On Friday, July 16, the Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT) and the Federal Highways Administration (FHA) released the Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) for the proposed Interstate 11 freeway. The FEIS identifies two possible Preferred Alternatives, a West Option that would cut through Avra Valley and an East Option that would co-locate I-11 with I-19 and I-10 through the Tucson region. The proposed highway would run from the border with Mexico up to Wickenberg and is intended primarily for transit of commercial goods.
The West Option for Interstate 11 would build a new freeway through Tohono O’odham lands and would run right next to Saguaro National Park West/Tucson Mountain Park, the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, and -- cut off on the other side of the highway -- Ironwood Forest National Monument. The East Option would run through Tucson.
Both of these routes would have serious environmental impacts, with the West Option notable for the destruction of Sonoran Desert lands and disruption of wildlife habitat that it would cause.
ADOT and the FHA have set a deadline of August 16, 2021 for public comment on the FEIS. This 30-day comment period does not offer enough time to review the FEIS, which is 5,000 pages long, and to understand fully the impacts these two routes will have on our region.
We are joining colleagues at the Coalition for Sonoran Desert Protection, Sky Island Alliance, Living Streets Alliance, and others in encouraging everyone to request that ADOT and the FHA extend the comment period from 30 days to 120 days.
The Coalition for Sonoran Desert Protection has a useful resource page with information about I-11 and the proposed routes, talking points, a link to the FEIS, and details on the various ways you can submit comments: https://www.sonorandesert.org/learning-more/interstate-11/
Please take action and request this extension as soon as possible.
More Information:
If you want to see If you want to see the just-released Tier 1 Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) for Interstate 11 go to: http://i11study.com/Arizona/Documents.asp
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