Arizona State Route 303

State Loop 303
Bob Stump Memorial Parkway
Route information
Maintained by ADOT
Length:	35.25 mi[1] (56.73 km)
Existed:	1991 – present
History:	Under construction until after 2023
Major junctions
Beltway around West Valley
CCW end:	I-10 in Goodyear
	Northern Parkway in Waddell US 60 in Surprise
CW end:	I-17 in Phoenix
Highway system
Arizona Highways Interstate U.S. State Unconstructed Former ← SR 289 SR 347 →

Arizona State Route 303, also known as Loop 303 (spoken as three-oh-three) or Bob Stump Memorial Parkway formerly called Estrella Freeway, is a freeway that serves the northwestern portion of the Phoenix area. The freeway, originally a two-lane rural highway, was maintained by Maricopa County^[2] in central Arizona serving the far western suburbs of the Phoenix metropolitan area until 2004 when the Arizona Department of Transportation again took the control of upgrading the interim road to a freeway. As of 2004 it was renamed "Bob Stump Memorial Parkway" to honor former Arizona congressman Bob Stump.^[3]

Its route runs from Interstate 10 in Goodyear to Interstate 17 south of Carefree Highway. As of July 2016, Loop 303 is a full freeway from I-17 to I-10.

Route description

Loop 303 currently begins at a stack interchange with I-10 in Goodyear.^[4] It heads north under McDowell and Thomas Roads, then over an interchange with Indian School Road. The road heads through a farmland terrain and passes the Wildlife World Zoo near Northern Avenue. It over passes the BNSF Railway near Olive Avenue.^[5] At an interchange with Greenway Road, Route 303 enters a residential community and turns northeast, becoming a two lane highway past Clearview Boulevard. The route heads over a bridge above Grand Avenue (US 60) along with another BNSF railroad line.^[5] The route turns eastward and becomes a 4-lane limited-access highway (which will eventually be upgraded to a 6-lane freeway, currently is a 2-lane highway).^[6] It then becomes a controlled-access highway at El Mirage Road. It turns north near the Happy Valley Parkway interchange and then east again south of Lake Pleasant, passing through planned arterial interchanges. The freeway comes to an end at a temporary at-grade interchange (eventually to be a stack interchange with I-17 near Skunk Creek. East of this interchange, Route 303 will become Sonoran Desert Drive. The south end from US 60 to I-10 is frequently used to bypass Grand Avenue.^[7]

History

Old colored Arizona Loop 303 shield that has been phased out.

Loop 303 was originally a part of the 1985 Maricopa County Regional Transportation Plan that was funded by a sales tax approved by Maricopa County voters. The freeway, designed to service the Northwest Valley, was originally designated SR 517 in 1985; the Loop 303 designation was first assigned in 1987.^[8] The freeway was scheduled to be completed sometime by 2005. However, funding shortfalls and increasing construction costs forced cutbacks in the plan, and in 1995 the freeway was dropped from the regional plans.

Maricopa County took charge of what was then called the Estrella Freeway project when it was dropped from the regional freeway plans, maintaining it as an interim 2-lane highway along the original corridor while keeping the state route designation. The county has made significant improvements to the roadway, extending it several miles north and east of US 60. While the highway is still largely a 2-lane rural road, the extension north of US 60 along with the southern terminus just north of Interstate 10 have been upgraded to a 4-lane divided parkway, and the segment between US 60 and Bell Road in Surprise has been partially upgraded to controlled-highway standards with overpasses and right-of-way for on-ramps.^[9]

With the extension of the sales tax approved in 2004, the highway has once again been added to the Regional Transportation Plan. As Maricopa County has completed much of the required study and preparation work, construction on the freeway is already underway with a planned completion date of the I-10 to I-17 segment by 2015. In mid-2011 the segment between Happy Valley Parkway and I-17 was completed as a four-lane highway with an interchange at Lone Mountain Parkway completed but closed to the public. Motorists must pass through a signaled interchange until a freeway to freeway interchange is built between Loop 303 and I-17. According to a recent agreement between the state legislature and the state department of transportation, STAN (Statewide Transportation Acceleration Needs) funds were used to build a partial interchange at Bell Road in summer 2010, several years before previously intended.^[10]

Future

Long-term plans call for the extension of Loop 303 south of the interchange with I-10 in Goodyear to the planned I-10 'Reliever Route' Freeway, SR 30, and continuing south through Goodyear to connect with the planned alignment of future Interstate 11. Loop 303 would run concurrent with I-11 for several miles, before splitting off southward towards its ultimate terminus at Interstate 8 west of Casa Grande. If completed, Loop 303 will serve as a Phoenix bypass route for the southwestern suburbs of Goodyear, Avondale, and Buckeye as well as an alternate Phoenix bypass route for I-10 traffic headed westbound to the Greater Los Angeles Area and northbound via I-17 to Flagstaff.

