The Arizona Department of Transportation has opened consultant procurement for a planned $53 million interchange where 96th Avenue meets Loop 303 in northern Peoria, moving the project from feasibility work into detailed design.
ADOT’s current solicitation, advertised Oct. 8 and again Oct. 15, seeks an engineering team to prepare construction-ready plans for the interchange at Loop 303 milepost 130. Statements of qualifications are due Oct. 29.
The procurement is a design milestone, not a construction start. ADOT’s 44-page request for qualifications says design and right-of-way funding are included in the agency’s 2026-2030 construction program. It gives an initial construction estimate of approximately $53 million, but does not identify a construction start date or say that the full construction cost has been funded.
What ADOT plans at 96th Avenue
The design scope calls for a full traffic interchange with four entrance and exit ramps and a new bridge carrying 96th Avenue over Loop 303. The existing Loop 303 roadway, described by ADOT as an interim six-lane divided highway with auxiliary lanes, would remain in place.
ADOT says the 96th Avenue crossroad would follow Peoria’s arterial-street standard: three lanes in each direction, bike lanes, sidewalks, accessible curb ramps and dedicated turn lanes at the ramp intersections.
The project also requires work on an existing concrete drainage channel south of Loop 303. Part of that channel would be replaced with a box culvert where it crosses the future 96th Avenue alignment. ADOT does not expect major utility relocations or new right-of-way, though utilities crossing the corridor would need to be protected and final property requirements will be checked during design.
The agency completed a final project assessment for interchange alternatives in May 2026. The new contract will take the project through environmental clearance, traffic analysis using 2050 volumes, bridge and roadway engineering, drainage design, cost estimates and final bid documents. A public meeting and other outreach are also required.
Design could run about 2½ years
ADOT’s tentative procurement schedule calls for selecting a consultant Dec. 7, negotiating a cost proposal later that month and issuing a notice to proceed Feb. 25, 2027. The design assignment is expected to last 900 calendar days, including agency and stakeholder reviews.
If that schedule holds, design work would extend into the second half of 2029. That calculation is a planning benchmark, not an announced construction date. The contract schedule may change, and construction would still require final funding, bidding and approvals.
The project is expected to use the traditional design-bid-build method. ADOT says federal money may pay for a portion of eventual construction, but the solicitation does not specify the federal share.
Why the interchange matters
96th Avenue sits on the east-west portion of Loop 303 between Lake Pleasant Parkway and the freeway’s connection toward Interstate 17. A full interchange would create another access point in a fast-growing northern Peoria corridor and distribute traffic beyond the existing interchanges.
The project is separate from the $129 million Loop 303 widening and I-17 interchange work now under construction farther east. That project is adding direct freeway-to-freeway ramps and widening Loop 303 between I-17 and 51st Avenue.
It also adds another piece to the broader northern Loop 303 transportation network. Peoria is separately advancing the El Mirage Road extension between Loop 303 and Jomax Road, with construction targeted for 2028.
West Valley Post tracks these projects and their changing schedules in the Loop 303 Development & Infrastructure Tracker.
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