Nick: Widened I-10 between Phoenix, Casa Grande coming soon
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By Doug Nick, Arizona Department of Transportation
We’ve been there. A lot. The denizens of the Ol’ ADOT Ranch — a bucolic place somewhere near Sunflower, or so we’d like to believe — drive Arizona’s roads, too, don’t ya know.
With all that experience driving, we know it’s a great road, but it has one very noticeable stretch that reminds us of the old kiddie song, “One of these things is not like the other.”
You know what we’re talking about. The, shall we say, narrower segment between Casa Grande and Chandler. It kind of stands out compared with the rest of the drive between Tucson and Phoenix.
Yep, it’s pretty noticeable. But some good news has come down the pike, and help is on the way.
The good folks at the state Legislature and Gov. Ducey have done a remarkable job by, in rapid fashion, appropriating $400 million to expand this portion of I-10 to three lanes in each direction.
Those state dollars make ADOT eligible to apply for even more money through a federal grant. If successful, we could see an additional $300 million. That’s on top of $290 million already set aside for this work.
There are a few outstanding procedural matters involving public participation and environmental reviews, but the idea here is to begin work in 2023; starting with expanding the I-10 bridge over the Gila River and having everything done in 2026.
