By Arizona Department of Transportation
The Arizona Department of Transportation is targeting pavement improvements and expanding several key highways as major parts of its Tentative Five-Year Construction Program for 2025-2029. This proposed annual update to ADOT’s list of projects in design and construction is now available for public comment through late May.
A major emphasis of the proposed $7.9B tentative program is improving highway pavement and bridge infrastructure throughout greater Arizona, which encompasses areas outside of Maricopa and Pima counties. The plan would provide more than $2.4B for these high-priority improvements during the next five years. This amounts to an average investment of approximately $600M per year to preserve, rehabilitate and replace pavement and bridges, including:
- $508M in pavement projects on interstates 10, 17 and 40.
- $690M in pavement projects on other routes, including US 93 and 60, and state routes 64, 160, 260 and 347.
- $170M in bridge projects on the interstates and $82M on other routes.
The program provides a total of $685M over five years for projects that improve highway safety, efficiency and functionality, such as intersection improvements, smart technology and adding shoulders.
The tentative program also allocates $495M for projects that widen highways or improve interchanges across greater Arizona, including:
- Constructing the Interstate 40/US 93 West Kingman Interchange.
- Widening and improving US 93 between Wickenburg and I-40 in Kingman, including expanding three segments of the highway from two to four lanes. The US 93 improvements include the ongoing widening project near Wickenburg, along with new projects near Cane Springs and Big Jim Wash.
- Widening the last two-lane section of State Route 260 in the Lion Springs area between Payson and Heber-Overgaard. This will complete a four-lane divided highway along the entire SR 260 corridor.
In the Maricopa County region, the program features $2.5B in construction projects planned in conjunction with the Maricopa Association of Governments. Those projects include:
- Widening Interstate 10 between Phoenix and Casa Grande. The I-10 Wild Horse Pass Corridor will have four projects, including the construction of the I-10 bridges over the Gila River, expected to go into construction later this spring.
- Extending Loop 303 between Van Buren Street and Maricopa County 85 starting in 2025.
- Widening I-10 between State Route 85 and Citrus Road in the far West Valley starting in 2025.
- Providing new HOV ramp connections between I-10 and Loop 101 starting in 2025.
- Reconstructing the intersection where US 60 (Grand Avenue) intersects 35th Avenue and Indian School Road. The rebuilt intersection would separate cross traffic from Grand Avenue and the existing railroad crossing to improve traffic flow and safety, starting in 2025.
In Pima County, in association with the Pima Association of Governments, the program includes $849M toward:
- I-10 improvements from Kino to Country Club, which includes building a new interchange at I-10 and Country Club Road, while also widening I-10 in the area starting in 2025.
- Reconstructing the I-19 interchange at Irvington Road starting in 2025.
For the first time, ADOT is including a searchable project dashboard that allows the public to look for projects by highway number, project name or other identifying features. The database is available at azdot.gov/5yeardashboard.
The public comment period for the 2025-2029 Tentative Five-Year Transportation Facilities Construction Program ends at 5 p.m. Friday, May 24. The State Transportation Board is expected to consider formal action on the final program at its June 21 meeting.
The tentative program is available at azdot.gov/tentative5year for review and comment. ADOT welcomes feedback via an online form that will be available at azdot.gov/5yearcomments, by email at fiveyearconstructionprogram@azdot.gov and by phone at 855.712.8530.
Public comments also may be made at a public hearing of the State Transportation Board scheduled for 9 a.m. Friday, May 17. Meeting information can be found at aztransportationboard.gov. (Source)