ADOT Blog

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…

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.

Most of the signs ADOT produces have to be pretty big so drivers can read them, but one of the newest is simply massive… At 16x16 feet, a new sign welcoming motorists to Arizona is among the tallest in the state. It recently was installed on Interstate 8 near Yuma; however, it was made in Phoenix, and as you can imagine, moving a sign that size isn’t a simple task (see video above and photo slideshow below).

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.

Drivers along eastbound Loop 202 might notice something’s different on their Monday morning commute – but it’s going to take a very perceptive eye to catch the change. This weekend ADOT is installing signs with a brand new typeface on the Red Mountain Freeway between Loop 101 and Country Club Drive. Although the change is slight, the new signs should be a little easier to read!