Phoenix's 64th Street exit on Loop 101 is now open

• 64th Street freeway exit preps north Phoenix for growth
• Exit has sat closed since 2008%2C waiting for Phoenix to complete the street to connect it
• New street brings hope for the area to be a booming biomedical corridor

A new stretch of 64th Street has completed what was once a freeway exit to nowhere off Loop 101, cementing the vision for the north Phoenix desert that surrounds it.

City and state agencies opened less than a mile of road last month, connecting the freeway to Mayo Boulevard to the south. The road ends abruptly in undeveloped land on both sides of the freeway.

The new exit may help relieve congestion for current commuters, but leaders said the project is preparation for something much larger: the biomedical corridor that they expect the area to become.

It's also a milestone in the transportation plan for growth near the Phoenix-Scottsdale border envisioned more than 10 years ago. The freeway exit is near the Mayo Clinic, the Scottsdale 101 shopping center and lots of empty space.

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Development plans are coming rapidly from the clinic and its partners as city leaders envision an expanding area with patient facilities, research centers and health-care campuses for institutions such as Arizona State University.

Phoenix is trying to prepare now by putting the right infrastructure in place, Street Transportation Director Ray Dovalina said.

"We see this as a generator, a driver of economic activity," he said, adding, "It's a critical area for the city."

County voters first approved a freeway interchange at 64th Street in 2004 under the Maricopa Association of Governments regional transportation plan. The Arizona Department of Transportation spent about $23 million to build freeway exits and a bridge in 2008.

But until May, those exits connected to nowhere and sat closed to traffic. Halted plans for development, land acquisition costs and other challenges left Phoenix's Street Transportation Department unable to complete the road at the same time.

As Mayo Clinic began building a cancer center to the east several years later, the organization gave Phoenix thousands of truckloads of dirt to use for the new road. The donation saved the city about $600,000 when construction on 64th Street started in 2013, Dovalina said.

The project cost about $7.42 million, according to the department.

The cancer center is set to open in 2016 and will be served by the new road and freeway exit, said Wyatt Decker, CEO of Mayo Clinic in Arizona. Other health projects planned for the area will also require roads to expand, he said, and community developments likely are to follow.

"It positions us well for the future growth in health care," Decker said. "To have the infrastructure is a show of confidence and good faith from the city of Phoenix."

The freeway exit isn't expected to immediately serve a large influx of people because of its limited connection, ADOT spokesman Doug Nintzel said. People are using it, though, and the department received calls soon before its opening from people eager for the extra option to reach their destinations, he said.

Those users include visitors to Mayo Clinic, Decker said, who are used to some congestion around 56th Street. That exit was previously their only option.

Decker said he was excited about the 64th Street opening for his own commute to work.

"It's certainly nice for patients and employees," he said.

And people farther east in Scottsdale may notice some traffic benefits, especially if the road is extended south, city spokeswoman Holly Walter said. Connections on 64th Street could help relieve congestion in the Scottsdale Road area, she said.

"It's a benefit to both Scottsdale and Phoenix," she said.

Future road plans likely will depend on development in the area, Dovalina said. He said street construction is a balance between predicting where growth will occur and responding to the needs of projects that are already underway.

"This is just trying to prep the area to be prosperous," he said.

A new stretch of 64th Street has completed what was once a freeway exit to nowhere off Loop 101, cementing the vision for the north Phoenix desert that surrounds it.