The Arizona State Transportation Board approved updates to the 2025-2029 Five-Year Transportation Facilities Construction Program this week, finalizing plans to upgrade pavement and bridges, improve highway corridors, and more.
At the heart of this was an $8.2 billion program responsible for advancing major transportation priorities in the state. That program will incorporate more than $2.5 billion for high-priority improvements in the next five years. Of this, $800 million will go toward projects that improve highway safety, efficiency, and functionality, including using measures such as intersection improvements, smart technology, freight mobility, and signals.
Another $780 million will go to projects that either widen highways or improve interchanges throughout greater Arizona, such as:
- Widening and improving US 93 between Wickenburg and I-40, including expanding three segments of the highway to four lanes
- Widening the last two-lane section of State Route 260 in the Lion Springs area to complete a four-lane divided highway along the entire SR 260 corridor
- Building a new I-40 interchange at Rancho Santa Fe Parkway
For Pima County alone, $849 million will go toward improving I-10 and rebuilding the I-19 interchange at Irvington Road. At the same time, Maricopa County will gain approximately $2 billion for construction projects such as widening I-10 between Phoenix and Casa Grande, extending Loop 303 between Van Buren Street and Maricopa County 85, and rebuilding the intersection of Grand Avenue, 35th Avenue, and Indian School Road.
The remaining $57 million will go toward various airport projects throughout Arizona.
All funding came from a mix of federal, state, and local funds, complemented by gas and diesel fuel taxes and the Arizona vehicle license tax. In Maricopa and Pima counties, voter-approved sales taxes for transportation will also aid the expansion projects.