MOHAVE COUNTY – Mohave County is among the beneficiaries as the U.S. Department of Transportation’s (USDOT) Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) announced more than $5.6 million in Accelerated Innovation Deployment (AID) Demonstration program grants to help seven states make the most of limited resources. The program allows states to bring projects to fruition in a more cost-effective way by using innovative practices. Alabama, Arizona, Michigan, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, South Dakota and Utah will receive money for their respective projects.
Mohave County and its ADOT partner will receive $448,300 in grant funds and the County will use Composite Arch Bridge System (CABS) technology to build a durable bridge crossing on Antares Road over Truxton Wash with reduced road closure times and construction costs. Used for the first time in Arizona, CABS provides rapid, simplified construction and arches that can be easily transported and put in place without heavy equipment or large crews. ADOT will administer Project design and construction on behalf of the County, which secured the discretionary award of competitive grant funds received.
Currently, Antares Road is a native/dirt arterial roadway, and the crossing of the Truxton Wash is an at-grade dip, subject to frequent, storm-driven closures when the Wash conveys storm water flow. In 2017 alone, Antares Road was closed for a total of 43 days because of flowing water in Truxton Wash. This new project will eliminate a 28.5-mile longer alternate routing during periods of Antares Road closures.
In its grant application, Mohave County emphasized that this bridge would be “an innovative, cost-efficient solution toward delivering an all-weather crossing of Truxton Wash and subsequently permitting the County to pursue hard surfacing of 32 miles of Antares Road.”
Antares Road is a federally classified rural major collector maintained by the County and inventoried as Indian Reservation Road No. C149 by the Hualapai Tribal Nation. The Tribe recognizes Antares Road as a major route in the Tribe’s current long-range transportation plan that serves the Hualapai Indian Reservation influence area encompassing access to employment centers, schools, Tribal headquarters and essential/emergency services.
The grant money will be coupled with Mohave County’s matching funds to complete the project,
The timeline for this project is anticipated to be completed within a year from now. It is expected to be immediately beneficial to all those utilizing the area.
Mohave County has also been awarded $500,000 in Arizona Commerce Authority grant funds, with the county matching 42% ($358,240) for a new 2.5-mile section line gravel ad bisecting the eastern Griffith Industrial Park area (directly off I-40., 13 miles west of Kingman) that delivers the first Mohave County maintained road serving 1,128 acres of heavy manufacturing zoned vacant land ready for development with its access to electric and water utilities, as well as, Interstate 40 Exit 37 (Griffith Road). The Mohave County Board of Supervisors established Apache Road – citing its importance to the already established Griffith Industrial Park – as a county highway in February 1999 under Resolution No. 99-59.
Apache Road construction provides an essential link toward attracting new large scale commercial and manufacturing firms within its area, making for cost-effective investment of Economic Strength Projects and Mohave County matching funds. These typically represent high revenue and job intensive uses in the general processing and manufacturing of materials or products.
