Posted on 10/07/2019 6:25:16 PM PDT by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
Severio Kyyitan was awoken one recent morning by a thunderous thumping that reverberated through the walls of his home.
It might be an earthquake, he thought, until he looked outside and discovered a pack of wild horses running by his property on the Gila River Indian Community.
Animals have free reign on the reservation, he said, and that’s the way Kyyitan likes it.
He’s hopeful state officials will keep wildlife in mind as they plan a possible widening of Interstate 10 through the reservation.
“We know it’s a need,” Kyyitan said, adding that he doesn’t want the project to interfere with nature.
The tribe has been working with the Arizona Department of Transportation to study the feasibility of adding another lane in each direction to a 26-mile stretch I-10 from Chandler to Casa Grande that the state has dubbed the Wild Horse Pass Corridor.
This portion of the freeway – the only spot on the interstate that has four lanes instead of six – runs almost entirely along tribal land, meaning the state will have to negotiate an agreement before construction can commence.
But ADOT said widening is essential, particularly because I-10 is a “key commercial corridor that supports significant commercial and economic growth for the region, the state and the nation.”
During a recent public meeting sponsored by ADOT and the Maricopa Association of Governments in Sacaton, tribal members expressed support for improving the freeway in order to relieve traffic congestion.
But some worry about whether enough tribal members know of the project while others have concerns of its long-term effects.
For a resident like Kyyitan, who has spent most of his life on the reservation, there are concerns about how the immediate environment could be impacted by a bigger freeway.
(Excerpt) Read more at santansun.com ...
PING.
Free REIN you illiterate media idiot.
The writer not you.
That's going to be the sticking point. The tribe has agreed to study the widening. It hasn't yet agreed to the actual widening.
The section of I-10 going through the Gila Reservation is the worst stretch of interstate through AZ. It carries a huge amount of traffic and is only two narrow lanes going each way. This stretch of highway hasn’t had many upgrades since it was built.
There's nothing wrong with money being the main factor but don't let any sob stories make your eyes wait for your heart ache because it's all about money.
The horses and lizards and turtles and scorpions and tarantulas and rabbits and rattlers all know the freeway is there; they aren’t stupid. And since the highway is existing already adding two more lanes isn’t going to impact much, except maybe improve the air quality because there will be less congestion and so less accidents. And more happy feelings radiating out into the universe from happy drivers. And feelings of happiness filling the universe is what counts.
I sincerely doubt that the tarantula population is cognizant of the Interstate.
I live in Maricopa and we need help with the 347. Widening that road, however, involves a different tribe who are just as implacable about not allowing the state to encroach upon their land as Gila River, so I doubt it’ll happen for quite some time. As far as GRIC, hubby works at WHP, so we’re familiar with them, lol.
Whet do you think of the 202?
“Whet do you think of the 202?”
Anything that took over 25 years to build has to be fantastic! I have to drive that massive 202 every damn day and I’m tired of it, they’re taking too long. We built the entire interstate system under 15 years after Eisenhower started it while the money and time spent on the 202 could have built a colony on Mars by now.
It actually took around 40 years to complete the interstate system (declared complete in 1996).
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