By Jodie Newell | Maricopa Monitor
CASA GRANDE — Newly elected Congressman Juan Ciscomani met with a delegation of local leaders in Pinal County to discuss and devise a strategy for dealing with the ongoing issue of funding for improvements to Interstate 10.
The Arizona Department of Transportation has been seeking a federal MEGA grant totaling $360 million, which was to be added to $400 million of state money for the much-sought widening to three lanes in each direction between Casa Grande and Chandler.
However, in the first week of January, the U.S. Department of Transportation knocked back the application, leaving local leaders and state representatives scrambling to devise a Plan B. State Sen. T.J. Shope, R-Coolidge, has proposed the state fund the rest of the project, with the money coming back to the state should federal funding be secured.