In response to a projected budget shortfall of $6.6 billion brought on by the recession, the Maricopa Association of Governments voted to suspend funding to numerous projects during a meeting on October 28, 2009. Some modifications to Route 303, such as a scaled-back design of its interchanges with I-10 and US Highway 60, were made to cope with the budget shortfall. Funding for the extension south of I-10 to the planned alignment of SR 30 was removed, effectively postponing the extension until after 2025.^[11]

Exit list

The entire route is in Maricopa County.

Location	mi [1][12][13]	km	Exit	Destinations	Notes[14]
​			–	Future I-11 (Hassayampa Freeway)	Future southern terminus[15]
Goodyear			97	SR 30 (I-10 Reliever)	Future interchange; construction begins in 2023[16]
			98	Baseline Road	Future interchange; construction begins in 2023[16]
			99	Southern Avenue	Future interchange; construction begins in 2023[16]
	0.00	0.00	100	CR 85	Future interchange; construction begins in 2023[16]
	1.10	1.77	101	Lower Buckeye Road	Future interchange; construction begins in 2023[16]
	2.10	3.38	102	Yuma Road	Future interchange; construction begins in 2016[16]
	3.20	5.15	103	Van Buren Street	Future interchange; under construction[16]
	3.80– 3.97	6.12– 6.39	104	I-10 – Phoenix, Los Angeles	Stack interchange north half opened August 2014; split into exits 104A (east) and 104B (west); exit 124 on I-10 south half of interchange under construction
	5.19	8.35	105	Thomas Road / Cotton Lane	Southbound exit and northbound entrance
	6.17	9.93	106	Indian School Road
Goodyear–Glendale line	7.19	11.57	107	Camelback Road
Glendale	8.19	13.18	108	Bethany Home Road	Opened June 2014
	9.20	14.81	109	Glendale Avenue	Opened Spring 2014
	10.18	16.38	110A	Northern Avenue	Northbound exit and southbound entrance
	10.68	17.19	110B	Northern Parkway east	Trumpet interchange; west end of Northern Parkway
Glendale–Surprise line	12.18	19.60	112	Peoria Avenue
Surprise	13.18	21.21	113	Cactus Road
	14.18	22.82	114	Waddell Road
	15.18	24.43	115	Greenway Road
	16.18	26.04	116	Bell Road
	19.29	31.04	119	US 60 (Grand Avenue)
Sun City West	23.68	38.11	123	El Mirage Road
Peoria	25.68	41.33	125	Happy Valley Parkway / Vistancia Boulevard
	26.88	43.26	126	Jomax Parkway	Planned interchange
	27.98	45.03	127	Lone Mountain Parkway
	29.18	46.96	128	Westwing Parkway	Planned interchange
	30.68	49.37	130	Westland Drive	Planned Interchange
	31.78	51.14	131	Lake Pleasant Parkway
Phoenix	34.58	55.65	133	Pyramid Peak Parkway	Planned interchange
	36.78	59.19	135	Stetson Valley Parkway	Planned interchange
	37.68	60.64	136	43rd Avenue	Planned interchange
	38.68	62.25	137	35th Avenue	Planned Interchange with frontage roads
	39.25	63.17	138	I-17 / Sonoran Desert Drive east – Flagstaff, Phoenix	At-grade intersection with frontage roads; site of future stack interchange; exit 221 on I-17; road continues east as Sonoran Desert Drive
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi       Incomplete access       Unopened

See also

• U.S. Roads portal
• Arizona portal
• Metropolitan Phoenix Freeways
• Loop 101
• Loop 202

References

External links

• SR 303 at Arizona Roads

Route map: Bing / Google