Bell/Grand project update: With columns rising for overpass, crews start preparing to connect them

SURPRISE ‒ With columns rising on both sides of Grand Avenue (US 60) and Bell Road for a $41.9 million overpass and interchange, crews have started adding scaffolding known as falsework connecting columns to help workers get ready to add girders.

That’s one of the most visual changes at the project site in the past week. While continuing to install columns on both sides of Grand Avenue in the coming week, crews will grade the east side of Grand in preparation for paving and forming a curb and gutters.

Bell Road closed April 1 between 134th Drive and West Point Parkway to allow faster completion of a bridge that will carry traffic over Grand Avenue and the BNSF Railway tracks and provide ramps to and from Grand. The closure will end by November.

The primary detour route is along Dysart, Greenway and Litchfield roads. Please obey all traffic signs and posted speed limits, and also note that additional law enforcement is on patrol.

Access to businesses next to the project area will be maintained throughout the project.

The US 60 (Grand Avenue) and Bell Road Interchange project is part of the Maricopa Association of Governments’ Regional Transportation Plan approved by county voters in 2004. Funding sources include a county half-cent sales tax for transportation projects and the MAG region’s share of federal highway funds.