It's safe to say that ADOT's stance against vandalism is well known.

We have a plan in place to clean up graffiti wherever it's found, and have even gotten inventive to keep our highway signs looking spick and span. 

But that's for ordinary kinds of vandalism. What happens when it's a little more extraordinary?

We found the answer to that in the July 1970 issue of Hiway Drumbeats, the old employee newsletter for the Arizona Highway Department, ADOT's predecessor.

Apparently they were having trouble with a particular type of sign damage (as you can see to your right) caused by ... well, why don't we just quote the article in full for you?

When it comes to vandalism and destruction of Highway signs, everybody tries to get into the act, according to Kennth P. Hamblin, Highway Marking Superintendent.

This time it's the lightning bolts of Mother Nature.

"The metallic foil," explained Mr. Hamblin, "which gives the sign its reflectively at night also serves as an attractor to lightning bolts.

"If the steel sign post happens to be driven into a hidden ore deposit, it really becomes an attractor. We have had to relocate some signs which were being hit repeatedly by lightning. After relocating them a half a mile or so, the problem ended."

The annual damage bill was placed at $1,000 by Mr. Hamblin. 

Vandalism by lightning is particularly involved during the summer months when thunder storms arise suddenly both in the high country and the desert.

Apparently when Mother Nature itself is the vandal, the only thing you can do is get out of her way.

Luckily, these sort of incidents are incredibly rare. As we told you about in an earlier blog, highway signs generally have a lifespan of at least a dozen years, but often much more.

But even if our signs are safe, that doesn't mean we don't still have the random shocking run-in with Mother Nature's own brand of vandalism.

By Angela DeWelles / ADOT Communications

This photo appeared in the April 1977 issue of NewsBeat, a publication that served up agency news to ADOT employees for decades. Printed alongside of it was this caption:

John Burns of Materials Services prepares to shoot a scene with a Super-8 mm camera for a 25-minute sound film he’s producing on how differential pavement friction affects skidding vehicles. Burns was a chief investigator on research. FHWA (the Federal Highway Administration) is funding the movie to be shown in other states.

That’s not a whole lot of information to work with, and we have so many unanswered questions. Good thing David Allocco, a.k.a. the guy in the driver’s seat, agreed to share some additional details.

Allocco, who started with ADOT in March 1973, works today in the Bridge Group’s Geotechnical Section as a materials source engineer. While his job no longer involves measuring pavement surface friction, he distinctly remembers driving that vehicle.

Used to test the wet friction characteristics of a roadway, the car had special features, including special bald skid-testing tires, a roll bar and a harness. The safety equipment was necessary because of the testing methods...

“We’d have a water truck that would wet down the road,” Allocco said. “Then, I’d get the car up to speed, put it in neutral and then you’d have to slam on the brakes as hard as you could with both feet.”

Engineers would measure how far the car skidded and would use the distance to determine a coefficient of friction, Allocco said.

While the vehicle was typically used for research and to test out small sections of various roadways (another device known as a Mu-meter was used to test longer stretches of pavement), Allocco remembers a unique request that came from the Tucson International Airport.

“The Air Force had been doing touch-and-go landing exercises at the airport, and they wanted us to test to see if the friction was affected,” said Allocco, adding that he skidded 655 feet and ended up farther than expected, past the wet part of the pavement.

“That was the most exciting time I ever drove it,” he said.

Today, ADOT still tests pavement friction, but the methods have evolved.

Now something called a Dynatest Highway Friction Tester is used, said Pavement Condition and Evaluation Manager Kevin Robertson. It’s a truck with a 300-gallon water tank and an extra wheel that, when a test is activated, mimics what vehicles experience when braking on the wet road.

“It tells us the macrotexture of the road,” said Robertson, adding that the sophisticated onboard technology calculates a friction number ranging from 0 to 100, giving engineers the data they need to make decisions about pavement maintenance.

“When it comes to the ability to test pavement friction, we have the most advanced and safest machine available to do that,” Robertson said.

It’s safe to say things have changed since 1912 when the Arizona Highway Department was first established. But you don’t just have to take our word … we’ve got plenty of pictures to prove it. We combed through our archives and decided to periodically post these photos from the past in a blog series we’re calling, “From the ADOT Archives.”

By Angela DeWelles / ADOT Communications

In 1956, engineers from the Arizona Highway Department were using big calculators to make huge progress on the state’s transportation system. When this photograph was taken, President Dwight D. Eisenhower had only just recently signed the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956 into law and road construction projects were about to kick off at a record pace across the country.

But the era it’s from isn’t the only thing that makes this picture notable.

The woman and men shown were early participants in the department’s Engineer-in-Training program. The illustrious class included Walter Owen Ford, who ended up serving as ADOT’s state engineer from 1985 to1988, and Frances Walker, the first female engineer employed by the Arizona Highway Department.

