MARICOPA, AZ (AZFamily) — Traffic troubles may soon be a thing of the past on SR 347 now that Arizona transportation officials approved a new expansion project.

The city of Maricopa is calling this their “Super Bowl victory.” There were even watch parties for the livestream of Friday’s board meeting because improving the highway is the city’s number one issue.

Tens of thousands of Arizona drivers and commuters take SR 347 every day, and it’s not always a pleasant experience.

“Everybody here in Maricopa has a 347 story,” said Christian Mylek. He is part of the Be Awesome Youth Coalition.

“I drive the 347, my brother drives the 347 and it’s scary,” said Mylek.

Bad crashes often turn deadly.

“You end up with thousands of accidents almost averaging one per day,” said Maricopa Mayor Nancy Smith.

It was packed with local residents and regional leaders who all pushed for the project, and it worked. The expansion was approved and is now part of ADOT’s five-year construction plan.

For years, funding gaps have been a roadblock in the fight to widen and improve the highway. Drivers use SR 347 at freeway speeds even though there are just two lanes in each direction and a handful of stoplights.

About a month ago, the city council greenlit a half-cent sales tax to create a local funding source for the upgrades, which include adding a third lane, an overpass, and repaving the roads.

The city, Pinal and Maricopa counties, and the state contribute to the $350 million bill, but getting here has been a bumpy road. The push for change has taken more than a decade, and the congestion problem has only worsened in that time.

“When we started this 14 years ago we might have been at about 30,000 people and we’ve grown quickly to 80,000 and projected to be at 100,000 in just a few years and so having this expansion is a huge, huge milestone,” said Smith.

It’s a big win that marks step one in the journey to enhancing safety on the busy highway.