ADOT Blog

Sometimes the simplest concepts work the best. Take for example the truck-mounted attenuator. Maybe you aren’t too familiar with them, but chances are you’ve seen one when driving on the freeway.

On June 6, more than 300 soldiers with the 40th Expeditionary Signal Battalion returned home to Ft. Huachuca after serving in Iraq for the past year. These soldiers were welcomed by family, friends and community – but, many also were greeted with the fact that there is so much to take care after you’ve been away from home for 12 months.

Last month we told you about the thousands who take on the immense task of cleaning up Arizona’s roads through ADOT’s Adopt a Highway program – more than 800 tons of trash is picked up off the state highways each year because of these volunteers!

If you drive Valley freeways during rush hour, you’re probably pretty familiar with ramp meters … They’re the two-light signals positioned at most Valley on-ramps that tell motorists when it’s okay to head onto the freeway. Ramp meters have been used in the Phoenix-Metro area for about the past 20 years and maybe you think not much about them has changed … but, actually they’ve recently become much more efficient!

‘Why are the cones and barricades still up, but no one is working?!?!?’ If you’ve ever driven by an empty freeway work zone, you might have wondered this yourself. But, despite how things may appear, there still is a risk to the traveling public, which means those barricades are very necessary.

The wildfires burning through portions of the state are destroying so much … from the scenic acreage that will be changed forever to the property loss and the lives so terribly affected.

Monsoon season officially begins today, and brings with it some potentially hazardous driving conditions that all motorists should be prepared for.

Talk about a quick turnaround … it’s been just three months since a fiery crash destroyed the Mescal Road/J-Six Ranch Road bridge in Cochise County and already ADOT has approved a contract to rebuild and reopen the bridge this fall.

We received a question on our Facebook page last week asking us why, in this time of tight state budgets, ADOT is spending money to swap out what appear to be perfectly good highway signs. We thought it was a great question, so here’s the answer…