What started as a promise in Florence has turned into a signed deal in Maricopa.

Last night, the Maricopa City Council unanimously approved an intergovernmental agreement pledging $20 million from the county coffers to help widen State Route 347. 

The action marks a key step toward formalizing a deal first approved by the Pinal County Board of Supervisors in March as local leaders lobbied the state highway onto the Arizona Department of Transportation’s five-year construction plan. 

The county will contribute $20 million toward the city’s broader $50 million investment in the widening. Under the agreement, the county will make a single $20 million payment to the city by May 1.

State legislators obtained an additional $53.7 million earlier this year. 

City Manager Ben Bitter said local contributions were a “key reason why SR 347 was added to ADOT’s 5-year plan.”

Mayor Nancy Smith took it a step farther, saying the contribution was what pushed the project “over the line” for ADOT. 

Councilmember Eric Goettl agreed. 

“I don’t believe we would have been able to get it over the finish line,” he said during the meeting. “Without their contribution and with all the contributions of our local residents here in the process.”