The Arizona House of Representatives has passed State Representative Matt Gress's (R-4) House Bill 2601, which maintains the Interstate 11 study and continues work on a major long-term transportation corridor.
Interstate 11 is a proposed north-south interstate highway that will improve Arizona's access to commerce and trade and enhance mobility across the Grand Canyon State, eventually passing through several states and crossing into Mexico and Canada.
The current study area for I-11's first phase within Arizona stretches 280 miles from Nogales in the south to Wickenburg in the north.
State Rep. Gress's HB 2601 requires the Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT) to request federal segmentation of the Interstate 11 project between Interstate 10 at Casa Grande and Wickenburg as a segment of an independent utility, meaning the project is not reliant on other portions of the corridor being built.
The bill requires ADOT to finish the environmental reviews and gain federal approval. Once approval is obtained, Tier 2 of environmental and engineering studies must begin within three months.
"Arizona is growing, freight is increasing, and traffic is not getting any lighter," said State Rep. Gress in a press release. "This bill keeps a major corridor from stalling out in process and delay. House Republicans are working to expand capacity, improve mobility, and make sure Arizona has the highway system needed to support growth across the state."
House Bill 2601's passage coincides with the introduction of the bipartisan Highway Formula Fairness Act by Senator Mark Kelly (D-AZ) and Ruben Gallego (D-AZ), which reorganizes the distribution of grants from the federal Highway Trust Fund (HTF) to ensure that states that contribute most heavily receive a fairer share when making requests.
Like Gress, Sens. Kelly and Gallego emphasized that Arizona is growing rapidly, yet the current HTF system does not provide nearly enough funding to support highway construction the Grand Canyon State needs.
