Public Meeting for Interstate 10/Ina Road interchange reconstruction set for June 11 in Tucson

TUCSON — The Arizona Department of Transportation, in cooperation with the Federal Highway Administration, will host a public information meeting on Thursday, June 11, in Tucson to discuss the upcoming Interstate 10/Ina Road traffic interchange improvement project that is slated to begin construction in spring 2016.

The $86.2 million project (mileposts 248-249) will eliminate the existing at-grade Ina Road crossing of the Union Pacific Railroad, and include the construction of a grade-separated overpass that will carry Ina Road over, instead of under, I-10.

Similar to the old I-10/Prince Road interchange that was upgraded last year as part of a major freeway widening project, the Ina Road interchange experiences significant congestion and backups when trains pass through on a daily basis.

Other major improvements in the project, which is expected to be completed by 2018, include:

• Widening I-10 so it can eventually accommodate four lanes of traffic in each direction once future I-10 improvements are completed east of the I-10 Ina Road interchange
• Widening Ina Road to two lanes in each direction, from Silverbell Road to Camino de la Cruz
• Reconstructing and updating the frontage roads, and entrance and exit ramps to provide better connections
• Constructing a new Ina Road bridge over the Santa Cruz River west of I-10
• Adding pedestrian underpasses at the Santa Cruz River bridge
• New landscape along the project area that will draw inspiration from the Sonoran Desert

The June 11 public meeting will be held from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. (presentation starts at 5:45 p.m.) at the Coyote Trail Elementary School Multipurpose Room, 8000 N. Silverbell Road in Tucson. Members of the project team will be available to provide information, answer questions and discuss the project.

In 2006, Pima County voters approved a countywide sales tax to fund a 20-year program of transportation improvements to be administered by the Regional Transportation Authority (Pima Association of Governments). The Ina Road interchange improvement project is one of several Regional Transportation Authority projects related to eliminating the existing at-grade crossings of the Union Pacific Railroad to provide new grade separation.