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TUCSON- It is the largest project the Regional Transportation Authority will undertake. The long awaited Grant Road Improvement Plan will widen and add traffic lanes, add bike lanes, pedestrian walk ways and bus pull outs.

Construction will be divided into 6 phases on the five mile stretch between Oracle and Swan.

The first phase is between 15th Avenue and Castro Ave. That will begin sometime in mid 2011. The entire project is expected to be done in 2026.

News4 talked to two business owners in the phase one area.

Bob Wright owns Living Interiors. He said, "This is our greenhouse. This is our plant storage facility and this is the area we bring our plants into prior to having them shipped out to our customer base."

He is a half block south of Grant, east of Oracle. His commercial clients are all over town. He chose this location because the freeway is nearby. So are Speedway and Grant Roads. Wright is excited to be in the first phase.

"I'm pretty confident they're going to do it right because they want this side to end up being the thing they can point to and say, 'look at what we did here. Don't be afraid', you know for the other segments. That everything is going to be fine. So that's my confidence level."

Down the street at Maggie Maye's, they just celebrated their 10th year on Grant Road at Castro Avenue. Susan Alexander owns the tattoo shop. She is also a Grant Road Citizens Task Force member.

Years ago Alexander was opposed to the project.

"We expect it to affect our business flow," the tattoo artist tells us. "And the 50 percent is somebody driving by and going, ‘let's get a tattoo'".

But now she is ready to move forward and will, "take advantage of all the resources we can to get through it. Prepare for it; I think is the most important thing. Breathe a sigh of relief when it's over."

And like getting a tattoo, Alexander says the gain will be worth the pain.

"It is a reality. And the rest of that reality is, we are going to end up with a better road, a safer road, more beautiful and a road that I think people will feel better about driving down."