Deer Valley Drive's dead end disappears

The dead end of Desert Ridge has been opened.

Deer Valley Drive now continues uninterrupted between Tatum Boulevard and Cave Creek Road, providing an alternative to the busy Loop 101 on the south and Pinnacle Peak Road to the north.

Deer Valley now runs from 56th Street on the east to the Deer Valley Rock Art Center on the west. Ultimately, it will connect to Thompson Peak Parkway at Scottsdale Road.

What happened

City street workers built the missing link, about a mile in length, in time for school to open. Pinnacle High School, isolated near 35th Street and Deer Valley since it opened in 2000, now can be accessed from the west. Previously, Deer Valley dead ended at the Reach 11 Sports Complex, for those heading east from Cave Creek Road, and at the high school for those heading west.

What's next

Mark Glock, Phoenix's deputy director of street transportation, said a developer ultimately will be responsible for upgrading the road. But Toll Brothers, the luxury builder that owns the land that wraps around the school on the north and west, has not yet developed the property. When it does, Glock said, the road will be improved.

Who benefits

The benefit of the opening goes to two groups of people: high school students and parents who live in the subdivisions on the western side of Cave Creek Road, just north of Deer Valley, and commuters who live on the western side of the Desert Ridge master-planned community.

For the students, the trip to Pinnacle has been cut almost in half. They previously had to go north to Pinnacle Peak Road, south on 40th Street, and west to the school.

Commuters, especially those who live west of Tatum, now can avoid what had become a difficult traffic bottleneck every morning and afternoon rush hour along Tatum in the Desert Ridge area.

With the new segment of Deer Valley Drive, commuters now can avoid what had become a difficult traffic bottleneck every morning and afternoon rush hour along Tatum in the Desert Ridge area.