Today, Pima County administrator Chuck Huckelberry will ask the supervisors to approve a $6.6 million construction contract for the Ashton Co. to begin work on the Hughes Access Road Relocation Project. Huckelberry has claimed publically that he hopes to expand a buffer zone for Raytheon Missile Systems.
However, according to maps obtained by the ADI, Huckleberry is considering other plans. According to maps distributed as part of his sales pitch, one of Huckelberry’s ultimate goals appears to have a road in place where I-11 would eventually be built.
In December, the State Transportation Board approved $15 million for the Tier 1 Environmental Impact Statement, which would allow the Arizona Department of Transportation to begin an environmental study in the area between Nogales and Wickenburg, part of the proposed corridor for Interstate 11. The Tier 1 EIS is expected to take three years to complete.
Interstate 11, once fully constructed, will connect Nogales and Las Vegas, extending north through Nevada, potentially reaching as far as Canada.
The $15 million in funding for the environmental study will come from the 2015-2019 Five-Year Transportation Facilities Construction Program.
The recommended I-11 corridor would likely follow US 93 from the Hoover Dam Bypass Bridge south to Wickenburg, running west of the Phoenix metropolitan area, through the Tucson area to Nogales and the Mexican border. Huckelberry wants to connect to what will be known as the Canamex Highway.
The plan is to move Hughes Access Road about a half-mile south and rename it Aerospace Parkway.
Huckelberry bought 382 undeveloped acres from Don Diamond and others private landowners for about $6 million and has said he would like to sell it back when all of the maneuvers are completed.