Here’s what was written about Walker on June 19, 1956, in the Highway Spotlight, a publication billed as the “official news bulletin of the Arizona Highway Department.”

“On June 25th, a young Arizona girl who received her Bachelor of Science and Civil Engineering degrees from the University of Arizona at Tucson on May 29th will have the distinction of becoming the first woman ever employed by the Arizona State Highway Department as an Engineer."

“Mrs. Frances Sprawls Walker, 25, will enter on duty next Monday under the Engineer-in-Training program. Wm. N Price, Traffic Civil Engineer, who is supervisor of the program, said that Mrs. Walker’s first training assignment with the State Highway Department will be in the Construction Field Office at Phoenix."

“The Engineer-in-Training Program recently organized at the Highway Department for development of young graduate engineers, extends over a two year period. During this time, the trainees serve various periods of time in the nine divisions of the Engineering Department to receive diversified experience in all phases of highway construction.”

Today, the Engineer-in-Training program is still going strong. The two-year program offers new engineers the opportunity to gain practical training and hands-on experience. Many men and women got their start in the field through the EIT program, including ADOT’s first female state engineer, Jennifer Toth.

Find program details on the ADOT website.

It’s safe to say things have changed since 1912 when the Arizona Highway Department was first established. But you don’t just have to take our word … we’ve got plenty of pictures to prove it. We combed through our archives and decided to periodically post these photos from the past in a blog series we’re calling, “From the ADOT Archives.”

By Caroline Carpenter / ADOT Communications

The machinery has become more advanced when it comes to paving roads, but it's still hard work. This 1934 photo from our archives shows crews working on 19th Avenue. Unfortunately, we don't know where along 19th Avenue this photo was taken, but the railroad tracks in the background may be a clue.

It’s safe to say things have changed since 1912 when the Arizona Highway Department was first established. But you don’t just have to take our word … we’ve got plenty of pictures to prove it. We combed through our archives and decided to periodically post these photos from the past in a blog series we’re calling, “From the ADOT Archives.”

By Caroline Carpenter / ADOT Communications

We're throwing back to the mid-'60s and construction of Interstate 15 in the far northwestern corner of Arizona. The 29-mile stretch traverses very rugged terrain through the Virgin River gorge. This photo gives you a good perspective of the steep mountains compared to the vehicle parked in path of the highway under construction.

It’s safe to say things have changed since 1912 when the Arizona Highway Department was first established. But you don’t just have to take our word … we’ve got plenty of pictures to prove it. We combed through our archives and decided to periodically post these photos from the past in a blog series we’re calling, “From the ADOT Archives.”

By Caroline Carpenter / ADOT Communications

This photo found in the ADOT archives takes us back to 1964 and the construction of Interstate 19. It shows a section of highway south of Tucson. If you look closely, you can see the vehicles are clearly from the 60s.

I-19 is known for being the only continuous highway in the country with signs measuring distances in kilometers. An Arizona Highways blog post gives more history on the use of the metric system on I-19.

It’s safe to say things have changed since 1912 when the Arizona Highway Department was first established. But you don’t just have to take our word … we’ve got plenty of pictures to prove it. We combed through our archives and decided to periodically post these photos from the past in a blog series we’re calling, “From the ADOT Archives.”

By Caroline Carpenter / ADOT Communications

Sometimes when we sort through the ADOT archives we find great photos, but we don’t know when they were taken. That’s the case with this photo showing the southbound lanes of Interstate 17 south of Thomas Road. While we don’t know exactly when this photo was snapped, the vehicles in the photo are a clue.

The photo to the right shows the area now. There may be more freeway lanes in each direction, but the Shamrock sign displaying the temperature is still there!

It’s safe to say things have changed since 1912 when the Arizona Highway Department was first established. But you don’t just have to take our word … we’ve got plenty of pictures to prove it. We combed through our archives and decided to periodically post these photos from the past in a blog series we’re calling, “From the ADOT Archives.”

By Caroline Carpenter / ADOT Communications

In 57 years, downtown Phoenix and the metro freeway system have expanded greatly. This photo of the Black Canyon Highway and Thomas Road snapped on May 25, 1960, shows just how much has changed. Most Phoenicians know the Black Canyon Highway as Interstate 17. However in 1960, the roadway was still a highway and had not yet been built to interstate standards. Today, I-17 at Thomas Road is four lanes in each direction, and you'd be hard pressed to take a photo there with only four vehicles in it.

It’s safe to say things have changed since 1912 when the Arizona Highway Department was first established. But you don’t just have to take our word … we’ve got plenty of pictures to prove it. We combed through our archives and decided to periodically post these photos from the past in a blog series we’re calling, “From the ADOT Archives.”

By Angela DeWelles / ADOT Communications

In the late 1970s, maps were primarily printed on paper and definitely didn’t have the ability to point you toward any nearby restaurants or tell you what traffic conditions to expect on the drive home.

