The next two phases of the East Grant Road widening project are set to start Monday night, officials say.
This portion of the project will generally span Grant between North Alvernon Way and North Swan Road.
Crews are expected to begin work from about 8 p.m. Monday to 6 a.m. Tuesday. Lane restrictions will be in place during overnight work that’s expected to occur Monday through Thursday nights each week, according to a news release from the Tucson Department of Transportation and Mobility.
Their first task will be relocating the underground utilities, which will take months, said Erica Frazelle, a department spokeswoman.
The goal is for crews to be out of the roadways by Friday at 6 a.m. each week, she said.
Underground sewer lines will be the first to be moved, which is expected to last until at least June. About that time, Frazelle said, crews will begin to reroute water lines underneath Grant Road, which will take at least a year. From late 2024 through mid-2025, crews will install a 96-inch-diameter storm drain system throughout the project limits.
In later phases of the overall project, Grant Road will be widened to six lanes and will have new landscaped median islands, five-foot bike lanes with two-foot buffers and sidewalks that will be at least five feet wide, the Star previously reported.
There will be new indirect left turns at North Alvernon Way, the department says. It will also include bus pullouts, shelters and benches, the department says on its project site.
“TOUCAN signals,” like those cyclists and pedestrians use to cross North Euclid Avenue while traveling on East Fifth Street, will be added at the Palo Verde Avenue and Dodge Boulevard intersections.
Work is expected to be completed by the end of 2026 and cost at least $63 million, according to the department.
Widening Grant was included in the first iteration of the regional transportation plan voters approved in 2006, dedicating a half-cent sales tax to fund $2 billion worth of transportation projects.
RTA revenues came in much lower than expected, however, leaving an estimated $500 million shortfall to complete projects like widening of Grant Road that was promised to voters 18 years ago.
Visit www.grantroad.info for more information about the project and updates as it proceeds.
