The recently completed Sonoran Boulevard is 7.5 miles of new roadway constructed across portions of Arizona state land and within Phoenix's Sonoran Park Preserve. It was designed in three separate segments and was executed by rerouting traffic using interim half-street roadways. Much of the project was constructed within a 150-ft section of right-of-way and consisted of one 12-ft lane in each direction with 8-ft paved shoulders and a raised or paved-flush median to handle two-way traffic.

Three roadway bridges between 206 ft and 430 ft long were constructed along the alignment. Since the roadway crosses a preserved area, the project team was tasked with balancing the preservation of the area's desert landscape while installing a roadway. Area residents can access the preserve via a five-mile, $3-million shared-use path that was constructed as part of the project.

This roadway marks the largest transportation project to date for which Phoenix used construction manager at-risk delivery, and it was delivered $1.7 million under budget and on schedule. One of the innovative ways the construction team used to reduce the project cost was to perform additional soil sampling and testing in order to utilize additional native material. The result was that mass earthwork phasing could be adjusted, resulting in the elimination of 179,000 cu yd of budgeted lightweight aggregate.

Sonoran Boulevard to Cave Creek RoadPhoenix

Key Players

Contractor Haydon Building Corp., Phoenix

Owner City of Phoenix

Lead Design Premier Engineering Corp., Chandler, Ariz.

Prime Consultants RBF Consulting and Dibble Engineering, both based in Phoenix

Sub-Consultants Gavan and Barker Inc., Phoenix; Aztec Engineering, Phoenix; Aerial Mapping Co., Phoenix; Hoque & Associates, Phoenix; ADYE Design, Telluride, Colo., Wright Engineering Corp., Chandler, Ariz.; Logan Simpson Design, Tempe, Ariz.; United Civil Group, Phoenix; R&R Studios, Miami