T he P inal Coun T y Press More Funding Needed, but I-10 Widening Could Start this Year

The quest to pay for widening Interstate 10 between Casa Grande and Chandler is continuing after the Arizona Department of Transportation’s (ADOT) application for $360 million from the federal “Mega grant” program was unsuccessful. But with more than $600 million already committed from state funding sources, construction could begin before the end of the year, Casa Grande Mayor Craig McFarland said: “They’re going to start moving forward, because we’ve got money.”

ADOT spokesman Luis Carlos Lopez said the agency plans to submit another application this year for the Mega grant while looking for other funding sources and would maximize the funding it has to begin widening the interstate and improving interchanges between the Gila River bridges and state Route 387, which becomes Pinal Avenue in Casa Grande.

The $115-million contract to replace the bridges is expected to go out to bid this summer, he said, with construction scheduled to start before the end of this year.

Meanwhile, State Sen. T.J. Shope of Casa Grande introduced a bill, SB1065, to fund the remaining $360 million needed for the project out of this year’s state budget, winning unanimous approval from the Senate Transportation and Technology Committee Jan. 30. It will next go to the Appropriations Committee once a final budget amount is agreed on, which could take months.

Officials were informed in early January by U.S. Sen. Mark Kelly’s office the widening project would not be receiving any money from the program this year, McFarland said, prior to receiving formal notification from the U.S. Department of Transportation.

According to a fact sheet from the federal agency, nine projects received a total of $1.17 billion in the first round of funding from the new program, five of which included significant improvements for nonvehicular traffic. ADOT requested more money than any of the winners received. One I-10 widening project along the Gulf Coast in Mississippi won a $60-million grant.

Continued on page 54

Stories by Blake Herzog