The blue mountains depicted on the wall at Interstate 19 and Ajo Way in Tucson mirror the hills rising behind it – an aesthetic touch that is definitely intentional.

The triangular representations are paired with similarly geometric shapes in the same bold blue. Birds, butterflies and saguaros adorn the walls of the new construction.

This beautification is but icing on the cake, a visual gift in addition to the the benefits of safety and ease of driving that are the core of the two-phase project that revamped the interchange. Improvements included reconstructing and widening northbound and southbound I-19; creating a “braided” ramp alignment and replacing both the Michigan Avenue pedestrian bridge and the Ajo Way bridge over the Santa Cruz River.

This close-up is among a host of other photos taken of the project by John Dougherty, ADOT's Video Services supervisor, whose images illustrate many of our Art of Transportation blog posts. You can find many more showing off the completed project on our Flickr page.  

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Art of Transportation
We think there is beauty in transportation. It’s not all hard hats and pavement. Art of Transportation is a blog series featuring unique photos our team has taken while on the road or on a construction project.