Ahead of schedule and under budget.  

Those are rare descriptions for any government project, but that’s exactly how Supervisor Rich Vitiello (R-Maricopa) described completion of the Vekol Wash crossing project following a ribbon cutting on Ralston Road Thursday morning.

“It’s finishing three months early and it’s finishing under budget,” Vitiello said. “The community is ecstatic because they’re going to be able to drive over this [wash] three months early.” 

The result impressed Hidden Valley resident Robin Davis.

“You can’t get any better than that,” she reacted.

The project carried a budget of just over $7.9 million. Pinal County Public Information Officer Ray Telles said the county does not yet have a final total but confirmed the cost will come in below that amount.

The months-long project closed off a portion of Ralston Road between Jean Drive and Mockingbird Lane in July to construct a culvert and all-weather crossing. It was scheduled to reopen in July but finished early.

Historically, the road flooded during heavy rainfall, creating safety concerns.

“There’s been trucks that get washed out [during flooding]. It limits fire access for homes on each side of the road,” said Thunderbird Farms resident Laurie Fuller. “I think it is safer for the community because people don’t think and they drive through the water. People have gotten stuck and trucks have [flipped] upside down.”

Davis said the county “did it right” by planning for 100-year floods.

“I’ve seen areas where [crews] didn’t build for that and they put a temporary band-aid on and it would get washed out,” she said. “[This is] very massive and people and horses can ride underneath. It’ll disperse the water in all the right directions and there’s all these banks of large rocks here that will keep it from getting washed out.”

While the culvert has residents looking forward to easier travel during summer monsoons, some worry it could spur additional development.

“People are now concerned that this got pushed through by the developers so they had no excuse not to develop the area,” Fuller said. “I think this is good for the community, but we will be super vigilant.”

Davis said for now it remains “a small concern.”

“It’s something that you can’t take your eye off of, but it’s there and we’ll deal with it as we go down that road,” she said.