The first phase of a Pinal County road project on Hunt Highway started today. Work could continue into early August and will include alternating lane closures and flagger operations.

During the first phase, a new left turn lane for southbound Hunt Highway and Arizona Farms Road will be built and a temporary traffic signal will be put into place at the intersection.

“When somebody goes to make a left, if you're headed southbound onto Arizona Farms, it backs everybody up, so it can back up traffic a mile or more,” said Charles Williams, project manager for the Pinal County Public Works Department. “This should definitely help alleviate that problem, especially during the rush hour in the morning, as well as the evening.”

Phase 2 will include pavement preservation work on Hunt Highway from Magma Road to Oasis Lane, and on Arizona Farms Road from Hunt Highway to just west of Attaway Road.

“We'll be doing some asphalt overlays, some slurry seal and some new striping work,” Williams said. “We're going to do some work on Arizona Farms Road from Hunt Highway to basically our county limits, which is just west of Attaway, to make it much smoother, much safer.”

The project is funded through the county’s half-cent excise sales tax.

“We've listened to the public, we drive these roads ourselves, so we know there's an issue,” Williams said. “We're not only going to hopefully help the backup during rush hour but with this payment preservation work we're going to fix some of the potholes and make Hunt Highway a much smoother ride.”