Residents to vote on controversial Valley freeway

AHWATUKEE, AZ - Voters in the Gila River Indian Community will help decide where a controversial freeway will be located.

The proposed Loop 202 extension has been in the works for years and will eventually link Chandler to Phoenix with an 8-lane 22 mile freeway along Pecos Road.

The price tag has been pegged at $19 billion, but for some the cost may be higher.

A hundred homes in Awhatukee, a church and portions of the South Mountain Preserve will be bulldozed to make way for the freeway.

That is unless portions of the traffic artery could be constructed on the Gila River Indian Community reservation.

That would spare the homes and the three mountain ridges that even the Gila River Indiana Community holds dear.

A "yes" vote Tuesday could allow the state of Arizona to use the land for the highway, but it's not a guarantee.

Either way it looks like the Mountain Park Community Church will be forced to move.

The congregation's 12-year-old building stands in the way of a planned on-ramp for that freeway.

Even if the road is built on the reservation, it's likely the church will have to be demolished to make way for it.

"Our church isn't the building, but our people," said leader Marshall Wells. "We'll find a new home."

A new home for the church may be part of a deal negotiated with the state.

Talks have reportedly already begun.

The Gila River Indian Community heads to the polls Tuesday.

Results are expected sometime Wednesday.

Construction on the project likely wouldn't begin until 2014 with completion by 2020.