We recently shared the news that the I-10 widening project in the Tucson area is 40% percent complete, which at first glance might not seem like it means much to drivers.

Yet drivers can expect a payoff later this year, long before the project is 100% complete.

That’s because by late summer, traffic that is now temporarily diverted onto frontage roads will return to the rebuilt freeway. 

When the project is complete, that section will feature four lanes in each direction, rather than the three lanes motorists previously had on the old freeway in the area. That extra lane will eliminate a bottleneck on I-10, an important feature of the project to widen and rebuild the interstate between Ina and Ruthrauff roads.

Once traffic is back on the freeway, another important change will occur. The westbound exit ramp at Orange Grove Road will close so crews can complete work to rebuild that interchange.

The Orange Grove interchange will then fully reopen by the end of 2024, restoring access to one of two interchanges that closed for the widening project.

The other interchange at Sunset Road will then become the focus of construction activity in 2025. Work crews will work on the interchange as well as an extension of Sunset Road to the east so it connects with River Road. That extension is funded by Pima County and will open in late 2025, along with the Sunset interchange itself. 

The entire project is on schedule to be completed in late 2025. For more information, please visit azdot.gov/i10ina2ruthrauff.

 

 

 

 

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More than 1,000 volunteer groups work behind the scenes to clean adopted segments in a vast geography of landscapes along state highways. The Green Valley Litter Patrol is accomplishing that goal in a big way.

Volunteer group leader Gene Van Dyken, who tracks the bag count each year, reported this inspiring news last week: “We are going into the year 2024 having picked 5100+ bags since 2008.”

In 2023, the group reported 259 trash bags filled. That’s 1.77 tons of trash picked up along Interstate 19 on 24 miles of adopted state highway and connecting frontage roads. About 12 to 15 volunteers participate in cleanups held weekly.

When it comes to ensuring that bags are picked up and disposed of properly, Van Dyken said, “The coordination down here by the ADOT crew has been outstanding.” 

Reports of littering increase each year. ADOT asks travelers to help prevent littering before it happens by securing truck loads, clearing truck beds and stashing trash while driving until it can be disposed of properly.

The Adopt a Highway Volunteer Program applauds Green Valley Litter Patrol’s effort that led to this impressive milestone, and their continued service to help reverse the effects of littering in southern Arizona.

Thank you to individuals who donate time and resources to help keep Arizona Grand. Want to get involved? Please visit azdot.gov/adoptahighway to learn about volunteer opportunities in your area. 

Preparing for future freeway projects presents big challenges, but this one was especially BIG. 

Let me introduce you to Pixie the potbelly pig. We’re glad to describe her as a survivor after being discovered on a property ADOT had purchased in 2023 along the corridor for the planned State Route 30 in Avondale.

“I was told someone had spotted Pixie back in November and went out to check for her,” said Ed Green, hazardous material coordinator with ADOT’s Environmental Planning Group. “Sure enough, she was out there on what had been a mini farm. And that’s when, with the help of Chad Rubke from Arizona Game and Fish, we contacted a couple of rescue groups to see what they could do.”

What ensued was a weeks-long adventure for Ed, several rescue volunteers and Jakob Rassi, an ADOT engineer-in-training.

“We were able to get her close to a humane trap but never in it,” said Southwest Team Leader Carrianne Frary from Humane Animal Rescue and Trapping Team (HARTT). The HARTT team worked on finding a way to catch Pixie. The timing was important, since contracted work to clear buildings on the property was nearing.

ADOT Right-of-Way Administrator Paula Gibson arranged for the structure removal to be postponed while the efforts to feed and lure Pixie in were underway.

“Pixie is very large,” said ADOT’s Green. “We did make good use of a Halloween pumpkin as part of her snacking menu.”

Frary says Pixie had a lot of room to roam on the property’s several acres, so she basically was coming and going as she pleased. “I spent more on her food than my own! Her favorite was Cheerios. We added donuts, strawberries and other snacks to her diet.”

The volunteers used a video camera around the clock to also track Pixie. Not surprisingly, what they saw over the course of a couple of weeks was that other animals, including about a half dozen javelinas, a skunk, several raccoons and at least one “incredibly large” cat were also helping themselves to the bait.

“We figured out the original trap wouldn’t work. That led to some great teamwork to repurpose what had been a pen for chickens,” said Frary.

A special door triggered by a laser beam was added to the stronger structure and sure enough, Pixie was penned in just before Christmas.

“We had so many close calls in our attempts to help Pixie,” said Frary. “I knew exactly when she went in this time. It was a big relief.”

She added that Jakob Rassi, the ADOT engineer-in-training, should be commended. “He stuck it out with us and volunteered to help wherever he could,” said Frary. 

The not-so-small Pixie was relocated to the Cave Creek area ranch operated by Better Piggies Rescue.

“She is doing very well,” said Dannielle Betterman of the rescue group. “She has several other friends on our property, including some of our older pigs.” Betterman estimates Pixie is about two years old. “She has a lot of life left in her.”

The property along Southern Avenue where Pixie once roamed has since been cleared.

