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Are we there yet? Sick of waiting around, the city hatches a new plan to fix the 347 once and for all City Manager Ben Bitter speaks with Maricopa residents about the proposed half-cent sales tax to fund State Route 347 during an open house April 10.
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BY MONICA D. SPENCER, JEFF CHEW, DAVID IVERSEN AND ELIAS WEISS
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taxpayers showed 6 in 10 residents supported the levy. A little more than one-third outright opposed it, and the rest were undecided. This isn’t the first time Maricopans have been promised an improved, widened roadway for a less stressful commute. In fact, they’ve heard that pledge plenty of times only to see it fall through. Proposition 417 promised to raise $28.8 million for SR 347 improvements when voters approved it in 2017, and Maricopa businesses collected this tax for about four years before the Arizona Supreme Court ruled it unconstitutional. Proposition 469 promised more than $12 million for SR 347 but ultimately failed when Pinal County voters rejected it in 2022.
from the decision makers in Phoenix who can put those improvements on the budget. That’s why, in just a matter of days, the Maricopa City Council will vote on the implementation of a new half-cent sales tax. Their reasoning? It would directly provide funding to widen SR 347, meaning it would help the road secure a coveted spot on the State Transportation Board’s five-year construction plan and finally give it the attention it so badly deserves. Councilmembers will vote on the proposal during their May 6 meeting. Positive action would raise the tax rate on most sales by half a percent, meaning a medium Big Mac combo meal would cost an extra nickel. A recent InMaricopa.com poll of 1,405
HIS YEAR’S WILD WEST MUSIC Fest star LeAnn Rimes didn’t have State Route 347 in mind when she recorded the chart-topping hit in
2005. But when she sang it in Maricopa two decades later, she might as well have dedicated Something’s Gotta Give to the highway where Maricopans spend tens of millions of hours every year. Maricopa is growing faster than almost any city. Lots of exciting things are coming to town. Lots of people are excited about moving here. Nearly all of them work in the Valley, and they have one way to get there. If the road’s not de jure over capacity, it certainly is de facto. It must be improved. But the people feeling the strain are one crappy state highway away
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InMaricopa.com | May 2025
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