Loop 202

State Route 202 is the second of the 3 highways that "loop" around the Phoenix area. The posted directions change between East/West and North/South as the loop direction changes. Despite being called loops, the highways aren't actually full loops. Loop 202 is now the closest to a full loop with the South Mountain extension.

Length: 78 miles
Existed since: 1990
Current Route: I-10/AZ 51 in Phoenix to I-10 in West Phoenix
Major Junctions: I-10, AZ 51, AZ 143, Loop 101, AZ 87, US 60, AZ 24

Cool Features

The Loop 202 has three different names along its route. The first section between I-10/AZ 51 and US 60 is the Red Mountain Freeway. Between US 60 and I-10 in Chandler it's the Santan Freeway. Lastly, between I-10 in Chandler and in West Phoenix, the 202 is the Congressman Ed Pastor (South Mountain) Freeway.

Colored AZ 101 Shield All of the loop highways were originally signed with uniquely colored route shields; the 202's being brown. However, due to this brown shield being very vulnerable to fading easily and that it was seemingly hard for contractors to get the colored signage correct in general, the colored shields were phased out.

Colored AZ 202 Shields — Google Maps - These were possibly the last remaining colored shields for Loop 202, however they have been replaced as of sometime in 2020.

Related Routes

SR 202 Spur

Loop 202 has an unsigned spur route that runs from the east end of Sky Harbor Airport to the Loop 202.

AZ 202 Spur AZ 143 — 5/25/2024 - Loop 202 Spur Westbound @ SR 143.

SR 216, SR 217, SR 218, & SR 220

Originally, Loop 202 was proposed as State Route 217 from I-10 in Central Phoenix to Loop 101 (then proposed SR 417), SR 216 from SR 417 to SR 360 (now US 60), SR 220 from SR 360 to I-10 in Chandler/Ahwatukee, and finally from there up to I-10 in West Phoenix as SR 218. This proposal is somewhat similar to how Loop 202 actually turned out, thankfully for the better without 4 different number designations and instead with 1 number and 3 names to help distinguish each section. Now, the SR 216 & 217 segments are the Red Mountain segment of Loop 202, SR 220 is the Santan segment, and SR 218 is the South Mountain segment.