PHOENIX – The Interstate 10 Deck Park Tunnel, a Phoenix landmark used daily by more than 200,000 vehicles, turned 35 on Sunday.

The nearly mile-long tunnel, created by 19 side-by-side bridges between Third Street and Third Avenue, opened on Aug. 10, 1990, just north of downtown Phoenix, according to a release from the Arizona Department of Transportation.

Last year, ADOT dedicated the tunnel in memory of Dean Lindsey, the civil engineer who, in the 1970s and ’80s, managed development of several I-10 Papago Freeway projects in the downtown Phoenix area, including the tunnel.

Creating the Deck Park Tunnel Project was a formidable task.

Construction workers placed 1,400 columns to support the bridge structures. Crews excavated 1 million cubic yards of soil and installed more than 100,000 cubic yards of concrete and close to 20 million pounds of reinforcing steel, according to ADOT.

The tunnel is part of the Final Mile of I-10 – the last stretch of the interstate to open to traffic across the United States. Its opening 35 years ago at the Deck Park Tunnel completed 2,460 miles of I-10 across eight states, from Santa Monica, Calif., to Jacksonville, Fla.

We would like to invite our readers to submit their civil comments, pro or con, on this issue. Email AZOpinions@iniusa.org.