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Raintree Drive extension through Scottsdale Airpark is heading to the construction phase after the City Council approved a guaranteed maximum price for the project.
Scottsdale City Council approved on consent at its Aug. 25 meeting a price of up to about $14.6 million to Achne-Gardner Construction for the project, which seeks to extend Raintree Drive from Hayden Road to Scottsdale Road. The first phase will include construction from Hayden Road to 76th Place.
The overall extension will skirt the southern edge of the Scottsdale Airport. It will incorporate 78th Way from Raintree Drive to Acoma Drive; Acoma Drive from 78th Way to 76th Place; 76th Place from Acoma Drive to Redfield Road; Redfield Road from 76th Place to Thunderbird Road; and Thunderbird Road from Redfield Road to Scottsdale Road.
Plans call for a three-lane section, including a bike lane, from 76th Place to Hayden Road and a five-lane section, including a bike lane, from 76th Place to Scottsdale Road. The three-lane section will include sidewalks, landscape buffer where feasible and a painted and raised median. The five-lane section will include the same components but the landscape buffer will be meandering.
Plans also call for roundabouts at Thunderbird Road and 73rd Street; Redfield Road and 76th Place; and Raintree Drive and Hayden Road. Phase 1 will not include the Hayden Road roundabout.
According to the city’s website, the purpose of this project is to “simplify the route from Hayden Road to Scottsdale Road and help to relieve some of the traffic congestion currently experienced on Frank Lloyd Wright Boulevard.” Frank Lloyd Wright Boulevard runs along the north edge of the airport.
Funding for the project is available in a general fund capital improvement project called Raintree Drive Extension Project.
The City Council originally approved in 2008 the Transportation Master Plan, which includes a section about improving access to the airpark area. This led city staff to study the airpark's transportation system, ultimately identifying Raintree Drive as a priority project.
In late 2014, the city awarded a contract to AECOM to produce final construction documents for the extension's first segment, which is Scottsdale Road to Hayden. In early 2019, the city awarded a preconstruction services contract to Achen-Gardner Construction.
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