CASA GRANDE — A federal grant being pursued by the Arizona Department of Transportation may give motorists in Pinal County more room to drive on Interstate 10.
Through the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act of 2015, ADOT has applied for $60 million in federal funding to make improvements on I-10 between Phoenix and Tucson.
ADOT plans to use the funds for four different projects: expanding two sections of the freeway in the Picacho and Earley Road areas from two lanes to three, developing technology to warn motorists of dust storms and completing an environmental analysis for potentially widening 27 miles of I-10 north of Casa Grande.
“The impact of Interstate 10 on Arizona’s citizens and economy is huge,” said ADOT Director John Halikowski in a press release. “Improvements to this vital link between Phoenix and Tucson are critical to our quality of life.”
Winning that type of grant would move the projects ahead faster and allow ADOT to redirect resources to other pressing needs. The agency plans to match the $60 million grant with $86 million of its own funds, if it is awarded.
The FAST Act is the first piece of legislation signed in over a decade that provides long-term funding for highway infrastructure, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation. States and cities began applying in March for a piece of the $800 million in funding the FAST Act has available and the federal DOT is expected to award recipients later this year.
It would be tremendously beneficial to communities in Pinal County to see these improvements on I-10 come to fruition, said Irene Higgs, acting director of Sun Corridor Metropolitan Planning Organization.
