Phoenix has a choice on McDowell Road: Lead or Fall Back
When it comes to the future of McDowell Road between 7th Street and SR-51, Phoenix stands at a crossroads. The community has spoken, experts have weighed in, and the foundation has been laid. But despite all this, the City has stated that no funding has been identified for design or construction. Now, the City of Phoenix must decide whether to honor its own vision for a safe, equitable, climate-resilient city — or stall progress with outdated fears of traffic congestion.
East McDowell Road near 13th Street, looking east (Google Street View, November 2022)
On March 21, 2025 the Phoenix Streets Transportation Department released revised design options (Concepts 1, 2, and 3) in an emailed project update memo to stakeholders. These new concepts no longer include the full package of protected bike lanes, shade trees, and pedestrian buffers.
The Streets Transportation Department originally presented five design options (Options A thru E) for McDowell Road at a public meeting on May 20, 2024. Among them, concept Option E (figure 1) stood out as the only plan that most closely delivered what the community had asked for: protected bike lanes, shaded sidewalks, pedestrian-scale lighting, and buffered space from vehicles. Disappointingly, the City has since removed Option E from consideration.
Following the public feedback of Option E, a widely favorited option, the Phoenix Street Transportation Department was going to consider enhancing Option E to include trees and protected bike lanes – what we are calling “Enhanced Option E”.
Figure 1: This is a visual rendering of Option E based on Streets Dept May 20, 2024, public meeting. While this draft does not yet display shade trees, the City of Phoenix committed to including landscaping and tree canopy in the final design.
Enhanced Option E
Enhanced Option E (figure 2) is what a 21st-century street should look like. And yet, city staff expressed concerns last Friday in an emailed memo to stakeholders that growth and future vehicle traffic volumes might make removing a vehicle lane too risky.
Figure 2: Enhanced Option E is a visual rendering of the city’s Option E with the inclusion of bike lane protections and trees. These are the enhancements the Phoenix Streets Transportation Department was actively considering following public feedback.
But let’s be clear: the data says otherwise — and so does basic logic. McDowell Road currently has three westbound vehicle lanes and only two eastbound lanes, a mismatch that creates imbalance and inefficiency (figure 3). Holding onto an unnecessary lane in one direction is not efficiency — it’s wasted space. Realigning this space to prioritize safety, shade, and bike access is not a loss — it’s a long-overdue correction.
Some sections of McDowell Rd sidewalk are less than 6 feet wide. The City of Phoenix’s new Concepts 1 & 2 more closely align with today’s McDowell Rd; however, some sections of the sidewalk will be widened under Concept 1 & 2, and trees will be planted in some areas.
What the Research Says
As for concerns about traffic congestion, a 2022 study published in Management Science found that strategically planned bike networks actually reduce congestion by facilitating mode shift and optimizing traffic flow (Herrera-Luna & Freund, 2022).
A 2024 study in Nature Communications revealed that optimizing traffic lights using data from just 6% of vehicles significantly reduced delays (Jiang et al., 2024). Modern traffic signal timing is a far more effective tool than clinging to every vehicle lane. In fact, the City itself has acknowledged this: Carl Langford, a traffic engineering supervisor with the Phoenix Street Transportation Department, told AZ Big Media that one of the City's top priorities will be to upgrade signals along McDowell Road to improve synchronization and reduce congestion (AZ Big Media, 2024).
What the Community Says
Public feedback from the City’s May 2024 meeting overwhelmingly favored adding protected bike lanes and shade, even if that meant removing a vehicle lane. Trellis, Phoenix Community Alliance, LISC Phoenix, local schools, and small businesses have all backed a walkable, people-first vision of McDowell Road. In 2022, the City secured a $99,900 Design Assistance Grant from MAG to begin this process, citing goals like pedestrian safety, connectivity, shade, ADA improvements, and regional equity.
Demographics for the McDowell Road Revitalization: (Source: City of Phoenix)
69% minority residents
32% of households below the poverty line
18% without access to a vehicle
High concentrations of youth, seniors, and essential destinations like hospitals and schools
These are exactly the residents Phoenix’s Transportation 2050 (T2050) plan was meant to serve.
Why Enhanced Option E Is the Only Option
Enhanced Option E with trees and protected bike lanes is the only design that lives up to Phoenix's Complete Streets Policy, the Active Transportation Plan, the Shade Phoenix Plan, its Vision Zero goals, the Key Corridors Master Plan, and its Climate Action Plan. It is shovel-ready, community-supported, and policy-aligned. It includes:
Protected bike lanes
Shade trees and pedestrian lighting
Wider sidewalks
Traffic calming and beautification
Phoenix’s Complete Streets Policy (Ordinance S-41094) requires that all street projects be designed for people of all ages and abilities — including pedestrians, bicyclists, and transit users — and that transportation improvements include shade, lighting, and safety infrastructure. Enhanced Option E is the only proposal that meets this standard.
The City of Phoenix Active Transportation Plan (ATP), adopted in 2023, is another guiding policy that reinforces why the City should prioritize multimodal improvements like those found in Enhanced Option E. The plan lays out clear goals and implementation timelines tied directly to Transportation 2050 (T2050).
Public feedback that informed the ATP showed strong demand for protected bike lanes and shaded sidewalks, with the vast majority of respondents willing to accept some rush hour congestion as a trade-off for safer, more comfortable streets. That mirrors the feedback the City received on McDowell Road, where residents prioritized safety, shade, and connectivity over maintaining all vehicle lanes.
