Regional planning agency touts ADOT’s work on upgraded I-17 drainage system

The Phoenix area’s metropolitan planning organization is praising the performance of the modernized Interstate 17 regional drainage system between Dunlap Avenue and Greenway Road, a project ADOT completed in 2023.

The Maricopa Association of Governments (MAG) funded the $49.5 million, gravity-powered system, which uses angled pipelines to move stormwater to basins and channels in the area. A recent MAG news release notes that the system has worked as designed and addressed the longstanding problem of rainwater building up in cross-street underpasses along this stretch of I-17 in Phoenix.

The I-17 drainage project removed old stormwater pump stations. While we thank them for their service, those pump stations dated back to 1964. 

ADOT Senior Resident Engineer Jimmy Naujokaitis, who led the agency’s project team, says in the release that there haven’t been significant buildups of standing water since the new system went into operation last summer.

"Now that we don't have to rely on mechanical means to remove runoff in the underpasses, the dependability of the drainage infrastructure along this section of I-17 north of Dunlap Avenue has significantly increased," Naujokaitis said.

Although no system can guarantee preventing standing water from gathering when heavy storms strike, this upgrade is off to a very good start. Thanks to hard work by an ADOT team – and gravity.