TUCSON (KGUN9-TV) - They are breaking ground for big changes along Grant Road.
The City of Tucson and the Regional Transportation Authority officially kicked off phase two of the Grant Road project.
Boosters expect benefits beyond smoother streets and quicker trips.
The Grant Road re-do has been in the works for ten years. At about 100 million dollars it's the biggest single project in the entire RTA plan.
Phase one re-worked around Oracle Road. Now phase two takes on the mile between Park and Stone.
Drivers will get a total of six travel lanes.
They will also have an indirect U-turn lane at Stone and First like the one at Grant and Oracle.
You don't have to drive for more than a few months in Tucson to know that street flooding.is a serious problem. A piece of land just east of Grant and First is designed to help relieve that problem. What they're going to do is contour the land into a catch basin to keep some of that water off the road. Workers will dress up the spot with landscaping.
Roy Garcia grew up near Grant Road then served on the neighborhood task force to improve it.
"I don't think people will fully realize what they're getting until they go onto it and they say, 'Oh it used to take me three or four cycles to get through the light. I'm going through on one.'”
Mayor Jonathan Rothschild says a smoother, safer, faster Grant Road will boost business and the region.
"It gets people out there, quicker to the shops, quicker to the offices and really, the infrastructure improvements are the base from which the whole city grows."
Phase two should complete in about a year and a half.
The full five mile project from Swan to Oracle should wrap up in about six years.
