Sun City, AZ— The Maricopa County Department of Transportation (MCDOT) contractor is making major progress on a community-wide roadway median landscape project converting all grass roadway medians to a water-conserving landscape design.
Over the past several weeks, new concrete curbing and decorative rock have been installed in roadway medians on Peoria Avenue and Alabama Avenue between 99th and 111th Avenues and new water-conserving drip irrigation systems and water valves on Peoria Avenue are going in this week.
The roadway median conversion project involves multiple applications of grass and weed killer in the new rock areas to permanently eliminate the old grass and prevent new grass and weeds from emerging. According to MCDOT’s contract with Somerset Landscape and Maintenance, all grass and weeds will be eliminated from new rock landscape areas.
“With common Bermuda roots as deep as they are, this multi-application process is the best method to fully eliminate the unwanted grass,” said Brian Lemmermann, President of Somerset Landscape and Maintenance. “We should see very good results shortly as application three goes down which is designed to burn the leaf away.”
The $895,000 construction effort will transform all 39 acres of grass roadway medians throughout Sun City to a combination grass and decorative rock landscape design to improve community aesthetics and reduce water usage.
“We can never lose site of the fact that we live in a desert and water is a precious commodity. This grass median conversion project underscores our shared commitment to water conservation with the added benefit of beautifying our community,” said Clint Hickman, District 4 County Supervisor. “MCDOT anticipates up to a 70 percent reduction in annual water use with the new sprinkler system and combination grass and rock landscape design.”
“We eagerly await the completion of this project. It has been in the conceptual planning and discussion phase for several years,” said Jim Powell, Sun City Home Owners Association Vice President and former Transportation Committee Chairman. “Replacing the outside grass areas with desert landscape and retaining a grass walking path down the middle will make such a big difference both aesthetically and economically. The current flood-type irrigation doesn’t reach all areas of the medians and there just weren’t funds available for over-seeding during winter months.”
The median conversion project will be complete by December 2014. MCDOT Construction Hotline: 480-350-9288
