Loop 303 freeway lanes open between Glendale, Peoria

PHOENIX - There's more progress to report about Loop 303 construction in the West Valley. The Arizona Department of Transportation has opened new lanes along Loop 303 between Glendale and Peoria avenues. Crews worked over the weekend to switch traffic in that area from a construction bypass route to the new freeway lanes north of Glendale Avenue. 

Three new southbound lanes are now open along the three-mile stretch of Loop 303 between Peoria and Glendale avenues, according to ADOT. Drivers also have one northbound lane until work is completed in the next couple of weeks to add a top layer of rubberized asphalt all the way north to Bell Road.  

Drivers can still expect northbound Loop 303 closures between Cactus and Bell roads over the next two weekends for the paving work that will set the stage for all three northbound lanes to be opened.

ADOT is overseeing a series of projects to expand Loop 303 from a two-lane highway to a six-lane freeway between Interstate 10 and Grand Avenue by late next year. The $65 million Loop 303 improvement project between Glendale and Peoria avenues will be completed later this fall and will include direct ramp connections to and from the east-west Northern Parkway.

Funding for all the ongoing Loop 303 projects between I-10 and Grand Avenue comes from the Maricopa Association of Government's Regional Transportation Plan, which county voters approved nearly a decade ago (2004).