Back then, work to develop the earliest Geographic Information Systems (GIS) was well underway, but as evidenced by this 1977 photograph, the technology wasn’t widely in use yet.

Taken for an issue of Newsbeat (ADOT’s employee newsletter of the day), the photo shows Travel and Facilities Section Manager James Pfalzer standing on top of a 15-by-17-foot map devised to help planners evaluate Arizona traffic statistics.

According to the accompanying Newsbeat article, the low-tech map was made by piecing together multiple sections of a state atlas. Each of the 30 charts displayed a 400-square-mile area. They were also covered with clear acetate and marked up to identify state highways. Pfalzer is quoted in the story describing the large map’s purpose and explaining how the information obtained from studying the map would later be coded into a computer to log statewide traffic volume statistics.

“We needed a map that we could lay out as one continuous chart to show small stretches of roadway in great detail,” Pfalzer said. “Our people are evaluating some 600 locations where we may perform our annual 24-hour traffic counts. These maps detail areas of the state where we can expect traffic patterns to change.”

It’s safe to say modern mapping technology has come a long way in the last 40 years.

Advances in the GIS field have expanded the usefulness of maps and changed the way ADOT is able to manage and analyze information. GIS stores data and gives users the ability to present it onto different layers of a map. It’s especially useful when comparing and analyzing different sets of information, whether someone is looking for the closest shopping center or prioritizing state transportation projects.

Current-day Data Analytics Section Manager James Meyer said that through its use of GIS, ADOT is able to get much more value from its data.

ADOT uses the tech to create maps of the state’s highway system that display everything from traffic volume and demographic data to pavement quality and capacity. The agency also works in partnership with other agencies, sharing data back and forth with the State Land Department and other state offices.

“Mapping is only 10 to 15 percent of what we do with GIS at ADOT,” Meyer said. “GIS is a way of informing people about what’s going on geospatially. Most of our work is spent keeping that information up to date … we’re more data scientists than cartographers.”

While some might take maps for granted, Meyer says he hopes that people realize the value of all that data behind those maps and products they use every day.

“Sometimes it’s hard to see problems in the data if you don’t see it on a map,” Meyer said. For a look at some of ADOT’s modern maps, check the ADOT website.

It’s safe to say things have changed since 1912 when the Arizona Highway Department was first established. But you don’t just have to take our word … we’ve got plenty of pictures to prove it. We combed through our archives and decided to periodically post these photos from the past in a blog series we’re calling, “From the ADOT Archives.

By Angela DeWelles / ADOT Communications 

Using clever safety messaging to influence driver behavior isn’t exactly a new tactic for ADOT.

Way back in August 1971, the agency rolled out a seat belt safety campaign featuring signs that asked motorists, “Are you putting me on?”

It was a very good question for the time because in the 1970s most motorists weren’t buckling up. Even by the end of the decade, seat belt use among drivers was only at about 11 percent, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).

Maybe the majority of people on the road in 1971 just weren’t sold on the idea of seat belts yet. After all, they were still a somewhat new phenomenon back then.

The three-point safety belt – the one we all know and still use today – had just been introduced 12 years earlier when a Volvo engineer named Nils Bohlin filed a patent on his idea in 1959. Volvo waived its patent rights so all carmakers could employ the new design, but manufacturers weren’t actually required to install seat belts until a few years later.

According to a 2003 report from the Transportation Research Board, seat belts were standard equipment by 1964 – but only for the driver and front seat occupants. In 1968, a safety regulation was established requiring that all new cars come equipped with both lap belts and shoulder harnesses for the driver and front seat passenger, and lap belts in the back seat. The next big development came along in 1973, when the federal standard was upgraded to require three-point safety belts for front seats.

Fast-forward to today. We are in a new era … it’s a time when vehicles come standard with an increasing amount of tech, all designed to keep us safer. But even with these advancements – from airbags to autonomous features – the simple seat belt proves to be one of the best tools we have to protect ourselves against injury during a crash.

You’d think that by now all motorists would be putting them on, but unfortunately they’re not.

Last year in Arizona, 962 people died in motor vehicle crashes – 250 of them weren’t using a seat belt.

But the news isn’t all discouraging…

Attitudes toward seat belt use have definitely improved since this photograph was taken in 1971.

Late last year, the NHTSA reported that seat belt use in the U.S. had reached 90 percent, which is the highest level since the federal government began regular national surveys in the 1990s. The NHTSA estimates that seat belts have saved 345,000 lives since 1975.

It’s safe to say things have changed since 1912 when the Arizona Highway Department was first established. But you don’t just have to take our word … we’ve got plenty of pictures to prove it. We combed through our archives and decided to periodically post these photos from the past in a blog series we’re calling, “From the ADOT Archives.”