Phoenix metropolitan area

Phoenix Metropolitan Area Valley of the Sun
Population	3,715,360 (2,004 est.)

The Phoenix metropolitan area, sometimes referred to locally as the Valley of the Sun, is a metropolitan area that includes the City of Phoenix, most of the rest of Maricopa County, a large section of Pinal County, and small parts of southern Yavapai County. The Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale Metropolitan Statistical Area, as defined by the US Census Bureau, includes Maricopa and Pinal counties.

The population of the Phoenix metropolitan area increased by 45% from 1990 through 2000, compared to the average United States rate of 15%, helping to make Arizona the second fastest growing state in the nation in the 1990s (the fastest was Nevada). The 2000 Census reported the population of the metro area to be 3,251,876. The Phoenix metro area had an estimated total population of 3,907,429 at the beginning of 2006.

Cities and Towns in the Phoenix metropolitan area

What follows is a list of places in the general vicinity of the Phoenix Metropolitan Area. All of them are part of the actual Metropolitan Area according to at least one definition in use, but many of them are debatable. The most conservative definition, including only those places that are currently part of the contiguous urban and suburban center of the Metropolitan Area, includes much fewer places. Those places are in bold below.

Incorporated Areas

100,000 or more inhabitants

• Chandler
• Gilbert
• Glendale
• Mesa
• Peoria
• Phoenix
• Scottsdale
• Surprise
• Tempe

10,000 or more inhabitants

• Apache Junction
• Avondale
• Buckeye
• Casa Grande
• Eloy
• Florence
• Fountain Hills
• Goodyear
• Maricopa
• Paradise Valley
• Queen Creek

Less than 10,000 inhabitants

• Carefree
• Cave Creek
• Coolidge
• El Mirage
• Gila Bend
• Guadalupe
• Litchfield Park
• Superior
• Tolleson
• Wickenburg
• Youngtown

Unincorporated Areas

Over 10,000 inhabitants

• New River
• Anthem
• Gold Canyon
• Sun City
• Sun City West
• Sun Lakes

Under 10,000 inhabitants

• Aguila
• Ak-Chin Village
• Arizona City
• Arlington
• Black Canyon City
• Chuichu
• Laveen
• Morristown [1]
• Rio Verde
• Queen Valley
• Sacaton
• San Tan
• Stanfield
• Tonopah
• Tortilla Flat
• Wittmann
• Yarnell

Unknown Population

• Bapchule
• Bumble Bee
• Chandler Heights
• Eleven Mile Corner
• Higley
• Komatke
• La Palma
• Liberty
• Ocotillo
• Octave
• Olberg
• Palo Verde
• Rock Springs
• Roosevelt
• Valley Farms
• Waddell

Demographics

• White Non Hispanic: 62.26% 2,406,491
• Hispanic/Latino(can be of any race;i.e. white, black etc.): 28.42% 1,098,637
• Black: 4.15% 160,497
• Other: 5.17% 199,824

Transportation

Freeways and highways

The Phoenix Metropolitan Area is served by several controlled-access freeways, including Interstates 10, 17, and 8, the US 60, and Arizona State Routes 101, 202, 303, and 51. Many new freeways are planned to be built by 2025, either through upgrades of existing roads (including State Routes 85, 303, and parts of the US 60), or through the construction of new freeways where no road existed before (including State Routes 801, 802, and the remaining parts of 202).

Several regular access highways also serve parts of the Valley, including parts of the US 60, and all of State Routes 85, 87 and its associated routes (187, 287, 387, and 587) 74, 88, and others.

Arterial roads

In the Valley, many of the arterial roads have the same name across city and town borders. However, a common source of confusion is the fact that many roads may have either different names or numbering systems in different cities or areas.

For example, one east-west arterial is known as Glendale Avenue west of the Arizona State Route 51 freeway, but as Lincoln Drive to the east of the freeway.

Other instances of confusion come from the same physical road changing names abruptly, as is the case for Scottsdale Road becoming Rural Road in the city of Tempe. Some other roads are known to change names abruptly within city limits.

