Important Las Vegas-to-Phoenix interchange now 80% complete

The yearslong Interstate 40/U.S. Highway 93 interchange project between Las Vegas and Phoenix is 80 percent complete, according to the Arizona Department of Transportation.

The $106 million project, which began in July 2024, saw a new 239-foot-long tunnel open this month that carries traffic on Beale Street from downtown Kingman, Arizona, and I-40 to the merge point of U.S. 93 toward Las Vegas, ADOT announced on Sept. 3. The project is aimed at creating a smoother commute for motorists traveling between Las Vegas and Phoenix.

The tunnel is one of the project features that will help reduce delays with the new interchange, that will eliminate the need for motorists to stop at the traffic signal on Beale Street at I-40.

This is the project’s second tunnel and the one that will handle the most traffic. The other tunnel, which opened last year, serves local traffic using Fort Beale Drive and is 215 feet long.

ADOT has also finished rock blasting along I-40 and finished construction of sound walls along the interstate, with crews now paving new mile-long ramps connecting I-40 and U.S. 93.

Upcoming work on the project includes installing the final bridge girders on the flyover ramp that will connect southbound U.S. 93 with eastbound I-40. That work is expected to occur next month, according to ADOT.

The ongoing road work will include daytime and nighttime work and lane restrictions.

Throughout the project, drivers can continue exiting both U.S. 93 and I-40 at Beale Street to access businesses, Route 66 and downtown Kingman.

Construction is expected to be completed next year, when the interchange will open with six miles of widened or newly constructed roadway.

The project includes five new bridges, two bridge widenings, four bridge rehabilitations and two miles of sound walls.

A mile of new highway built for traffic traveling northwest of the existing interchange at I-40 and Beale Street is also part of the project.

Other project features include: widening over a mile of I-40 in both directions between the new interchange and Stockton Hill Road; constructing a merge lane on U.S. 93 northbound; widening and/or rehabilitating four bridges on I-40; constructing sound walls along I-40 to the west of Stockton Hill Road; and adding drainage along the project’s scope.