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It's part of the town's plan to build roadways that will connect new developments west of I-10 to the town's municipal complex and Main Street in north Marana.

"This is a key element of our master transportation plan for northwest Marana," said Assistant Town Manager Jim DeGrood.

If the project goes forward as planned, construction would begin by the end of the year and take nine or 10 months to complete, said Kevin Thornton Marana's assistant director of public works.

The town plans to extend Tangerine Farms Road — which dead-ends south of the Gladden Farms development — to Tangerine Road.

Both roads would be widened to four lanes with a landscaped median, and construction crews would install storm drains and build on-street bike lanes and sidewalks.

To fund the project, the town would sell $25.6 million in bonds — the cost of the project plus interest on the bonds. The bonds would be repaid by the property owners who'd benefit from the project. They include Forest City Land Group, Cottonwood Properties, Granite Construction and the Phoenix-based commercial developer Westcor.

Town officials are working to form a Tangerine Farms Road Improvement District made up of those property owners to determine how the bonds would be repaid.

Progress on the project has lagged as the town works to acquire property from the developers who own the land north and south of Tangerine and Tangerine Farms roads.

"It's been delayed maybe a couple of weeks," Thornton said. "It's not a significant delay, and basically all the developers and property owners are on board for the project."

DeGrood said a resolution to form the improvement district and proceed with construction will likely go before the Town Council in June.

Dean Wingert, the senior vice president of Forest City Land Group, said forming an improvement district is a good way to fund the project. "I think this is the town's mechanism to approach it in a really comprehensive manner," he said.

The town could have waited for developers to improve the section of the road that immediately benefits their property, but then it could take years for the entire road improvement to take place, Wingert said.

The town hired an investment banking firm, Stone & Youngberg LLC, to sell the bonds. The firm's managing director of public finance, Mark Reader, said the town decided to sell bonds and have the developers reimburse it so property owners that benefit from the infrastructure pay for the project.

"It localizes the improvement so other people in the town don't have to pay for it," Reader said.

But town staffers had to work with the developers about how to divide the cost of the project, Reader said.

"At the end of the day, the property owners have to agree to do this," he said.

Town officials decided that property owners with the greatest amount of frontage along Tangerine and Tangerine Farms roads would repay the greatest proportion of the bonds.

"There's a lot of options that cities and towns can use, but it was pretty obvious this was the best option for the town," Reader said.

DeGrood said most property owners agree that the project will have a positive impact.

"Some are happier about it than others, but everybody will benefit in the long run," DeGrood said.