Citizen Staff Writer
GARRY DUFFY
gduffy@tucsoncitizen.com
The great Interstate 10 bottleneck between 29th Street and Prince Road will become less restrictive in the coming weeks as the westbound Grant Road and Speedway access ramps open.
The Arizona Department of Transportation last week opened the Miracle Mile westbound access ramp to freeway-bound vehicles, and officials plan on doing the same at Speedway and Grant in four to five weeks.
Motorists have been prevented by barricades from exiting or entering the interstate between 29th and Prince since ADOT’s $200 million widening of the freeway to eight lanes began in earnest in June 2007.
The project is running slightly ahead of schedule, an on budget, and is expected to be completed in December, Rod Lane, project engineer for ADOT, said Monday.
Lane said only some westbound access ramps will be opened before the project’s completion.
That means that motorists looking to travel downtown and to Tucson’s West Side will continue to exit to frontage roads north of Prince Road and at 29th Street for the duration of work.
The project also includes the construction of new, taller overpasses above cross streets.