A Road to the Rim
By K. Robert Wendel

Construction crews are in the process of building a new, four-lane divided highway that will bypass the two small towns of Christopher Creek and Kohl's Ranch, giving residents a break from the massive traffic that invades their roads each summer.

"People in the community bought their homes to maintain a slower lifestyle," said Berwyn Wilbrink, a project manager with road designer Jacobs Civil Inc. of Phoenix.
"You have a nice little wooded area, and the residents don't like the idea of a freeway running through it. We are basically giving them back their community."

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The Kohl's Ranch and Christopher Creek projects are part of a larger plan that will see 50 mi. of new road built between Payson and Heber, with the state allocating $216 million spread over the next 17 years.

"The goal is to get everybody from Payson to the top of the Mogollon Rim on four lanes," said Arizona Department of Transportation resident engineer Myron Robison.

The Arizona office of D.H. Blattner and Sons recently completed the first project section with a bridge over Preacher Canyon. The Christopher Creek and Kohl's Ranch projects are the second and third in a long series.

Crews from the Arizona office of Kiewit Western Co. are wrapping up their work on a 5.5-mi.le section of S.R. 260 near Christopher Creek, while the Phoenix office of Edward Kraemer and Sons is starting its portion of a 3-mi. section in Kohl's Ranch.

The projects have been a long time coming, with engineers starting construction documents nearly 15 years ago.

On the $32.5 million, 5.5-mi. section, Kiewit Western erected 13 bridges, including eight bridges specifically designed to create passages for migrating elk, which have long posed a danger for drivers on the road.

"There's a large concentration of elk in this area and there have been a lot of accidents because of them," said Garret Burleson, an environmental coordinator with Kiewit Western. "The level of elk incidents is what ADOT is using to determine the project phasing."

The new road will be a vast improvement over the existing route, with broad shoulders, better visibility and a quieter road with the application of rubberized asphalt. Much of the old S.R. 260 will be abandoned and returned to a natural state.

Engineers are also working to preserve the character of the area, with massive erosion control plans and a strict environmental plan regulated by the U.S. Forest Service and the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality.

"The intent is to have a divided highway, primarily for safety, but a divided highway also allows each roadway to avoid a freeway appearance and blend in with the topography of the forest," Wilbrink said. "We want to give the driver the experience of being in a forest and not on a freeway."