From the air, the transformation at Ray and Ellsworth is hard to miss. Fresh black pavement now cuts across the desert in southeast Mesa. New medians divide a road built for six lanes of traffic. Sidewalks, streetlights and traffic-signal equipment trace a corridor that, not long ago, was still an incomplete piece of the city grid.
But the aerial view also captures the part of road building drivers rarely get to see: the unfinished seams. Cones still narrow the intersection. Signal work is incomplete. Utility poles and electrical work continue to control when crews can finish the connection at Ellsworth Road.
That contrast—an arterial that looks close to ready while several critical tasks remain—is the story of Mesa’s Ray Road Connection to Ellsworth project right now. Here is what the new images show, what the City of Mesa says is left to do, and how this project fits into the larger reconstruction of Ellsworth Road.
The project at a glance
Where: Ray Road between Ellsworth Road and Hawes Road in southeast Mesa
What is being built: Three travel lanes in each direction, raised medians, new pavement, curb and gutter, sidewalks, storm drainage, streetlights, retention basins and signal upgrades at Ellsworth and Skyline
Current city schedule: Construction began in August 2025 and is estimated to finish in fall 2026
Contractor: Sunland Asphalt & Construction, LLC
Approved construction amount: $10.7 million, plus a 10% change-order allowance, for a total authorization of about $11.77 million
Funding: 2020 Street Bonds
The project is more than a widening. It creates a continuous, full-size arterial where the Ray Road alignment reaches Ellsworth, then continues east toward Hawes. The city says the work will also improve access to industrial properties along Serenity Avenue through a new connector road and traffic signal at Ray.
What the aerial photos reveal
The first wide view puts the intersection in context. Ellsworth already carries traffic past shops, restaurants, new housing and large industrial buildings. Beyond the active work zone, the East Valley stretches toward the mountains. In the foreground, the intersection is a patchwork of open lanes, temporary cones and newly constructed pavement.
A second image looks east across the corridor and shows just how much of Ray Road’s new footprint is already visible. The divided roadway has multiple freshly paved lanes, a landscaped median framework, sidewalks and regularly spaced streetlights. Loop 202 rises across the middle distance, making the freeway connection—and the regional importance of this short missing link—easy to understand.
The third view follows the new road as it bends toward the freeway. It captures finished-looking pavement beside a large construction staging area filled with pipe and utility vehicles. That scene is a useful reminder that a road can look nearly complete on the surface while electrical, drainage, signal and utility systems still determine when it can function as designed.
The final image returns to Ray and Ellsworth from above the businesses on the west side of the intersection. Sprouts Farmers Market and nearby restaurants sit beside a corridor lined with signal poles, turn lanes and temporary traffic control. It is the everyday side of the project: a major capital improvement being built around grocery trips, commutes and access to local businesses that must remain open while work continues.
The utility work holding up the final connection
The most important unfinished work is not a dramatic bridge or a long stretch of dirt. It is the electrical infrastructure at Ray and Ellsworth.
In its latest project update, the City of Mesa says Salt River Project has completed “shoofly” work—temporary poles and relocated overhead lines that create room for contractors to drill foundations and install conduit, traffic-signal cabinets and streetlights. SRP still needs to bore or excavate its own conduit, move the remaining overhead power lines underground and remove both the existing and temporary poles.
Once that work is complete, the city says Sunland can move ahead with the remaining roadway improvements at Ellsworth, including paving, concrete ramps and sidewalks, and installation of the traffic-signal mast arms.
That sequence explains why the corridor can look so advanced from the air without being finished at its most important junction. Signal foundations, conduit and utility clearances have to be completed in the right order; paving the final pieces too early could mean tearing into brand-new work later.
What is still on the city’s checklist
Mesa’s current list of remaining work includes several visible, driver-facing milestones:
Reconstructing the intersection of Serenity and Skyline after the new Ray Road alignment is connected at Ellsworth
Installing traffic-signal mast arms at Ray and Skyline and at Ray and Ellsworth
Removing and replacing asphalt behind Nellis Auction’s easternmost driveway
Completing final adjustments, striping, signage and landscaping
Addressing final punch-list items
The city also says a future closure of the Serenity and Skyline intersection will be needed to reconstruct that roadway. The date remains to be determined, so drivers should watch posted signs and official project updates rather than relying on an old closure schedule.
Ray Road and Ellsworth Road are two connected—but separate—projects
Part of the confusion around this work is that two major City of Mesa projects meet in the same area.
The Ray Road Connection to Ellsworth runs from Ellsworth to Hawes and is being built by Sunland. The city’s target is fall 2026.
The adjacent Ellsworth Road Improvements project is broader. It runs from Loop 202 south to Germann Road and is being built by Sundt Construction. That project widens Ellsworth to six travel lanes, adds dedicated bike lanes, upgrades signals, installs new signage and pavement markings, improves storm drains and modifies medians, landscaping and irrigation. Its posted schedule runs from December 2025 through February 2027.
Mesa is phasing the Ellsworth work to reduce disruption: northbound widening first, moving north from Germann in roughly one-mile segments; southbound widening next, moving south from State Route 24; and median and landscaping work last.
For drivers, the distinction matters. Ray Road may reach its own finish line in fall 2026 while work elsewhere on Ellsworth continues into 2027. A cone or lane restriction near the intersection may belong to either project, even though the work appears to be one continuous construction zone.
Why this one-mile connection matters
On a map, the Ray Road project is only about a mile. In daily life, it closes a much more important gap.
Southeast Mesa has added neighborhoods, retail centers, industrial buildings and jobs at a pace that has changed how local streets are used. Ray Road sits near Eastmark, Cadence at Gateway, Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport and Loop 202. Completing the arterial gives drivers another continuous east-west route and gives businesses along Serenity a signalized connection to the larger street network.
The design also reflects demands beyond moving cars. Sidewalks make the corridor continuous for pedestrians. Street lighting and rebuilt signals improve visibility and organization at major crossings. Storm drains and retention basins manage runoff across low desert terrain where even brief storms can send a large volume of water toward the roadway. Raised medians control turning movements and create a more predictable arterial.
Dedicated bike lanes are part of the separate Ellsworth widening, helping tie the north-south corridor into the same upgraded network.
What drivers should expect next
The biggest variable is the remaining SRP utility schedule. Mesa still lists fall 2026 as the estimated completion window for the Ray Road connection, but the final intersection work depends on the underground conversion and pole removal happening first.
In the meantime, drivers should expect traffic control to change as work shifts between electrical systems, concrete, paving, signals and final striping. The city is asking motorists to slow down and follow posted signs throughout the work zone.
For nearby businesses, residents and commuters, the aerial photos offer the clearest progress report yet: the new road is no longer an abstract line on a project map. Its lanes, medians, sidewalks and freeway connection are plainly visible. What remains is the careful work of joining that new infrastructure to one of southeast Mesa’s busiest corridors—and turning a nearly finished roadway into a fully functioning connection.
East Valley Explorer will continue following the Ray Road and Ellsworth Road projects as utility work, closures and opening milestones are announced.
