Project to improve Loop 303/US 60 Interchange in Surprise underway

PHOENIX — A project to improve and expand the traffic interchange linking Loop 303 and US 60 (Grand Avenue) in Surprise is scheduled to start the week of Dec. 8, according to the Arizona Department of Transportation.

The $46 million project will widen Loop 303 into a six-lane freeway at the interchange and add a new bridge next to the existing Loop 303 bridge over Grand Avenue. When completed, the new span will carry three new eastbound Loop 303 lanes, allowing the existing bridge to carry three westbound lanes.

The improved interchange also will feature new on- and off-ramps connecting Loop 303 and US 60. The project also will allow for the removal of the last traffic signal along the mainline of the 36-mile stretch of Loop 303 between Interstate 17 in north Phoenix and Interstate 10 in Goodyear.

Sound wall construction is scheduled to start Monday along Loop 303 north of Mountain View Boulevard in the Sun City Grand area. Crews will be constructing walls over the next few months to limit the level of traffic noise in the area.

Other initial work starting next week will include shoulder improvements along the south side of Grand Avenue near the interchange. Crews are scheduled to begin closing the left lanes of Grand Avenue in both directions on Wednesday, Dec. 10, starting at Sunrise Boulevard and moving north for median work.

Grand Avenue traffic will be shifted to the wider south side of the roadway by early January, allowing two travel lanes in each direction between 163rd Avenue and Sunrise Boulevard. The speed limit on this section of Grand Avenue will be reduced from 55 to 45 mph throughout the duration of the 18-month project.

Earlier this year ADOT started work on another project to widen Loop 303 from a four-lane to a six-lane freeway between Grand Avenue and Happy Valley Parkway in Peoria.

Next year ADOT will break ground on a third project in the area to add a Loop 303 traffic interchange at El Mirage Road. Loop 303 will travel over El Mirage Road as part of the new diamond interchange, which will include on- and off-ramps connecting the two roadways.

All three of the Loop 303 projects in the northwest Valley are scheduled for completion by summer 2016.