Pinal County seeks federal funds for several projects

Pinal County is seeking federal help to improve air quality, widen Hunt Highway and revive a stalled copper-mining project that could create an estimated 1,400 jobs. Lobbyists working on behalf of the county in Washington, D.C., will focus on these items in the 2011session. The county wants $129 million for improvements to Hunt Highway, the main thoroughfare connecting northern Pinal County with the southeast Valley, through the Surface Transportation Program. The program gives discretionary funds to states and localities for highway and street work. Another $1 million could come through the Federal Lands Highway Program, which provides funds for public roads that service federal and Indian lands. About 33,800 vehicles travel the mostly two-lane Hunt Highway each day, according to 2008 figures, but the corridor is designed for two-thirds less daily traffic. Current plans call for the highway to be widened to seven lanes.

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