Ed Green from ADOT is just glad the “Perils of Pixie” has a happy ending and encourages people to donate to the rescue organizations. You can do that at azhartt.org and BetterPiggiesRescue.org. 

If you have a question related to Arizona roadways, who you gonna call? The answer is: It depends.

Here at ADOT, we’re happy to answer questions about highways, the Motor Vehicle Division and more. But sometimes, people call us for information that we simply don’t have access to or for something happening on a roadway that is outside our jurisdiction. 

We want to help you get the answers and information you’re looking for as quickly as possible, so here are some common questions we get that are better answered by others, so you can go straight to the source:

Road repairs and construction

ADOT builds and maintains the state highway system, which includes interstates, freeways, US routes and state routes. If you have a question about a construction project on one of those, reach out to ADOT. Depending on your question, we may need to track down the answer from the project team, but we will get back to you as quickly as we can. You can also find information on the projects page of our website.

However, if the repairs or roadwork are located on a city street or county road, that is outside of ADOT’s jurisdiction. In those cases, you would need to reach out to the local jurisdiction where the construction is located.

Here’s where to contact the 10 most populated cities in Arizona for roadway issues, in case you want to save your city’s information:

• Phoenix Street Transportation Department.
• Tucson Streets & Traffic Maintenance.
• Mesa Streets & Transportation.
• Chandler Streets and Roadways.
• Gilbert Streets.
• Glendale Transportation Services.
• Scottsdale Streets - Roadway and Street Maintenance.
• Peoria Streets Division.
• Tempe Street/Signals/Traffic.
• Surprise Street Maintenance.

Traffic Conditions

If you have questions about current driving conditions and what the best route is for you to take, AZ511.gov and the AZ511 app are available any time you need, as well as our automated line that you can reach by dialing 511.

Debris

If there is small debris on the highway or something on the shoulder and outside of travel lanes, ADOT is who to call. However, if you see large debris or a hazard that could cause a crash, such as a couch or ladder, in the lanes of the highway, that is an emergency and you should call 911.

Lights and Signals

If a traffic signal or light is out on the highway, you would reach out to ADOT — usually. The places where that can get tricky are highway intersections. Many on- and off-ramp traffic lights are ADOT’s, but not all of them.

For example, all of the traffic signals at intersections on Interstate 17 in Phoenix are maintained by ADOT except for the ones at Central Avenue, which belong to the City of Phoenix, so you would need to reach out to their streets department.

We know it can be confusing, so we definitely won’t hold it against you if you reach out to the wrong agency and will try to point you in the right direction. 

Enforcement

For law enforcement issues related to the highway, you would need to reach out to the Arizona Department of Public Safety. If the issue is on a city street, you would need to contact your local law enforcement agency. If there is an emergency, always call 911.

ADOT’s Enforcement and Compliance Division officers make key traffic stops in addition to their primary duties of enforcing commercial vehicle regulations to help keep motorists safe.

Crash Information

When crashes on highways occur, ADOT can provide information about the location, if travel lanes are restricted or closed, if the crash is creating travel delays and potential alternate routes. For specific information about a crash that takes place on a highway, you would need to reach out to the Arizona Department of Public Safety, which responds to and investigates crashes on the state highway system.

Animals

If you come across a live animal on the freeway, do NOT stop to try to catch it. Instead, please call 911 and leave it to the professionals.

Unfortunately, sometimes animals meet their demise on the roadway. If you see a dead animal along the freeway, that’s when you should reach out to ADOT. 

However, if the dead animal is on a city street or county road, you would need to call the local jurisdiction. The City of Phoenix has a dedicated Dead Animal Pickup line where you can call and leave a message: 602-262-6791. For other cities, you would need to contact their streets or public works departments.

Much like cleaning your home, keeping a highway clean is a never-ending job. But in the world of freeway maintenance, we have a tool more effective than any broom or feather duster: the mighty hydrovac.

Contractors working for ADOT routinely operate sweepers on highways, after crews make their rounds picking up items that are too big for the shoulder sweepers to handle. Maintenance  crews also invest a significant amount of time in preventing the buildup of trash, debris and unwanted vegetation, along our freeways.

But the work doesn’t stop there.

Inevitably, debris and trash left by litterbugs – stash your trash, please – finds its way into drainage systems, where it doesn’t belong. With about 30,000 drains and 7 million feet of pipe across the Phoenix area alone, keeping them clear is no small task.

That’s where the hydrovac enters the picture. Like a household shower drain, when a freeway’s drains get clogged, that can lead to standing water. To keep pumphouses and the drainage system clear and free-flowing, ADOT’s hydrovacs flush and then vacuum out all the sludge, muck and debris, so pumps can more easily move about 12,000 gallons of water per minute, which can happen during heavy monsoon rains.

Thirty-ton hydrovac trucks hold about 1,500 gallons of freshwater to flush out the sludge from drainage culverts and pump stations. There are more than 50 pump stations along freeways in the Phoenix area, designed to remove runoff and limit standing water on the pavement during and after storms. A hydrovac can also store about 3,000 gallons of liquid, dirt and debris that it vacuums out of a pump station’s drainage “wet well” area..

