Public hearing May 19 for Tentative Five-Year Construction Program

PHOENIX – The Arizona Department of Transportation will hold a public hearing on Friday, May 19, on the agency’s recommended statewide program of construction projects for the next five years.

The in-person and virtual hearing on the 2024-2028 Tentative Five-Year Transportation Facilities Construction Program is scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. Friday, May 19, at the Town of Gilbert Municipal Building Council Chambers, 50 E. Civic Center Drive. The meeting can be accessed at aztransportationboard.gov, with requests for online comment accepted until 8 a.m. the day of the hearing.

The 2024-2028 Tentative Five-Year Transportation Facilities Construction Program is a more than $9 billion program that will invest $2.6 billion in pavement and bridge preservation projects across Arizona over five years, upgrading pavement that currently is in poor or fair condition.

Additionally, the program allocates funds for projects that widen highways or improve interchanges. Those include:

• Widening I-10 between Phoenix and Casa Grande, with $851 million programmed for the corridor. An additional $89 million was approved by Governor Hobbs and the state Legislature as part of the state budget for next fiscal year. This supports ADOT’s goal of widening I-10 to three lanes in each direction between Phoenix and Tucson. The first stage of construction on the corridor is the Gila River Bridge project planned to start later this year.
• Constructing the I-40/US 93 West Kingman interchange. The program includes a total of $160 million for construction in 2024.
• 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 total $263.9 million and include widening projects near Cane Springs in 2024-2026, near Wickenburg in 2025-2026 and near Big Jim Wash in 2025-2027.
• Widening the last two-lane section of State Route 260 in the Lion Springs area. The program includes approximately $113 million. Construction is in 2026-2027 and would complete a four-lane divided highway along the entire SR 260 corridor.
• Conducting $40 million in paving repairs statewide.

Other program highlights include $469 million for projects that improve highway safety, efficiency and functionality, such as smart technology or adding shoulders. ADOT’s five-year program is developed by working closely with local governments and regional transportation planning organizations to prioritize projects that are ready to build or design.

Funding for the program is generated by users of transportation services, primarily through gasoline and diesel fuel taxes and the vehicle license tax. Both the Maricopa and Pima county regions have independent revenue streams established through voter-approved sales tax increases that allow for more expansion projects to take place. 

The I-10 widening project is able to advance through ADOT’s partnership with the Maricopa Association of Governments, the regional planning agency that has committed some of the funds for those improvements.

The public comment period for the 2024-2028 Tentative Five-Year Transportation Facilities Construction Program ends at 5 p.m. June 1. The State Transportation Board is expected to consider formal action on the program at its June 16 meeting.

The complete report is available at azdot.gov/tentative5year for review and comment. ADOT welcomes feedback via an online form that is available at azdot.gov/tentative5year, by email at [email protected], via a bilingual phone line at 855.712.8530, and by mail at ADOT: Attn: Nancy Becerra, ℅ ADOT Communications, 1655 W. Jackson St., MD, 126F, Phoenix, AZ 85007.