Pinal Today

Casa Grande Mayor Craig McFarland said there is support within the Arizona congressional delegation for a $300 million federal grant to widen Interstate 10.

McFarland met with Arizona representatives during a recent trip to Washington, D.C., according to Pinal Central. The trip occurred after Gov. Doug Ducey (R-AZ) authorized $400 million to widen the interstate. Now, McFarland is seeking the rest of the funding needed for the estimated $1 billion project to widen I-10 between Casa Grande and Chandler.

“The project will be accelerated by at least a year if we secure the $300 million grant,” McFarland told Pinal Central. “We can start the whole thing, not in four sections as it stands today; it will be turned into one project.”

McFarland met with the congressional delegation to discuss the project’s funding. The mayor said he wasted no time bringing up the project.

“Knowing that we [the state of Arizona] were going to apply for the mega-grant, it provided a great opportunity to talk to Sen. Mark Kelly, Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, and Congressman Tom O’Halleran, so I met with all of them,” he said. “As soon as they greeted me, they immediately said, ‘Yeah I know, I-10, I-10.’ I have been like a squeaky wheel for at least six years on this issue.”

McFarland said he brings up the idea of widening the interstate to anyone who will listen in order to get it done.

“John Halikowski, who is the director of ADOT [the Arizona Department of Transportation], jokingly tells me he hates to see me because I’m a broken record on the issue of I-10 widening,” he said. “But, the squeaky wheel always gets the grease, and finally ADOT has the I-10 upgrade as their number-one priority on their list. It’s taken me six years to get that moved from the 10-year plan to being a priority.”

McFarland said that the state allocation of $400 million means the chance of getting federal funding to match is improved, so he feels comfortable making tentative plans for work to begin.

“Hopefully, we can start in 2023, and it will take three years, so the plan is to hopefully have it done by 2026,” he said. “I think that’s aggressive but I’m optimistic and I hope that we get it done that quickly.”

The mayor added that many local businesses press him on the project in hopes that it will happen soon, Pinal Central reported.

“Businesses are telling me widening the I-10 is critical,” McFarland said. “I talk to Lucid Motors all the time and they’re just screaming about the widening. The safety of all those who commute and use the I-10 every day, as well as all of our trucks that come out of Casa Grande up into Phoenix and vice versa is on our minds. It’s really a key corridor, and it’s the last two-lane section between [Phoenix] and Tucson.”