The Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT) announced on Sept. 3, 2026, that it has opened a new tunnel as part of a project to construct a free-flowing interchange that will reduce delays on the main route between Phoenix and Las Vegas.
This milestone comes as ADOT has reached 80 percent completion on the $106 million project to build a new connection between Interstate 40 and U.S. 93 in west Kingman.
Fisher Sand & Gravel is the project's contractor.
The 239-ft.-long tunnel carries northbound Beale Street traffic from downtown Kingman and I-40 that is about to merge with northbound U.S. 93 on the way to Las Vegas.
It is just one element of the project that will reduce delays with a new interchange that will eliminate the need for motorists to stop at a traffic signal on Beale Street at I-40. Instead, 1 mi. of new ramps will allow traffic to flow freely between I-40 and U.S. 93.
This is the project's second tunnel and the one that will handle the most traffic. The other tunnel, which opened in September 2025, serves local traffic using Fort Beale Drive and is 215 ft. long.
The tunnel's completion comes as ADOT has also finished rock blasting along I-40 and wrapped up construction of sound walls along I-40. Work in progress includes paving the new mile-long ramps connecting I-40 and U.S. 93.
Looking ahead, ADOT is preparing to install the final bridge girders on the flyover ramp that will connect southbound US 93 with eastbound I-40. That work is expected to take place in October.
Construction is expected to continue into 2027, when the interchange will open with 6 mi. of widened or newly constructed roadway. The project includes five new bridges, two bridge widenings, four bridge rehabilitations and 2 mi. of sound walls.
The project is creating a mile of new highway carrying traffic northwest of the existing interchange at I-40 and Beale Street. Other features include:
• widening more than a mile of I-40 in both directions between the new interchange and Stockton Hill Road;
• adding a merge lane on U.S. 93 northbound;
• widening and/or rehabilitating four bridges on I-40;
• building sound walls along a portion of I-40 to the west of Stockton Hill Road; and
• constructing drainage features.
ADOT began the project in July 2024.
