MARICOPA, AZ — On State Route 347, there have been more than 100 injuries a year from crashes every year since 2018. Still, funding to make the road safer for its over 30,000 daily drivers has hit snag after snag.
Now the City of Maricopa is looking at taking money matters into its own hands, proposing a half-cent sales tax to bridge the funding gap for multiple improvement projects that remain stalled or partially funded.
Ron Angerame lives in the City of Maricopa and says the road is a constant concern for the community.
“Dangerous, it’s dangerous," Angerame said. "Everyone’s frustration levels are so high, it’s really unsafe for everybody.”
He and others are tired of waiting for funding to come and created a website to inform the people of Maricopa about the safety concerns on SR347 called 347facts.com.
“It says, 'save lives on SR 347, demand immediate action,'” Angerame said.
The website lists facts about the road and also has an email submission form for people to fill out and send to Arizona lawmakers and Arizona Department of Transportation officials. Angerame says their site has helped send over 120,000 emails.
City Councilmember Vincent Manfredi is trying to help fill the funding gap between available state funds and the project's overall cost.
"A half-cent sales tax dedicated to safety corridors is probably the best way," Manfredi said.
Manfredi says the difficulties in securing the funding for the improvement projects come from the multiple municipalities involved. He hopes that by eventually passing a tax to start collecting funds for the projects, ADOT will add SR 347 to their five-year construction plan.
Raising taxes can be controversial, but the city says the tax wouldn't be applied to essentials like gas and groceries. The City Council will discuss the tax at their first meeting on May 6.
There will be two more public information sessions before the meeting, and their times and locations can be found here.