A dusty déjà vu is once again making life difficult for some residents of New River.
The driveways leading away from Old Stage Road would have been better used as boat launches when the water rushed down the dirt road immediately after last week’s flooding rains.
The street runs parallel to Interstate 17. Basketball-sized rocks and deep ruts have it closed to traffic. Approximately six homes are along the road.
The water is no longer deep enough for a canoe, but there is enough surface to render the road essentially useless. The Maricopa County Department of Transportation maintains the street.
A spokesperson for the MCDOT said workers will inspect the damage once the water runs dry, then make repairs before reopening it.
The street looks only somewhat better than it did after a flood in summer 2014.
Boulder-sized rocks dotted the road then. A chiropractic session was nearly a must after a daring drive from end-to-end.
The county stitched the street back together then, building an access bridge and smoothing the dips. It looked like any other dirt road in the country.
Joyce Moore, who lives along the road, said the recent past has been crueler than more distant history. During her first 13 years along the road, it never sustained substantial damage after heavy rains, she said. But the street has been rendered useless three times in the last five years.
She hopes a more effective fix is in the works for the road. That will be up to MCDOT engineers after they begin to survey the damage.
