Phoenix reports nearly $750 million in federal infrastructure awards; city highlights bridge, transit, airport and water projects

Deputy City Manager Mario Paniagua told the Phoenix City Council at a work-study session that the city has been awarded nearly $750,000,000 in federal funds across 30 grants under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (also called the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law) and the Inflation Reduction Act.

Why it matters: The grants fund a mix of transportation, water, airport, transit, broadband and resiliency projects that city staff say will reduce costs to local taxpayers, improve safety and support planned growth. Staff and council members also warned the awards face uncertainty from federal executive actions and ongoing legal activity.

City staff framed the awards as the result of a multi‑year, cross‑department effort. "With declining revenues and strain on the city budget, we have an obligation to our taxpayers to ensure we're getting our fair share of the federal dollars," Deputy City Manager Mario Paniagua said. He credited city department directors, grant liaisons, the city government relations team led by Frank McCune and federal consultant Holland & Knight for helping secure the awards.

Infrastructure Implementation Manager Larry Smallwood walked the council through major project highlights and dollar amounts the city has announced so far. Among the named awards:

- Third Street Rio Salado bike and pedestrian bridge and pathway: $25,000,000 discretionary award. The project will link South Central and midtown Phoenix, connect to the planned South Central light-rail extension, and add an amphitheater entry and trail access. Staff said more than 200 community members voted on the design alternative.

- Bus and bus facilities and Low-No grant combination for transit electrification: $16,400,000. Staff said the funding supports replacing aging buses with battery-electric and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, purchasing infrastructure for charging and maintenance, and workforce training. Larry Smallwood showed an image of the city’s first hydrogen fuel cell bus as part of an initial order of 12 hydrogen fuel cell buses and 12 battery-electric buses.

- Indian School Road revisioning project: $25,000,000. The corridor work targets a segment of Indian School Road that staff said was developed under older lighting standards; funding will be used for improved corridor lighting, medians, wider and separated sidewalks, a bicycle and pedestrian frontage-road corridor, and safer transit connections.

- Sky Harbor Phoenix Cultural Corridor: more than $10,000,000. The roughly 3.5-mile heritage trail will add ADA-compliant sidewalks, protected bike lanes, public art and historic markers and support reuse of hundreds of city-owned parcels west of Sky Harbor International Airport.

- Sky Harbor Crossfield Taxiway U: cumulative airport infrastructure grants totaling roughly $156,300,000 across three grant rounds. Staff said the taxiway connection will reduce taxi times and support airfield efficiency and future master-plan development.

- US 60/5th Avenue–Indian School Road grade-separation project: $146,600,000. Staff described this as the largest single discretionary grant award in the region’s history and said the project will replace a complex six-leg intersection with a four-leg configuration, raise 5th Avenue and build a bridge over Grand Avenue and a BNSF railroad crossing, eliminating two at-grade crossings and serving about 140,000 daily travelers.

Staff also listed a pending set of applications: about 12 applications submitted to nine separate BIL and IRA programs. Those included requests for additional airport taxiway funding at Deer Valley Airport, a road extension project in partnership with Arizona State University and Mayo Clinic, a planning study for the Levine Area conveyance channel multi-use path, stormwater improvements at Warpaint Drive, solar projects, three $5,000,000 Solid Waste Infrastructure for Recycling (SWIFR) applications totaling $15,000,000 for circular food economy and materials‑recovery improvements, improvements at the 27th Avenue Resource Innovation Campus and the North Gateway Materials Recovery Facility, smart irrigation controllers at parks, Phoenix Connected Active Neighborhoods (Phoenix CAN) quick-build projects, Rio Corridor regional vision planning, sustainable roadway materials evaluation, and advanced water purification at the future North Gateway water reclamation facility.

Council members praised staff and emphasized how the grants support safety, housing, jobs and economic development. Mayor Kate Gallego called the US 60/5th Avenue and Indian School project critical to public safety and said the Federal Railroad Administration had ranked the intersection among the nation’s highest for rail‑street incidents; she added, "This project has the potential to reduce overall crashes by 44%." Councilmembers from multiple districts noted the work’s relevance to the West Side, North Valley water needs, and workforce opportunities created by construction and system upgrades.

Staff and council also flagged federal uncertainty. Paniagua summarized recent federal actions and legal developments: he referenced a presidential executive order titled "Unleashing American Energy," a January 27 Office of Management and Budget memo temporarily pausing certain spending, subsequent clarifications, and two temporary restraining orders that have blocked some efforts to freeze grant payments. "There are simply way more questions than answers about what will happen with many of these federal funds," Paniagua said, noting that the potential removal or delay of awarded funds would compound local revenue stress.

What the council directed or discussed next: staff said they will continue to pursue additional BIL and IRA funding and track pending awards. Council members urged continued bipartisan federal advocacy and regional partnership with Maricopa County, the Maricopa Association of Governments and neighboring cities.

No formal council votes on these projects were recorded during the update; staff presented the status of awards and applications and answered questions.

The presentation and discussion closed with Mayor Gallego and staff thanking the cross-departmental team that prepared grant applications and managed awarded projects. Mayor Gallego said the projects "should move forward without political strings," and the meeting adjourned.