(Disclosure: Rose Law Group represents a coalition of property and business owners throughout Pinal County who have worked to bring new transportation infrastructure to the region.)
By Mark Cowling | Casa Grande Dispatch
FLORENCE — Scarce transportation dollars was a highlight of the Board of Supervisors’ discussion Wednesday of the Pinal County Strategic Plan.
In addition to declining revenues from the state’s Highway User Revenue Fund, or HURF, a majority of Pinal voters rejected a sales tax for the Pinal Regional Transportation Authority in November. Pinal had its hopes up for a $360 million U.S. MEGA grant to widen Interstate 10 from Casa Grande to Chandler but learned recently that had been declined as well. However, $400 million in state funding has been approved and more is being sought.
“I’ve said it for years … I-10 will not be widened until somebody in Washington, D.C., decides to widen it. It just doesn’t rank high enough,” Supervisor Steve Miller, R-Casa Grande, said. Arizona’s congressional delegation doesn’t appear to have enough clout, “and we haven’t been able to rise to that occasion to get that type of work done.”
