Roads can be more than a way to get from place to place. They can be a way to get where we want to go economically by helping products move and by attracting new companies.
That's the goal of the proposed Sonoran Corridor -- which would give drivers a quicker connection between I-10 and I-19.
Tucson and Pima County see a lot of potential to bring in more big new businesses like the Home Goods Distribution Center near Tucson’s airport but they say a proposed new highway would help.
Companies like Home Goods, Target, and now Amazon realized the south side of Tucson is a great place to set large warehouses, close to I-10 which can carry goods all the way to the east coast.
But moving goods would be even better with a shortcut to connect I-10 and I-19 that avoids the congestion where the two highways meet now.
A proposal called the Sonoran Corridor would do that. The exact route is still being worked out but it should help cars and trucks make much quicker trips.
Mike Valencia with CME Logistics is an expert at moving cargoes.
"That's all a trucker wants. He constantly wants to be moving. He does not want to be stalled in traffic somewhere." And as you know, that whole area over there on I-19 Valencia-Irvington tends to get piled up with traffic jams quite often."
But the Sonoran Corridor is really about building business. A study for Pima County says improved ability to move products would attract a lot of new companies and workers---and they would build the demand for more businesses to serve their needs.
The study says that ripple effect means the Sonoran Corridor could create about 203 thousand jobs and add about 32 billion dollars to Pima County's economy.
So the Sonoran Corridor could help you even if you never drive on it.
Amber Smith, CEO of the Tucson Metro Chamber says, “It's about jobs ultimately and that's what we are trying to do as a focus in our community is being able to lower the level, the amount of poverty in our community and logistics centres and these type of facilities that we're recruiting into that area that would be more attractive with the Sonoran corridor those type of companies for that type of workforce all the better."
But for now the Corridor's a proposal still waiting for the money to build it.
