Planners in Phoenix warning drivers of big reconstruction project on I-10

PHOENIX — Transportation planners are spreading the word that the start of a multiyear project to rebuild a freeway corridor in the heart of the metro area is only about a year off.

The project includes adding traffic lanes and building new bridges on parts of an 11-mile stretch of Interstate 10. That stretch extends northward from the junction with the State Route 202 freeway in Chandler to where I-10 meets Interstate 17 in central Phoenix near Sky Harbor International Airport.

“This is going to be the most disruptive project we’ve had in this region from a transportation perspective,” warned Eric Anderson, executive director of Maricopa Association of Governments.

Construction work for the project is expected to start in spring 2021 and take about four years to complete, according to the Arizona Department of Transportation.

The primary funding for the $700 million project comes from a half-cent sales tax approved by Maricopa County voters in 2004, ADOT spokesman Tom Herrmann said Friday.

Herrmann said department officials anticipate completing the final environmental assessment and receiving a favorable finding of “no significant impact” within the next 60 days.

The heavily traveled stretch is often jammed mornings and late afternoons with commuters and long-distance travelers, but the recently opened South Mountain Freeway ringing part of metro Phoenix is expected to divert some traffic.

Anderson told Phoenix City Council members recently that the project could save up to 2 million hours of travel time a year, KJZZ-FM reported.

Much of the reconstruction will center on a segment where five bridges will be built in the vicinity of state Route 143.

Ross D. Franklin The Associated Press Early rush-hour traffic rolls Friday along Interstate 10 in Phoenix. Major reconstruction is set to start next year.