What a difference a weekend makes for the South Mountain Freeway

By Dustin Krugel / ADOT Communications

As the before (left) and after photos above show, ADOT's Loop 202 South Mountain Freeway project is advancing quickly.

Monday morning commuters using I-10 through the South Mountain Freeway work zone in west Phoenix saw that progress first-hand Monday.

After a weekend of work, there are now mammoth support beams, each weighing 160,000 pounds and more than 170 feet long, above the westbound I-10 travel lanes east of 59th Avenue.

During a 44-hour westbound closure that began at 10 p.m. Friday, two large cranes worked in tandem to hoist and place 18 steel-reinforced concrete girders for a flyover ramp that will connect westbound I-10 with southbound Loop 202.

This weekend, Feb. 1-4, crews will set the remaining 12 girders for this ramp over the eastbound lanes, requiring a full eastbound closure.

There’s never a good time to close a freeway, particularly one as busy as I-10. But these closures are absolutely necessary to ensure the safety of the traveling public and construction workers as Connect 202 Partners, the developer of the South Mountain Freeway, moves toward opening to traffic as early as late this year.