The streets of Apache Junction are set to shine a little brighter thanks to a collaboration between the Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT) and the City of Apache Junction. The project, which began on February 20, aims to improve nighttime road safety by adding 118 new streetlights along key routes within the city.
Funded entirely by the federal Highway Safety Improvement Program (HSIP) to the tune of $1.6 million, the lighting improvements extend across the Apache Trail from Palo Verde Drive to SR-88, and on the south side of Superstition Boulevard, from Meridian Drive to SR-88. The city recognized the need for better illumination through its development of the 2019 Pinal County Strategic Transportation Safety Plan, which highlighted areas for safety enhancements based on a decade's worth of crash data.
According to the city's Public Works Department, the project entered the physical phase after the submission and approval of an HSIP application to ADOT in 2019, leading to state-funded design and construction. This move underscores a commitment to preventing traffic fatalities and injuries, a primary goal of the federally aided HSIP.
