OPINION

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OPINION Opinion

Bowie lists priorities for his final year as senator

BY SEAN BOWIE

Arizonan Guest Writer

From my family to yours, I hope you all had a joyous, healthy, and safe holiday season. My best to you and your families as we begin the new year.

Our 2022 legislative session starts next week, and it will be my final session as your senator. I am looking forward to getting back to work and continuing to fight for the issues and policies I have advocated for over the last six years.

As always, I will continue to work with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle on legislation that helps move our state forward, and a state budget that invests in our economy and in our future.

COVID-19 is still obviously front of mind as we deal with increasing caseloads throughout Arizona. We will continue to work with the governor to allocate federal aid dollars to our schools, cities, and counties. An urgent priority for us going forward needs to be easier access to testing kits for personal use.

On the legislation front, I will continue to advocate for mental health legislation for our children and our schools. I have had five bills signed into law over the last three years that have helped provide more support and training for mental health and suicide prevention awareness. I am working on additional legislation this year and will advocate for additional grant funding in our state budget for more counselors, social workers, and school psychologists in our schools.

As it relates to our state budget, I will continue to advocate for more investment in our K-12 schools, universities, and community colleges.

While we have made substantive progress in recent years to restore education funding, we still have quite a way to go to get back to 2008 funding levels, particularly for our state universities. Making targeted investments in areas like workforce development, health care, and STEM fields will not only create jobs in the present but also better prepare our state for the jobs of the future.

Water continues to be a high priority issue for us at the legislature. After recent investments to shore up our state’s water infrastructure, more work still needs to be done to improve conservation efforts and make additional investments in long-term water planning. Recent droughts have only added to the urgency for us to act.

Finally, I expect voting rights to again be one of the dominant issues we tackle this year. There will no doubt be attempts to eliminate voting by mail (which over 85% of my constituents used in 2020) and making it harder for Arizona residents to vote.

Again working with colleagues on both sides of the aisle, I will continue to work to protect our right to vote and oppose legislation that goes after our vote by mail system or further attempts to weaken our early voting list. Arizona has done a good job over the last two decades of making it easy to vote and hard to cheat, and I will work hard to keep it that way.

I am excited to get back to work next week. My door is always open if I can be helpful for you at the state capitol. You can contact our Senate office at 602-9263004, or you can email me at sbowie@ azleg.gov.

Happy New Year!

Sean Bowie is the senator for state Legislative District 18, which includes

Ahwatukee. ■

ADOT chief forecasts early end to some I-10 work

BY JOHN HALIKOWSKI Arizonan Guest Writer

The New Year is upon us. It’s a time when many of us set new goals and are optimistic about achieving them. As I look ahead into 2022, I think about all the project goals we at the Arizona Department of Transportation have as we continue to improve our state’s transportation system.

It’s always nice to start off a new year with good news, and here’s some for motorists who travel eastbound on Interstate 10, between Baseline Road and Chandler Boulevard. Expect to see a significant uptick in construction activity in this area early in 2022; and, we anticipate the work in this area to be completed two years earlier than much of the I-10 Broadway Curve Improvement Project - in 2022 rather than in 2024.

ADOT saw value for our customers in working to complete construction on eastbound I-10 between Baseline Road and Chandler Boulevard early in the project.

So, we worked with the developer team that is designing and building the project to make it happen. We recognized the I-10 Broadway Curve Improvement Project will be highly impactful in other areas of I-10, the US 60 (Superstition Freeway) and State Route 143.

Completing this stretch two years before the remainder of the project is one way we’re striving to reduce those impacts for at least some motorists in the 11-mile project area.

The primary work along eastbound I-10 between Baseline Road and Chandler Boulevard is widening on the outside to provide another travel lane.

Crews will work behind the concrete barrier, limiting the need for restrictions or closures that impact drivers. In terms of highway construction, it is relatively “easy” work; yet the payoff for thousands of motorists is tremendous.

Our work south of Baseline Road also includes widening the Guadalupe Road bridge over east and westbound I-10 and improving the Sun Circle Trail crossing for pedestrians, bicyclists and equestrians.

I encourage you to stay up to date on progress of the I-10 Broadway Curve Improvement Project at i10BroadwayCurve. com and #StayAheadOfTheCurve. While you’re there, you can subscribe to receive traffic alerts and project updates by email and learn more about our free project app, The Curve - another valuable resource as construction ramps up.

Thank you all for your patience as we continue to deliver on our commitment to maintaining and improving Arizona’s freeways. In the end, our projects aim to ensure that every one of us gets where we need to be through safe, efficient and reliable transportation. Happy New Year!

John Halikowski is the drector of the Ar-

izona Department of Transportation. ■