Governor’s Office tells Casa Grande funding for Gila River bridge first step in getting I-10 widened
by Suzanne Adams-Ockrassa | Casa Grande Dispatch
Interstate 10 crosses over the Gila River on a 56-year-old bridge./Maricopa Association of Governments
A week after five people were killed in separate crashes on Interstate 10 between Casa Grande and Chandler, the governor’s staff ventured south to discuss possible funding for improvements along the stretch of freeway.
Included in the governor’s proposed budget is $28 million to expand I-10, which includes funding for a new bridge over the Gila River on the Gila River Indian Community. The funding could also be used to expand the interstate to three lanes in either direction. This would be the last stretch of the major highway between Tucson and Phoenix to be widened.
Casa Grande Mayor Craig McFarland asked a representative of the governor’s Strategic Planning and Budgeting Office at a meeting Tuesday morning how the state planned to fund the widening of the road, since most of the money in the governor’s budget for I-10 was earmarked for the Gila River bridge.
