SR153 was one of ADOT's biggest mistakes. The road is redundant with SR143, which it nearly touches as the two highways cross the Salt River. ADOT realized its error a few years ago and turned the road over to the City of Phoenix, which has re-designated as part of 44th Street. Part of the road had been converted to the guideway for the PHX Sky Train, but there's still a lot of excess capacity.

That surplus road should be put to use by adding buffered bike lanes to this two-mile segment of 44th Street. Doing so could provide a bicycling corridor between the 44th Street / Washington light rail station and the numerous office buildings located along University Drive in both Phoenix and Tempe. Currently, bike commuters must either wait for the next 44 bus and hope that space is available on the bike rack or ride over a mile to the east to cross the Salt River at Priest.

This problem will become even worse if the Phoenix Public Transit department's current proposal to end the 44 bus route at Washington Street, instead of University Drive, is implemented. Under that scenario, bicycling along 44th Street will be the only way to reach University Drive from the 44th Street light rail station without needlessly traveling several miles into Tempe and back.

See the link below for a map of the proposed bike lanes.