Bell Road is known as Frank Lloyd Wright Road in Scottsdale, and this is a frequent source of confusion as there is actually a Bell Road in Scottsdale as well, located nearby, but which does not go through to the Bell Road of Phoenix. This is particularly frustrating for the uninitiated, as Bell Road is the most-traveled arterial in the metro area.

Rail

An urban light rail system (dubbed the "METRO") is currently under construction. The initial line will run more than 20 miles from suburban Mesa, through Tempe and into Phoenix, traveling through the downtown area, offering access to Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport and linking two of the four metro area campuses of Arizona State University. Anticipated to open in December 2008, it is projected to initially accommodate 26,000 boardings a day, or more than 8 million boardings in its first year.

Expansions to the METRO system are currently in the early planning stages.

Aviation

In 2005, Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport was the 14th busiest passenger facility in the world and the 8th busiest in America, with more than 41 million passengers using the facility. With three terminal buildings encompassing 120 gates, more than 20 airlines offer daily non-stop flights to destinations throughout the world.

The Williams Gateway Airport started commercial passenger flights in 2004. Currently, the only available destinations are Las Vegas, Reno, Seattle, and Chicago.

There are several municipal and regional airports in the metropolitan area, however none of them are currently used by commercial airlines for passenger flights.

Street numbering systems

Most communities in Maricopa County use the Phoenix-County numbering system, with the point of origin at Central Avenue and Washington Street. In the Phoenix-County system, north-south numbered roads labelled "avenue", "drive", and "lane" are located West of Central Avenue, while those labelled "street", "place" and "way" are located east of Central Avenue. They go, in order from west to east (not all necessarily exist):

2nd Avenue - 1st Dale - 1st Glen - 1st Lane - 1st Drive - 1st Avenue - Central Avenue - 1st Street - 1st Place - 1st Way - 1st Terrace - 1st Run

This has been a source of major confusion for some newcomers, who might end up, for example, at 91st Avenue and Thunderbird Road, when in fact they intended to go to 91st Street and Thunderbird Road, about 30 minutes' drive away from one another.

One beneficial quality of this arrangement for unfamiliar travelers is that the major north-south arterial roads are rarely similarly named; the "avenue" arterials in the West Valley are all odd-numbered and the "street" arterials in the East Valley are even-numbered. With the exception of 7th Ave. & 7th St., both being major roadways running parallel but nearly 2 miles apart.

Communities in Maricopa County that have their own street numbering systems include:

Community	Point of Origin
Apache Junction	Idaho Road & Junction Drive
Avondale	Central Avenue & Western Avenue
Buckeye (historic downtown only)	Monroe Avenue & 1st Street
Chandler	Commonwealth Place & Arizona Avenue
Gilbert	Gilbert Road & Elliot Road
Litchfield Park	Litchfield Road & Wigwam Boulevard
Mesa	Center Street & Main Street
Goodyear (historic district only)	Western Avenue & Litchfield Road
Tempe	Mill Avenue & the Salt River
Wickenburg	Center Street & Frontier Street
Wittmann (core area only)	Center Street & Grand Avenue

Since some streets are shared between several cities, the different numbering systems have sometimes caused confusion, including occasional mishaps with emergency services. For example, "620 E. Southern Avenue" is the address of multiple locations in different parts of the metro area: one between Central Avenue and 7th Street in Phoenix, one between Mill and Rural Roads in Tempe, one in Mesa between Mesa Drive and Stapley Drive, and one in Apache Junction between Idaho Road and Tomahawk Road.

Most communities in Pinal County use the Pinal County street numbering system, whose point of origin is at AZ 287 and 11 Mile Corner Road (the intersection of which is known as "11 Mile Corner"). Exceptions include:

Community	Point of Origin
Apache Junction	Idaho Road & Junction Drive
Casa Grande	Ash Avenue & Center Street
Coolidge	Central Avenue & railroad tracks
Eloy	Alsdorf Road & Main Street
Florence	Butte Avenue & Main Street
Queen Creek	(follows Phoenix-County)
Stanfield	AZ 84 & Stanfield Road

External links

• Phoenix metro population growth figures