Hey Michael, or other Phoenix metro people

On Monday my dad has to take some house guests to Sky Harbor to fly home on 9 am flights.  His place is in Gilbert (more like Queen Creek).  We haven't flown early am out of Sky Harbor in YEARS, so I'm wondering what is a good route for him.  I know valley traffic is a NIGHTMARE. Is taking the 202 south to the 101 to the 202 north the best route for that time of day?  Or is 202 traffic a nightmare?  Can you take Queen Creek all the way over to 1-10, then shoot up the 101 to the north 202?  Is that a better option? Like I said, it has been years since any of us have taken that flight.  Like, before the 202 south shen we still had to shoot up to the 60.  And,  as you well know, the 60 was a parking lot a few years back. Andy advice appreciated.  Thanks!

The best way to go is to get up to the 60 using Power or Ellsworth, It has a carpool lane the entire way untill it merges with I-10, it has it's own ramp on to i-10 west, but he'll want to use the general lanes for the merge because right after the merge will be the exit for sky harbor (SR 143) if he's in the carpool lane he would have to cross about 7 lanes of bumper to bumper traffic in a half mile to get on his exit ramp....at that time of morning, once you get on the 60 you should be at the airport in about 30 minutes...I would stay off the san tan during rush hour since it doesn't have a carpool lane and will be backed up around chandler and tempe - it's also about four or five miles longer because it dips south from an allignment between warner and ray to about pecos...hope this helps...

You think taking the 60 will be faster then the 202 south loop, huh?

definately, because A - it has a carpool lane the entire way, and B it's about four or five miles shorter - trust me on this one - my wife and I both commute in to the airport area everyday, from Higley and Ray - we litterally live right on the 202 - we've tried every way. and if you have carpool lane privelages - then the 60 is the way to go...I actually take the 60 even without using the carpool lane it's just quicker - in the last three or four years it has been widened from three lanes to five and a carpool all the way to apache junction - it's so much better now...

Ever since the southern loop of the 202 opened we've avoided the 60.

if you want to use the 202, just know it will be about five miles longer and at that time (around 6:30 am) it will take about an extra ten minutes in sluggish traffic from about arizona avenue until the I-10 interchange - once you get on the 1-10 west it will be real sluggish through ahwatukee - you'll have a carpool lane on the 10, but even that lane is sluggish in through that area - plus, you'll have to abandon it early to cross over 7 lanes of traffic to get to the airport exit right in the middle of the heaviest stretch - where the 60 merges with the 10...trust me on this one - I'm OCD when it comes to analyzing traffic - I don't drive anywhere during rush hour without getting my updates from Detour Dan in the KTAR traffic plane! (trafffic and weather together on the 8's on 92.3 KTAR! lol)

I'll tell him to take the 60 instead of the 202.  He lives right on Higley...so the 202 is at it's southern Apex.

An even quicker way that might shave about five minutes off is to take ellsworth to elliot and turn left and jump on the 202 fentrance which is only about 1/4 mile west of ellsworth from that point. In about 2 miles you hit the 60 interchange...

this is such a guy thing. LOL.

Yeah I love this stuff.