The $200-million expansion of Interstate 10 from six to eight lanes in Tucson reflects growing commuter traffic with Phoenix, 120 miles to the north. The 3.5-year A+B contract, held by a joint venture of Kiewit Western Corp., Phoenix, and Sundt Construction Inc., Tempe, Ariz., represents the largest single Arizona Dept. of Transportation highway expansion contract ever let, says Roderick Lane, ADOT senior resident engineer.
Work began in 2007, when the contractor shut down the 4.5-mile stretch that handles 140,000 vehicles daily. Tucson residents preferred a three-year closure rather than the original plan to perform three separate 3-year projects, says Lane. The contractor installed a new traffic center with 72 cameras to monitor the traffic shunted to frontage roads, which were expanded from two to three lanes.