ADOT partnership with ASU aims to optimize landscape water use

We at ADOT are immensely proud of our partnerships with state universities, including through the Arizona Transportation Institute research consortium. 

This ASU News article features a partnership that’s helping ADOT learn how to optimize water use in freeway landscaping. The ADOT Urban Freeway Landscape Water Use Efficiency Project involves graduate students who are part of ASU’s Arizona Water Innovation Initiative.

Led by the initiative’s director, Harry Cooper, students work alongside ADOT staff to test irrigation systems, check valves and monitor water pressure. They also examine which plants thrive along freeways. Cooper took the photo above showing a student checking an irrigation system.

This work provides ADOT with a better understanding of how to improve water efficiency without sacrificing the benefits of freeway landscaping.

“Landscaping along our freeways is a shared asset between the cities and ADOT. This irrigation study will allow us to better understand how we can adjust our irrigation standards to adapt to changing conditions,” said Alexis Zaring, Environmental Program Administrator for ADOT’s Central District. “Our findings will allow us to continue to be good stewards of our water resources.”