quick access to and from Interstate 10 and Loop 202. The freeway did, however, provide a direct link between east Phoenix, such as office developments in the Southbank commercial project, and the city of Tempe.
This freeway is currently decommissioned. Signage is being removed.
The roadway is now an extension of 44th Street, and signage to that effect has been installed.[2] The route thus continues 44th St (southbound) past the airport, across the Salt River, where it connects/terminates at University Blvd.
Portions of this right-of-way now accommodate the [PHX Sky Train]. [3]
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State Route 153's entire length was within Phoenix. It began at University Drive, just west of Route 143. It headed northward as an expressway, passing alongside the Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport. Just a little north of the eastern edge of the airport, Route 153 met Washington Street, where it terminated.
The Sky Harbor Expressway was a part of the 1985 Phoenix Regional Freeway System to add freeways in and around the Phoenix Metropolitan Area and a part of the 2005 Maricopa County Regional Transportation Plan to add new freeways and expand existing ones that were built from the original plan.
The northern section between Sky Harbor Airport and the intersection of 44th St and Washington St was formerly Route 143 and had an un-bridged crossing of the Salt River. Reconstruction begin in the early 1990s between Washington St and the exit to Sky Harbor, and the expanded freeway reopened to traffic in 1992. Traffic heading east out of Sky Harbor had two options, head east to Loop 202 near Priest Dr and downtown Tempe, or head north on the new freeway to Washington St where drivers had an option of going west on the completed stretch of Loop 202 (it ended at Route 143 until 1996) or go to recently-completed Route 143 to get to I-10 and US 60 and head either east or west.
The next section of freeway started construction in 1994 by building a bridge over the Salt River, almost touching the Route 143 at the halfway point and ending at University Dr. This section opened in 1996 and had drivers another option out of the east exit of the airport. University Dr has direct access to Route 143, which provided access to I-10 and US 60.
The freeway was planned to be extended further south and west to 40th Street to connect to Interstate 10 by the end of 2007, with plans to convert a section of 40th Street to a limited access corridor. An at-grade intersection with Superior Avenue was planned, as well as an overpass of University Dr. But those plans were on hold for quite some time and are now scrapped, because the road is no longer needed. It didn't serve the majority of traffic heading on westbound I-10 and US 60 to Sky Harbor Airport, which was its intention.
Because the road was an ADOT highway, the road had to be deleted off the MAG Regional Transportation Plan and ADOT's maintenance log. It was transferred to the city of Phoenix by the Maricopa Association of Governments in August 2007 and the Arizona Department of Transportation in October 2007.[4].
Route 153 was deleted from the regional transportation plan as of August 2007.[5]
Extremely low traffic volumes, especially in comparison to the nearby Route 143, also helped MAG's decision. Route 153 was considered redundant from the start because Route 143 runs completely parallel and provides access to all major freeways in the vicinity.
The city of Phoenix has now taken over maintenance and right of way of the Sky Harbor Expressway for the first segment of the Sky Harbor Airport Automated People Mover, which is under construction and scheduled to be completed by 2012/2013.
In April 2008 any reference to Route 153 (reassurance and junction signs) on the Sky Harbor Expressway, University Dr., and Washington St. (southern and northern terminus, respectively) have all been removed. In late June 2008, the Sky Harbor Expressway name was dropped, and all signs and references to the former state route were changed to "To 44th St." The ADOT signage still exists along the entire stretch.
While SR 143 has peak hour traffic issues, it is still adequately handling most of the Sky Harbor Airport traffic that comes from the East Valley off Interstate 10 and US 60, thus Route 153 had always been consistently under-utilized.
SR 153's current name of 44th Street now ties in nicely to the Phoenix street system, and probably reduces confusion to out-of-towners as they navigate to (or from) the airport.
As of Aug 2011, work is underway to widen SR 143 between the junction of I-10 and Sky Harbor Airport with new and expanded flyover ramps at the junction with I-10; details and current progress can be found in the SR 143 article.
The entire route is in Phoenix, Maricopa County.
| Mile[1] | Exit | Destinations | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1.17 | 1 | University Drive / To I-10 / SR 143 | At-grade intersection | |
| 2.50 | 2A | Sky Harbor International Airport | Signed as exit 2 southbound | |
| 2.93 | 2B | Air Lane | Former interchange; northbound exit and southbound entrance | |
| 3.50 | Washington Street | At-grade intersection; continuation beyond intersection as 44th Street | ||
| 1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi Concurrency terminus • Closed/Former • Incomplete access • Unopened |
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