Freeway names not by the numbers

Everyone who can't remember what freeway name goes with which part of each freeway loop in the city raise you hand.

East Valley Tribune | Daily Arizona news for Chandler, Gilbert, Tempe, Mesa, Scottsdale You invite a handful of friends to stop by your new house, telling them it’s just off Loop 202 and Gilbert Road. Simple enough, right? Not for much longer. Give those directions today, and your guests would head for north Mesa. But say the same thing in a year, and there’s a good chance a few of your guests would look for your house 13 miles south in Chandler. That’s because in late 2005, a new leg of Loop 202 will create a second intersection of the freeway with Gilbert Road. If that’s not confusing enough, consider this: Loop 202 will eventually cross nine streets twice by the time it’s completed in 2007. And it already crosses Loop 101 twice, making for two Loop 101/202 interchanges. East Valley residents and transportation officials say the loop numbering system will create headaches for everybody from tourists to emergency responders to traffic reporters who help everybody else get around. "It’s going to be a problem," said Jim Willinger, president of Phoenix-based Wide World of Maps. "And I imagine it will hit the news biggest and boldest when there’s an emergency that routes emergency vehicles to the wrong side of the loop."