Submit scoping comments today on the I-11 Environmental Impact Statement!

The proposed Interstate 11 is moving forward and your comments on this proposal are needed now! The Arizona Department of Transportation and Federal Highways Administration are holding a series of scoping meetings throughout Arizona this month for a new Environmental Impact Statement on the proposed Interstate 11 segment between Nogales and Wickenburg.

There are two meetings this week in the Tucson region. Both meetings are from 4-6:30pm with a short presentation at 4:15pm and an open house format after the presentation is finished.

Wednesday, June 22
Arizona Riverpark Inn
777 W. Cushing St.
Tucson, AZ

Thursday, June 23
Marana Middle School Gymnasium
11285 W. Grier Rd.
Marana, AZ

Comments will be accepted at the meetings on June 22 and June 23 and up until the final comment deadline of July 8. More information about the project can be found at i11study.com/Arizona.

The Coalition’s final scoping comments can be found here.  The main issues we address and which we encourage you to address in your comments too include:

  • Impacts to federal and local protected open space lands such as Ironwood Forest National Monument, Saguaro National Park, the Bureau of Reclamation’s Central Arizona Project mitigation corridor, City of Tucson mitigation lands for their Avra Valley Habitat Conservation Plan, and Pima County mitigation lands for their Multi-Species Habitat Conservation Plan.
  • Impacts to highly threatened wildlife linkages and have been identified in multiple planning processes, including the Sonoran Desert Conservation Plan, Arizona Wildlife Linkages Assessment, and Pima County Wildlife Linkages Assessment. These linkages include the Ironwood-Picacho wildlife linkage, Avra Valley wildlife linkage, and Ironwood-Tortolita wildlife linkage.
  • Impacts to Pima County’s Conservation Lands System, an integral piece of both the larger Sonoran Desert Conservation Plan and the more targeted Multi-Species Habitat Conservation Plan.
  • Impacts to riparian habitat specifically, an increasingly rare and threatened habitat type that 80% of vertebrate species in the Southwest are dependent upon for some part of their life cycle (Noss and Peters 1995).

Comments can be submitted in a few different ways.

Interstate 11 Tier 1 EIS Study Team

c/o ADOT Communications
1655 W. Jackson St., MD 126F
Phoenix, AZ 85007

Thank you for submitting comments on this important issue!