The Tempe Crosscut Canal Multi-use Path Phase II is a one-mile, non-motorized path facility that will connect to the recently completed, 1.25 mile Crosscut Canal Multi-use Path Phase I. The project follows Salt River Project’s Crosscut Canal through Papago Park and connects to Tempe’s Evelyn Hallman and Moeur parks and provides the only non-motorized, accessible route from north Tempe with the Town Lake, downtown Tempe and METRO light rail system.

The project will include a paved path facility, landscaping, lighting, and a public art element with appropriate alignment along the canal bank to include retaining walls and/or railings to comply with ADA requirements. This project will serve to consolidate trails in Papago Park and help preserve this fragile piece of Sonoran Desert while also retaining and protecting a naturalized riparian system along a portion of the route where the canal is unchannelized. This project has a special opportunity to partner with the Papago Salado Organization, the North Tempe Neighborhood Association and Salt River Project, which is providing improvements to the hydrology plant that is fed by the Crosscut Canal.

The project is identified in the North Tempe Neighborhood master plan, the Maricopa Association of Governments Regional Off-Street System (ROSS) Plan, the Tempe Comprehensive Transportation Plan and is in concert with the Tempe General Plan 2030.

Several neighborhood meetings will be held at all phases of the project design development. Tempe is dedicated to providing safe, accessible, and pleasant alternative mode corridors to enhance air quality for the city and the region. This project should be funded because it will be providing a non-motorized accessible transportation facility where one does not exist today that will link local and regional destinations.