In 2022, crews removed a whopping 832 tons of debris – that’s more than 1.6 million pounds – from drainage infrastructure.

However, that’s still a process that demands a considerable amount of human effort and resources. That’s why it’s important for you and other motorists to cover loads in truck beds or trailers and not toss trash out the window. This debris often winds up in the drainage system. It can block drainage grates or pipelines, creating trouble before a hydrovac crew is scheduled to get to it. Please keep that in mind as we head into a new year and its seasonal storms.

 

 

 

 

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Did you know that ADOT helps to grow new plants by planting the seeds of native plants along state highways? Biologist Alexa Lopezlira told us that ADOT gets rid of unwanted, invasive plants along roadsides to help maintain and encourage growth of native plants. 

“When highway construction projects are complete, then it is time to seed the soil with vegetation that thrive in Arizona and make our desert landscape look beautiful,” Lopezlira said, “these plants make a great pit stop for our busy, flying friends.” 

Desert plants depend on pollinators of all shapes and sizes to visit flowers and move pollen. A pollinator is an animal, insect, or bird that helps plants make fruit or seeds by eating nectar from flowers. By doing this, the pollinators rub pollen onto their heads or backs and carry it from one plant and to another, fertilizing plants in the process. Pollen is the secret ingredient to helping more plants grow.

One well-known pollinator is the monarch butterfly. ADOT is a supporter and collaborator of a conservation program known as the Monarch Candidate Conservation Agreement with Assurances. “What our involvement means,” Lopezlira says, “is ADOT will be planting and managing butterfly-friendly habitat along roadsides to help monarch butterflies during migration, and help ensure future populations of monarchs thrive.”

Pollinators come in all shapes and sizes, but the most efficient pollinators are almost always critters that can fly fast and can get into small spots that are hard to reach! Arizona’s top five favorite pollinators are hummingbirds, bees, moths, butterflies, and bats. Each of these winged creatures plays a unique role in pollination by visiting plants and flowers most suited to their ability to extract nectar.  

Hummingbirds excel at sipping nectar from long tubular shaped flowers easily accessed with their slender beaks, while bees are attracted to cup-shaped flowers suited for shorter bee-tongues. Moths and butterflies don’t have noses, so they use long, fuzzy appendages on their heads, called antennae, to smell for food on their favorite star or trumpet-shaped flowers. 

A lesser-known pollinator is the lesser long-nosed bat, which is best suited to pollinating plants and cactus flowers that bloom only at night when bats are most active. 

In this matching activity created for ADOT Kids, click here to try your skill at matching pollinators to the plants they like to visit most. 

If you like this, please visit ADOT Kids for all sorts of educational stories, activities and videos that will make you smile.

In commemoration of Native American Heritage Month in November, ADOT’s Arizona Tribal Relations team shares how ADOT works with tribal nations in Arizona to provide safe and efficient transportation.

“ADOT recognizes the sovereignty of the federally recognized Native American tribes, Indian communities and Native Nations in Arizona — their current lands and their ancestral territories, and considers tribes as invaluable partners in keeping our roads safe,” said Native Nations Ambassador for Infrastructure Development Dezbah Hatathli. 

Tribal lands encompass about 27 million acres, or 28% of the state land base. There are seven tribes located out-of-state with aboriginal and ancestral interests in Arizona.

“ADOT acknowledges tribal nations as fully fledged partners, not stakeholders, and is committed to working with Arizona’s tribal nations,” Hatathli said.

In supporting that commitment, two full-time employees joined the Environmental Planning and State Engineer’s Office within the past year to support ADOT’s tribal communication and consultation efforts. 

Tribal relations team members are: 

• State Engineer's Office (SEO) Native Nations Ambassador for Infrastructure Development Dezbah Hatathli, who is a member of the Navajo Nation. 

• Multimodal Planning Division (MPD) Planning Program Manager Don Sneed, who is a member of the Gila River Indian Community.  

• MPD Planning Program Manager Paula Brown, who is a member of the Navajo Nation.

• Infrastructure Delivery and Operations Division’s Right of Way Group Contract Right of Way Agent III Alicia Urquidez.

• SEO's Environmental Planning Tribal Liaison Rebecca Clarke Robinaugh.

Together, they keep tribes informed, consulted and aware of ADOT planning and projects. Examples include quarterly partnership meetings with the Hopi Tribe and Navajo Nation, National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure tribal outreach, tribal broadband outreach regarding the Interstate 19, Interstate 17 and Interstate 40 corridors; and quarterly coordination meetings with the Gila River Indian Community and Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community.

“Transportation funding for infrastructure and transportation-related projects, while advertised as broadly available at a national level, is a limited and very selective resource for tribes overall. The crash data and other analytical metrics also factor directly into highway funding and planning, yet many Arizona tribes have not actively submitted crash reports to ADOT,” Hatathli said. 

The Gila River Indian Community was the first Arizona tribe to submit electronic crash reports to ADOT by using the connection other Traffic and Criminal Software (TraCS) agencies use.

More information about transportation and tribes is available at Arizona Tribal Transportation and Inter Tribal Council of Arizona.