The Arizona State Selection Board has approved the annexation of 6,687 acres of state trust land into the City of Apache Junction.

The vacant property is south of Elliot Road, west of the Central Arizona Project canal and north of where State Route 24 is to be constructed.

State Route 24, the Gateway Freeway, heads from Loop 202/Santan south to the Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport and east to Ellsworth Road, south of East Williams Field Road. There are plans to extend it to Ironwood Drive in Pinal County with construction beginning in 2020, and eventually to south of Gold Canyon, according to azmag.gov.

The state land commissioner, Lisa A. Atkins, requested approval of the annexation in T1S R8E Sections 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33 and 34, all in Pinal County, according to the minutes of the selection board’s July 17 meeting.

The Arizona State Land Department manages approximately 9.2 million acres of State Trust lands within Arizona. These lands were granted to the state under the provisions of the federal Enabling Act that provided for Arizona’s statehood in 1912. These lands are held in trust and managed for the sole purpose of generating revenues for the 13 State Trust land beneficiaries, the largest of which is Arizona’s K-12 education, according to land.az.gov.