"This is a visually significant corridor with staggering views of Camelback Mountain and AZ Falls, yet it looks like a landing strip." That is how the Arcadia Camelback Mountain Neighborhood Association described 56th Street when it was asking the city to fix it. On Monday, October 12, 2026, the City of Phoenix starts construction on that stretch of road, from Thomas Road to Camelback Road. The city expects to finish in Fall 2028.
Two years of orange barrels can feel like something the city is doing to the neighborhood. The design that goes into the ground this week grew out of a list Arcadia neighbors wrote for themselves, and almost every line of the city's final scope matches something on that list.
The List Neighbors Wrote, and Where Each Item Landed
The neighborhood association organized its case around an acronym, SAVES. Each letter stood for a problem on the corridor, and the association added connectivity and drainage after it. The association writes that local schools, two neighborhood organizations, parents and other residents backed the effort, and that about $130,000 in design money went into it before the city committed to construction.
Here is how those concerns line up with what the City of Phoenix project page now lists:
| What neighbors flagged | What the 2026 design includes |
|---|---|
| Safety: no complete sidewalks or bike lanes to schools, parks or businesses | A continuous 10 to 12 foot multi-use path on both the west and east sides of 56th Street |
| Aesthetics: a corridor that looks like a landing strip | Low-water-use shade trees next to the sidewalk and path, plus landscaping along the corridor |
| Volume: cut-through traffic on a wide-open road | Traffic-calming features and signal updates at five intersections |
| Enjoyment: few people use the corridor because it feels unsafe and disconnected | Paths that complete the bicycle and pedestrian gaps along the corridor |
| Speed: speeding and unsafe passing on the shoulder | Traffic calming and possible changes to the Exeter Boulevard roundabout |
| Connectivity: bus stops and parks that go unused | Upgraded curb ramps and sidewalks built to current ADA standards |
| Drainage: mountain runoff | A 24-inch storm drain running down 56th Street from Thomas Road to Camelback Road |
The storm drain is the piece of the project people will never see once it's finished, and it runs the full length of the work zone, from Thomas Road to Camelback Road. Neighbors listed drainage as its own need, and the city's construction notice lists the new storm drain system second among the project's improvements, right after the paths.
The Camelback Signal Is the Clearest Example
If one intersection shows how closely the city followed resident feedback, it is 56th Street and Camelback Road. During the public engagement phases, residents asked the city for left-turn arrows at that light, both for turning onto 56th from eastbound Camelback and for turning from 56th onto westbound Camelback. The city's project page says it is going further than that, with a complete signal rebuild that includes:
- Green, solid yellow, red and flashing yellow arrows for every approach
- A dedicated left-turn lane for northbound 56th Street
- Pedestrian push buttons and countdown timers on all four approaches
- New, improved ADA ramps on every corner
The city put this under a heading that reads "You Asked, We Listened!" That is unusual wording for a capital project page, and it is also the shortest summary of how this project came about.
The Exeter Boulevard roundabout, the other spot on the corridor that drew repeated comments in the association's records, appears in the scope as "possible changes or improvements." The construction notice describes the goal there as better safety and traffic flow. Neither document publishes a final geometry, so the shape of the roundabout after construction has not been settled publicly.
Eight Years From a Church Classroom to a Contract
What took so long was mostly process. Here is the sequence, pieced together from city and neighborhood records:
- Summer and fall 2018. The city held three public meetings, on June 20, July 18 and September 26. According to the association, they were in classrooms at Prince of Peace Lutheran Church at the northeast corner of Indian School Road and 56th Street. The association said it scheduled three meetings instead of the usual two because of a five-year ADOT funding window that could not slip.
- About 330 residents came to those three open houses and weighed in on problems, design elements and alternative cross-sections for the road.
- A parent survey circulated through local schools drew more than 600 responses and over 250 written comments, according to the association.
- May 2022. Final design began for the full project.
- December 2023. The Arizona Republic previewed the 10 to 12 foot paths and reported construction was expected in 2025. That date slipped.
- March 3, 2026. The city received three bids for the southern segment.
- May 20, 2026. The City Council awarded the contract.
- October 12, 2026. Construction begins.
Why Crews Start at Thomas Road
In the City Council's May 20, 2026 contract item, Phase 1 covers Indian School Road to Camelback Road and Phase 2 covers Thomas Road to Indian School Road. The construction notice says work starts at the south end of the project, between Thomas and Indian School. That means the Phase 2 segment is where crews show up first. The project page also says construction on both phases begins in October 2026.
Hunter Contracting Co. won that southern segment as the lowest responsive bidder at $23,142,664.40. The city's own Opinion of Probable Cost was $26,430,460.50, so the winning bid came in about $3.3 million under the estimate. The next responsive bid, from Combs Construction Company, was $29,468,633.35. The council also approved a 10 percent contingency for project uncertainties and capped the agreement at $25,456,930.40. It set a contract term of 660 calendar days from the notice to proceed. The project uses federal funds along with the Street Transportation Department's Capital Improvement Program budget.
That figure covers the Thomas-to-Indian School contract only. The records reviewed here do not include a contractor or contract amount for the Indian School-to-Camelback segment, so $23 million is not the cost of the whole corridor.
The Indian School Crossing Is Where the Two Halves Meet
Indian School Road is where the southern segment ends and the northern one begins. It is also where 56th Street meets some of the most-used spots on the corridor. G.R. Herberger Park sits at 56th Street and Indian School Road, according to SRP. Arizona Falls, the 20-foot drop on the Arizona Canal between 56th and 58th streets, is both a neighborhood attraction and a working hydroelectric plant. You reach it from the south, crossing a pedestrian footbridge to a shaded viewing platform with boulder seating. Prince of Peace Lutheran Church, where the first meetings took place, stands on the northeast corner.
The association framed the project as a way to connect people safely to schools, parks and the Arizona Canal trail system. Once it is built, a continuous path on both sides of 56th will link Thomas Road to the canal and on to Camelback. If you followed the plans for the old Lazy R&G Ranch at 48th Street and Indian School, you will recognize the pattern. In Arcadia, the street-level pieces of a project, like path crossings and sidewalks, are the parts that change daily routines.
What the Next Two Years Look Like Day to Day
The construction notice from the city's Street Transportation Department sets these ground rules:
- Standard hours: Monday through Friday, 7 a.m. to 4 p.m.
- Off-hours work: some night and weekend work may be scheduled when needed to minimize community impacts
- First zone: the south end, Thomas Road to Indian School Road
- Future notices: additional notices will come out as specific work and traffic changes are scheduled
The city has not yet published lane closures, detours or the order of work north of Indian School. Those details will come in later notices. You can get them as they are released by signing up through the QR code on the notice, or by contacting the project team directly. The hotline is 623-825-3444, the email address is [email protected], and the project website is phoenix.gov/streets/56thStreet. The city's June 2026 Final Project Map and its 90% design roll plots are linked from that page too, for anyone who wants to see how the path and buffers fall along their own block.
For more on how Arcadia's streets, landmarks and new businesses are changing, see our Arcadia neighborhood guide.
If you live near 56th Street and wonder how two years of construction, and the finished paths and shade trees after it, could affect your home's value, Rounds Petratis Legacy Group is happy to walk through it with you. We track Arcadia block by block. Request a free home valuation and we'll give you a clear, current read on where your home stands as the corridor changes.
