Mesa stretches a long way east from the Tempe line toward the Superstition Mountains, and its freeways frame the city like a box. US 60, the Superstition Freeway, runs east-west across the south half of town. The Loop 202 Red Mountain Freeway arcs across the north side and swings south along the eastern edge, where it becomes the Santan Freeway. The Loop 101 Price Freeway marks the western border, and SR 87, the Beeline Highway, leaves north along Country Club Drive toward Fountain Hills and Payson.
Inside that frame, Mesa is a grid of wide arterials such as Main Street, University Drive, Southern Avenue, Baseline Road, Power Road and Ellsworth Road. Distances are long, and a trip from west Mesa to Eastmark can take as long as a run into Phoenix. The US 60 interchanges at Power and Gilbert roads clog at rush hour, and the 202 through the east side carries heavy commuter and construction traffic. A breakdown on any of them in summer is uncomfortable fast, and an on-site repair avoids a long tow to the other end of the city.
The light rail runs along Main Street through downtown to Gilbert Road, linking Mesa to Tempe and Phoenix. Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport, on the former Williams Air Force Base in the southeast, has its own long-term lots, and Falcon Field in the northeast serves private and training aircraft. Spring training brings crowds to the ballparks at Riverview and near downtown, and winter visitors fill the RV resorts along the eastern stretches of Main Street and US 60.
