Feds to give Arizona $25M to improve road between I-19, Mexican border
Mar 7, 2018, 6:51 PM
(Google Maps Photo)
(Google Maps Photo)
PHOENIX — The federal government will grant Arizona $25 million to improve a road that connects a Nogales border crossing to Interstate 19, Rep. Martha McSally’s office said Wednesday.
In a release, McSally’s office said the money will be used to upgrade State Route 189, a five-lane road that connects the Mariposa Point of Entry to the interstate.
“This announcement is big news for Arizona as the conduit of our nation’s cross-border commerce,” McSally, a Republican, said in the release.
“The Mariposa Port of Entry in Nogales is responsible for processing 40 percent of America’s imported produce and hundreds of southbound trucks filled with exports, but currently, SR-189 is overwhelmed and unable to handle so much traffic, undermining the ports effectiveness and harming nearly $17 billion in trade with Mexico.”
The Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery grant will be used to improve intersections and build an overpass at Frank Reed Road that will serve as on- and off-ramps to I-19.
The grant money will be used in combination with other funds. Both phases of the project will be built at the same time.
About seven million cars pass through the point of entry annually, in addition to 350,000 trucks hauling 40 percent of the country’s imported winter produce.
