It's not exactly "Meerkat Manor," but you can see how a photographer could easily think of those African mammals and their habit of standing sentry while looking at the top of the new bridge girders on Interstate 17 at Pinnacle Peak. 

These rebar facsimiles will also quickly disappear as the project to expand Pinnacle Peak over I-17 and rebuilt the interchange continues. You can see a more expansive view of what the girder installation looked like in the photo gallery below.

By John Dougherty / ADOT Communications

There's a light at the end of the tunnel, and not just for this shaft of rebar that is now part of the bridge over the Union Pacific Railroad tracks for our project on Interstate 10 at State Route 87 near Eloy.

This project is widening the interstate while creating a modern interchange for SR 87. It's scheduled to be completed later this year, so this shot is a reminder that there are good things coming soon.

Art of Transportation
We think there is beauty in transportation. It’s not all hard hats and pavement. Art of Transportation is a blog series featuring unique photos our team has taken while on the road or on a construction project.

By Tom Herrmann / ADOT Communications

When you drive under many of the overpasses across Arizona, you see more than just a wall. You see artistic designs created to add beauty to the concrete façade and reflect the history of the community.

The designs are seen on the overpass walls of three projects we've blogged about quite a bit lately: the Interstate 10/Ina Road interchange in Marana and I-10 widening projects in Eloy and Casa Grande. Designs are being planned for new interchanges coming to Ruthrauff and Houghton roads in the Tucson area.

At Eloy, today’s neighboring pecan orchards and the cotton fields of past times provided inspiration for representing the agriculture layout patterns onto the freeway structure. At Jimmie Kerr Boulevard in Casa Grande, the region’s Native American culture inspired the ollas design theme. The olla – a Spanish word that means pot – reflects how the ancient Hohokam culture would gather, transport and store water from ancient canals in their pottery vessels.

These projects are an example of how ADOT Roadside Development collaborates with companies like Wheat Design Group to create responsible designs for the public to enjoy.

At a meeting about plans for I-10 at Houghton Road, ADOT Roadside Development, Structural Grace Engineering and Wheat Design Group began preliminary design concepts by studying the region’s history, culture, flora and fauna. Work is scheduled to begin in 2021.

"There is a story behind the art," said Laura Mielcarek, owner of Wheat Design Group.

The new interchange at Ruthrauff, where construction is expected to begin this summer, provides an opportunity to honor the work done by one of Tucson’s most revered engineers: John “Mos” Ruthrauff. Ruthrauff is known for transforming Tucson’s dirt roads to paved streets.

By John Dougherty / ADOT Communications

We are hooked on this close-up of machinery at rest before heading back to work rebuilding the State Route 87 and Interstate 10 interchange near Eloy. In the background is the bridge that will go over the new alignment of I-10. With that project set to be finished later this year, you can bet this hook didn't remain a still-life subject for too long.

Art of Transportation
We think there is beauty in transportation. It’s not all hard hats and pavement. Art of Transportation is a blog series featuring unique photos our team has taken while on the road or on a construction project.

By John Dougherty /ADOT Communications

Art helps to enlarge people's perspective, which this shot of a recent bridge deck pour for the South Mountain Freeway is definitely doing. This early morning shot gives some scale of the recent work that went into completing the two 2,700-foot long bridges crossing the Salt River. Crews finished building the concrete decks for the bridges last week.

See more photos of the recent deck pour in the slideshow:

Art of Transportation
We think there is beauty in transportation. It’s not all hard hats and pavement. Art of Transportation is a blog series featuring unique photos our team has taken while on the road or on a construction project.

By Kathy Cline / ADOT Communications

Construction is precision and art combined. Laying rebar in the right proportions, then pouring a complete deck on it, takes dedication and attention to detail. All the while, surreal lights illuminate the workspace. This photo was taken several weeks ago by John Dougherty, who takes the photos featured on the "Art of Transportation" blog series. It shows crews preparing to pour the concrete decks of new I-10 bridges over Jimmie Kerr Boulevard in Casa Grande.

This Interstate 10 project is widening the freeway to three lanes from just south of Earley Road to Interstate 8. It's one of two projects in Pinal County adding a third I-10 lane in each direction. When both are finished, I-10 will be three lanes all the way between Casa Grande and Tucson.

Art of Transportation
We think there is beauty in transportation. It’s not all hard hats and pavement. Art of Transportation is a blog series featuring unique photos our team has taken while on the road or on a construction project.

By David Woodfill / ADOT Communications

As progress chugs along on the Loop 202 South Mountain Freeway, this week's Art of Transportation gives us a peek at one of the giant, lumbering creatures of forged steel that make such a massive project possible.

"I was on the south end of one of the two new Salt River Bridges that are part of the South Mountain Freeway," wrote John Dougherty, who takes the pictures featured in the Art of Transportation blog posts. "I’m shooting north. I actually shot through a Bidwell (used for paving). The crane you see in the background was lifting girders into place that day."

The new bridge will be a half-mile long and composed of 170-foot girders.

Art of Transportation
We think there is beauty in transportation. It’s not all hard hats and pavement. Art of Transportation is a blog series featuring unique photos our team has taken while on the road or on a construction project.

By John Dougherty / ADOT Communications

You may have heard about the 22 miles of freeway we're adding to the Phoenix highway system. To do that, it requires a lot of dirt – 10 million cubic yards of dirt, in fact. The Art of Transportation features a photo of nighttime work happening south of Loop 202 Santan Freeway near Kyrene Road. The Loop 202 South Mountain Freeway Facebook page shows video of the work and provides details on the dirt hauls.

Art of Transportation
We think there is beauty in transportation. It’s not all hard hats and pavement. Art of Transportation is a blog series featuring unique photos our team has taken while on the road or on a construction project.

By John Dougherty / ADOT Communications

South Mountain Freeway crews are making tracks on the project that will add 22 miles of freeway to the Valley, working simultaneously in different areas.

This Art of Transportation photo is from construction on one of two bridges over the Salt River that will be part of the new freeway. The heavy construction equipment visible in the background left an interesting pattern in the dirt.

By John Dougherty / ADOT Communications

Just in time for the month that celebrates creepy crawly things, we found a spider web at the Ina Road Interchange project in Marana. In the background, you can see the yellow boom that supplies concrete for the bridge deck.

ADOT is a building modern traffic interchange at Ina Road and Interstate 10 to help traffic flow efficiently through the growing area. Crews have completed more than half of the work on the west side of I-10 and will move to the east side of the freeway in early 2018.

Art of Transportation
We think there is beauty in transportation. It’s not all hard hats and pavement. Art of Transportation is a blog series featuring unique photos our team has taken while on the road or on a construction project.