I decided to get away from ESPN and work off Thanksgiving along my adopted mile of State Route 87, just north of the Loop 202 Red Mountain Freeway. Here's what I learned on a cool Saturday morning. 

Across the state, teams in the central lab and satellite locations are hard at work testing the essential building blocks of Arizona’s infrastructure – solids, asphalt, paint, concrete and steel rebar. These raw materials are what keep highways strong and durable, despite the harsh desert summers and freezing winter temperatures in the high-country.