Enhanced Option E is also a direct embodiment of the City’s 2024 Shade Phoenix Plan — a $60 million initiative built on extensive public engagement to add over 27,000 new trees and 550 shade structures over the next five years, with over 85% of investments going to low- and moderate-income communities. The plan explicitly prioritizes arterial streets and public rights-of-way where people walk and wait. McDowell Road is one of the most active and underserved urban corridors in Phoenix, and Enhanced Option E delivers what the Shade Plan demands: functional, equitable, and well-maintained shade infrastructure.
The Shade Phoenix Plan also cites the city’s Tree Equity Score, which confirms McDowell-area neighborhoods fall below citywide averages for tree canopy and experience disproportionate heat exposure. Investing in Enhanced Option E directly addresses those equity gaps with infrastructure that saves lives and improves livability.
Enhanced Option E also aligns with the 2020 Phoenix Key Corridors Master Plan (KCMP), which identifies McDowell Road as a critical corridor where street space should be reimagined to prioritize walking, biking, and transit. The KCMP calls for modal shifts that reflect the City's changing demographics and needs — especially in corridors with high transit demand and socioeconomic vulnerability.
Figure 4: Street cross-section example from Phoenix’s Key Corridors Master Plan (KCMP). Looks a lot like our Enhanced Option E!
And Enhanced Option E supports the City's 2021 Climate Action Plan, which commits to reducing GHG emissions by 50% by 2030 and reaching net-zero by 2050. Under this plan, Phoenix is tasked with:
Reducing single-occupancy vehicle trips (Goal TS4)
Implementing Complete Streets and Active Transportation plans (Goal TS1)
Expanding shaded pedestrian infrastructure to 25% canopy (Goal H2)
Prioritizing investments in underserved communities, including areas with high transit reliance
In short, Enhanced Option E isn’t just a bold idea — it’s the blueprint Phoenix has already committed to.
How We Pay for It — and Why T2050 Fits
In 2015, Phoenix voters overwhelmingly approved Transportation 2050 (T2050) — a 35-year, $16.7 billion investment to reshape how people move around the city. Funded by a 0.7% sales tax that began in 2016, T2050 was designed to support:
Safer streets
Transit expansion
Bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure
Complete Streets and equity-focused investments
T2050 isn’t just about paving roads — it’s about making Phoenix more connected, sustainable, and safe. It includes dedicated programs for Active Transportation, Street Lifecycle Improvements, and Safety Upgrades — all of which align directly with the goals of Enhanced Option E.
Enhanced Option E is exactly the type of corridor transformation that T2050 was created to fund. It delivers shade, bike safety, pedestrian comfort, and equity — all while fixing an outdated and inefficient street design. Phoenix doesn't need new revenue to do this right. It just needs the will to prioritize what residents have already asked for.
What Federal Guidelines and National Experts Say
The City’s hesitation also runs counter to national best practices. According to the National Association of City Transportation Officials (NACTO), protected bike lanes are essential infrastructure for creating safe, multimodal streets that serve people of all ages and abilities. Their Urban Bikeway Design Guide recommends physical separation from traffic to improve rider comfort and safety — exactly what Enhanced Option E can offer (NACTO, 2023).
Meanwhile, Strong Towns — a nationally respected voice in urban planning — has long emphasized that adding vehicle lanes to fight congestion is a losing game. They advocate for “road diets” as tools to improve safety and maintain traffic flow; while warning that road expansions often induce more driving. They also challenge cities to "embrace congestion" as a sign of vitality and invest in places where people want to be (Strong Towns, 2022).
MUTCD and the Safe System Approach Support Enhanced Option E
Federal policy supports the same principles embedded in the Enhanced Option E. The Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD), 11th Edition, published by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), outlines best practices for bicycle infrastructure in urban settings. MUTCD Part 9 states that buffered and protected bike lanes should be used wherever feasible to reduce conflicts and improve safety for bicyclists.
Additionally, the FHWA Safe System Approach is a nationally adopted framework that prioritizes human-centered design. It assumes driver error is inevitable and advocates for road designs that minimize the severity of crashes. The core principles — including separation of users by speed and vulnerability — support infrastructure like protected bike lanes, slower vehicle speeds, and enhanced pedestrian visibility. All of these are features of Enhanced Option E.
Both MUTCD and the FHWA Safe System Approach offer a clear directive: if we want to save lives and build safer cities, designs like Enhanced Option E are the way forward.
These aren’t radical ideas. They’re nationally recognized standards.
The City Should Lead, Not Hesitate
The fear of growth-related congestion is not a reason to delay. It is a reason to get this right. Phoenix has the tools to manage growth through smart planning, better signal timing, and investment in multimodal networks.
So, the real question isn’t whether McDowell Road can handle Enhanced Option E. It’s whether Phoenix has the courage to lead with equity, sustainability, and safety in mind.
Urge the City to fully fund and implement Enhanced Option E using T2050 funds. “The time is now!” – literally from Phoenix’s Key Corridor Master Plan.
The McDowell Revitalization project has garnered widespread community support. Letters of support have been submitted by: (Source: Maricopa Association of Governments (MAG))
Phoenix Community Alliance (PCA)
Encanto & Central City Village Planning Committees
McDowell Miracle Mile Merchants Association
LISC Phoenix
NeighborWorks
Canary Studio / Gould Evans
850ZIP
Rosenberg Community Builders
Garfield Organization
Harder Development
Banner University Medical Center
BAM McDowell, LLC
Law Offices of Lazarus & Silvyn, P.C.
