North-South Fwy Will Not be Closer to DTWN Florence

By Mark Cowling for Eloy Enterprise
The Arizona Department of Transportation didn’t support the wish of Florence town officials for the proposed “North-South Freeway” to veer near downtown.
ADOT has announced a draft environmental impact statement and preferred corridor for the potential freeway in Pinal County running from Interstate 10 to State Route 60.
Florence Town Manager Brent Billingsley acknowledged it would cost more to build a bridge over the Gila River on such a route. “It’s a function of length, of skew. It is wider across there (near Florence).”
But the town is still hopeful of benefiting from the freeway.
Town staff met with the ADOT project team on December 12th and discussed the town’s official comments on the corridor. The state is planning exits on State Route 287, Hunt Highway and Arizona Farms Road. The only question is whether the Hunt Highway exit will be east or west of Poston Butte.
None is near downtown Florence, “so we’ve made it a point to push for an access point on the south side of the river so we can get access close to downtown Florence,” Billingsley said.
Read more at Eloy Enterprise.