Important Las Vegas-to-Phoenix interchange now 80% complete

The Interstate 40/U.S. Highway 93 interchange project linking Las Vegas and Phoenix is now 80 percent complete, the Arizona Department of Transportation announced. The $106 cardinal effort, which got underway in July 2024, saw a 239‑foot‑long passageway open this period—on Sept. 3—connecting Beale Street in downtown Kingman with I‑40 and the southbound leg of U.S. 93 toward Las Vegas. ADOT says the new tunnel will smooth travel for motorists moving between the two cities. The passageway is one of two tunnels planned for the interchange. It will carry the bulk of the traffic, while the first tunnel, opened last year, is 215 feet long and serves local traffic via Fort Beale Drive. Work to date includes stone blasting on I‑40, installation of sound walls along the interstate, and paving of mile‑long ramps that tie I‑40 to U.S. 93. Upcoming tasks call for the installation of the final span girders on the flyover ramp that will link southbound U.S. 93 with eastbound I‑40; ADOT expects that work to take place next month. Construction continues with daytime and nighttime shifts, accompanied by lane restrictions. Throughout the project, drivers may still exit U.S. 93 and I‑40 at Beale Street to reach businesses, Route 66 and downtown Kingman. ADOT projects the interchange will be finished next year, opening with six miles of widened or newly constructed roadway. The overall scope features five new bridges, two span widenings, four span rehabilitations and two miles of sound walls. Additionally, a mile of new road has been built northwest of the existing interchange at I‑40 and Beale Street. Other elements include widening roughly a mile of I‑40 in both directions between the new interchange and Stockton Hill Road, adding a merge lane on northbound U.S. 93, widening and/or rehabilitating four bridges on I‑40, erecting sound walls on I‑40 west of Stockton Hill Road, and improving drainage across the project area.