MW02 Downtown Tempe: Walk the State Highway, Paddle the Dry River Bed

Find out how the City of Tempe devised new and creative ways to grow up. Today it is home to one of America’s largest university campuses and a thriving downtown. But not so long ago, downtown’s Mill Avenue was a state highway and Tempe Town Lake was a dry desert river bed. Over nearly four decades, the City decommissioned the state highway and, by reclaiming floodplain, expanded its footprint. Joint development on the former floodplain brought housing, jobs, restaurants and retail. Learn all the details as you walk up the former highway and kayak along the lakefront.