The federal Department of Transportation is awarding $17.4 million in grant funding for the building of what is known as the 35th Avenue Safety Corridor Project in Phoenix.
The money is coming through the department’s Better Utilizing Investments to Leverage Development grants program.
The 35th Avenue corridor slices north to south through the middle of Phoenix, extending from Interstate 10 to Camelback Road.
It is a heavily used thoroughfare that also connects to the campus of Grand Canyon University.
But, according to city officials, it has never been a safe place for pedestrians, with 7 people killed in pedestrian/car accidents since 2014.
The corridor project will be designed to rebuild nine signalized intersections, expanding and raising medians, installing new LED street lighting, and adding defined pedestrian crosswalks.
The city also plans to build fiber optic cables up and down the 3.2-mile corridor that could be used in the future for bus rapid transit or automated vehicles.
Plans now call for the completion of a series of environmental surveys, with actual construction beginning in the latter part of 2022.
Total cost for the project is estimated at just under $25 million, with additional funding coming from state and local sources.
By Garry Boulard
