PHOENIX — Foes of a plan to construct a new interstate highway — including a segment that could go through environmentally sensitive portions of Pima County — have won a temporary reprieve.
The Federal Highway Administration has agreed in a filing in federal court to re-evaluate its environmental impact statement which found no problem with putting a segment of the proposed Interstate 11 through Avra Valley and an area adjacent to the Saguaro National Park or the Sonoran Desert National Monument. That now requires the agency to decide whether its original decision remains valid “or a supplemental or new analysis and new decision is needed.”
As part of the agreement with highway foes, the federal agency also will allow a 60-day public comment period after it has reached a decision. It also has agreed to take no further action to advance planning work on the highway…