The Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT) announced on November 12 that construction is complete on the new eastbound and westbound Interstate 10 bridges over the Gila River, about 11 miles south of the Phoenix and Chandler area. The finished bridges mark the completion of the first of four segments of the I-10 Wild Horse Pass Corridor Project, the program widening the freeway between Phoenix and Casa Grande.
Source: Arizona Department of Transportation
Crews began building the bridges in May 2024. The old bridges were removed and replaced with new, wider and higher structures. Each direction now has three lanes with wider shoulders, ADOT said — although the third lane will not open to traffic until the remaining segments of the corridor are finished.
What is still being built
The bridge segment is only the first piece. The second segment, which began construction in January 2026, runs along 10 miles of I-10 in both directions north of Casa Grande. The third segment has recently begun construction on roughly 11 miles from the Phoenix and Chandler area down to the Gila River — ADOT said active construction on that stretch, between Loop 202 and the river, launched on October 5. A fourth segment covers the three miles between the Gila River and Gas Line Road.
Source: I-10 Wild Horse Pass Corridor project
The full corridor runs about 26 miles, from the Loop 202 (Santan and South Mountain freeways) in south Phoenix to State Route 387 near Casa Grande, crossing the Gila River Indian Community. Engineering News-Record describes it as a roughly $1 billion program. The bridge segment itself — about one mile, between mileposts 172.8 and 173.8 — was built by Pulice, a Flatiron Dragados company, according to construction trade coverage.
Why this stretch matters for drivers and truckers
Interstate 10 is the freeway between Phoenix and Tucson and one of Arizona's main freight routes, carrying heavy truck traffic between the state's two largest metro areas and on toward Texas and California. The Wild Horse Pass stretch has been the corridor's bottleneck: trade publication ENR calls it the final four-lane section of I-10 between Phoenix and Tucson, and the widening is meant to ease the congestion and safety problems on that gap. When all four segments finish in late 2029, drivers will have one additional travel lane in each direction between the Phoenix area and Casa Grande.
The work is not only about lanes. Several interchanges along the corridor will be reconstructed, and new interchanges will be built between the Wild Horse Pass Boulevard and SR 347/Queen Creek Road interchanges and at Seed Farm Road. ADOT is also adding freeway cameras, digital overhead message boards and wrong-way detection systems, which it says will help increase motorist safety.
Until the widening is finished, the speed limit on I-10 between Phoenix and Casa Grande is reduced to 55 mph while crews work. ADOT asks drivers to check its traffic alerts before travelling the corridor.
The new crossings replace bridges that project materials describe as more than 60 years old, built with deeper foundations and a higher deck for a more resilient river crossing. The project passed a visible milestone in August, when crews completed the final concrete pour for the quarter-mile-long eastbound bridge deck.
What happens next: construction continues on the second and third segments, the fourth segment is scheduled to get underway, and the new third lane over the Gila River opens only when the rest of the corridor can carry it. ADOT's target for the full 26-mile program remains late 2029.