ADOT Blog

Between homework, heavy backpacks and pop quizzes, kids face enough challenges … walking to school should be the simplest part of the day. But that’s not always the case, which is a reason why Safe Routes to School was created. The program takes aim at the growing epidemic of childhood obesity by making it a little easier and a bit safer for kids to ride a bike or walk to school!

Most people don’t find the sound of traffic especially soothing … ADOT certainly recognizes this and is constantly working to minimize the impacts to surrounding neighborhoods from the noise of new freeways.

Crews are busy adding more than 80 lane miles of high occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes to two Valley freeways – 30 miles in both directions on Loop 101 in the west Valley and 12 miles on east- and westbound Loop 202 in Chandler that will link directly to HOV lanes on the Loop 101 (Price Freeway) and Interstate 10.

Memorial Day weekend is here and if you’re headed out of town you probably have your travel plans all wrapped up by now. Hopefully those plans already include some safety preparations … if not, here are a few things to think about before hitting the road!

The bridges over Pinewood Boulevard in Munds Park have been carrying Interstate-17 traffic for the past 53 years and now it’s time for some well-deserved reconstruction! ADOT has already begun the project that will rebuild the bridges and ramps on I-17 at Munds Park , an area just south of Flagstaff . Work started last month and is scheduled to wrap up by fall 2012.

It’s a sad truth, but trash thrown onto our state’s roadways really adds up. That’s because it’s not just a few random soda cans, cigarettes or empty bags littering the roads and surrounding areas. In reality, more than 800 tons of trash gets picked up in Arizona each year.

ADOT can’t just construct a freeway wherever and however it wants… Building a road actually requires a lot of careful planning, thought and exploration long before the first construction crews ever arrive on site.

Instead of holding their annual meeting in a conference room, key stakeholders in one of ADOT’s oldest partnerships took a bus tour through the Tonto National Forest to get a close look at the projects made possible by their collaboration. And, I was lucky enough to tag along!

When a new section of highway opens, we here at ADOT celebrate right alongside the local communities, citizens, contractors and stakeholders who all played a part in getting the road built.

If you’ve ever worked on any sort of team you know it takes a lot of trust, communication and cooperation from everyone to achieve what the group is working toward. You’re probably also aware of what happens when that cooperation isn't there ... it can be a bad experience for everyone!