By Dustin Krugel / ADOT Communications

Nearly one year after major construction began on the Loop 202 South Mountain Freeway, the state’s largest single project ever, signs of progress abound in the 22-mile corridor. You'll see some this progress (of Salt River bridge construction) in the slideshow above, and many more photos are available on our South Mountain Freeway Flickr page.

This progress is good news for Valley motorists, as the South Mountain Freeway is going to bring traffic relief when it opens by late 2019.

Throughout this year, crews have relocated utilities, started work on bridges, built sound walls and made significant progress on freeway-to-freeway ramps taking shape at Interstate 10 and 59th Avenue in the West Valley.

Through the end of November, more than 3.6 million cubic yards of dirt had been moved to build bridge and wall foundations, embankments and connecting ramps. Eight miles of drainage pipe was installed and 5.8 million pounds of reinforced steel planted. That's according to ADOT and Connect 202 Partners, the developer responsible for building the freeway.

Some of the highlights:

Pecos segment (32nd Lane to I-10 Maricopa/Loop 202 Santan Freeway)

• An interim Pecos Road supports local traffic while mainline freeway construction occurs just north of the roadway
• Overpasses at 40th Street and 17th Avenue are nearing completion

Salt River segment (Lower Buckeye Road to 51st Avenue)

• Construction has begun on interchanges at Elliot Road and Southern Avenue, which are closed temporarily for this work
• Two half-mile Salt River bridges, the longest on the project, are about halfway complete

I-10 segment (I-10 Papago to Lower Buckeye Road and improvements to I-10 between 43rd and 75th avenues)

• Work is more than one-third complete on a 1,500-foot flyover ramp that will carry northbound South Mountain Freeway traffic to westbound I-10
• Work is nearly halfway done on two access roads adjacent to I-10 that will improve traffic flow between 51st and 67th avenues

The South Mountain Freeway will provide a long-planned direct link between the East Valley and West Valley and a much-needed alternative to I-10 through downtown Phoenix. Approved by Maricopa County voters in 1985 and again in 2004 as part of a comprehensive regional transportation plan, the South Mountain Freeway will complete the Loop 202 and Loop 101 freeway system in the Valley.

For more information on the project, visit SouthMountainFreeway.com.

By Tom Herrmann / ADOT Communications

Holiday parties? On the last pre-holiday weekend of the year?

No, thanks. There’s work to do.

While some of us might get an early start on the Christmas and New Year’s holidays waiting for us over the next two weekends, Arizona Department of Transportation crews at Ajo Way and Ina Road will be firming up their credentials for Santa’s nice list by taking major steps on those two big projects.

On Friday night at Ajo Way, we’ll be pouring concrete to form the deck on the new bridge that carries Ajo (State Route 86) over Interstate 19. When we begin the work at 10 p.m., we’ll close I-19 in both directions for your safety. Traffic will use the exit and ramps to leave and return to the freeway. Ajo Way will be closed, so there will be no turns at Ajo.

Around sunrise, once the concrete is poured, we’ll open I-19 again but close the exit and entrance ramps. You can use Irvington or 29th Street as alternative exits. By midday on Saturday, Dec. 16, we should be finished and traffic will go back to normal.

Meanwhile in Marana, crews will use Saturday and Sunday to move traffic onto new roads they built during 2017.

On I-10 Saturday night, crews will direct eastbound traffic on I-10 to the new eastbound lanes. Work has already been completed on a bridge that will carry Ina Road over the new freeway lanes. Sometime in January, westbound I-10 will also be moved to the new pavement, giving drivers three lanes in each direction.

There will be no rest on Sunday. About a mile to the west of I-10, we’ll move Ina Road traffic to a new bridge over the Santa Cruz River.

After all that holiday fun, we have big plans for celebrating the New Year. On I-10, we’ll demolish the old bridge that once carried westbound traffic, build new westbound lanes, and finish the bridge carrying Ina over the freeway and railroad tracks. On the Santa Cruz River we’ll remove the old bridge and replace it with a new two-lane bridge.

And that’s how we plan to put a bow on two of Pima County’s biggest projects for a year well spent.

By Tom Herrmann / ADOT Communications

Maricopa Mayor Christian Price is used to pausing for trains. Usually he’s in his car, driving from his home south of the Union Pacific Railroad tracks (see the video above) to City Hall or to one of the businesses in his booming city.

Monday morning, the mayor smiled as he paused at the sound of a train passing nearby. He was speaking to more than 150 people at the groundbreaking ceremony for a bridge that will carry State Route 347 over those railroad tracks. When the work is complete in late 2019, no one in Maricopa will have to pause for the 60 or so trains that run through the area every day.

“You can’t get to economic development if you don’t have roadways,” Price said. “That’s what’s starting here today. I can tell you want’s happening in this city. We have hotels that are interested in coming here. Businesses are growing. All of this is working to better this community.”

Maricopa has been working with ADOT, the Federal Highway Administration and others since its incorporation as a city in 2003. All the work by current and former mayors and City Council members is culminating in work on the bridge, the mayor said.

Work on the $55 million project will begin shortly.

ADOT Director John Halikowski joined the group taking part in the ceremonial groundbreaking (see below), as did Dallas Hammit, ADOT’s state engineer and deputy director for transportation, who's speaking in the photo above.

“Our mission is to provide a safe and efficient transportation system,” Hammit told the audience, “and working together with the city of Maricopa, FHWA and others, that’s what we’re doing here in Maricopa.”

Maricopa Vice Mayor Marvin Brown looked to Hollywood as he talked about the partnerships needed to make this build the bridge, which will reduce delays on SR 347 and make the road safer.

“I believe this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship,” he said.

By Steve Elliott / ADOT Communications

We hope you saw the news today that girders placed for Loop 202 South Mountain Freeway bridges spanning the Salt River are the longest of their kind – by 9 feet – ever installed by ADOT. While that bit of transportation trivia is interesting enough on its own, also significant is what these bridges will mean to growing areas of the southwest Valley.

As the video above explains, right now areas including Laveen have access to just one all-weather crossing of the Salt River between 35th Avenue and Avondale Boulevard: the city of Phoenix's 51st Avenue bridge. This past spring, when heavy rain had the Salt River flowing through the area, showed that the weather doesn't already cooperate.

The Salt River bridges are two of 40 planned for the South Mountain Freeway, and they are by far the longest on the project at approximately 2,700 feet, or about a half-mile long.

As South Mountain Freeway construction progresses, we're keeping you posted on things you may not know about a project of this scale, such as how art and aesthetics are a critical part of the plan and why a support known as a straddle bent is a big part of work creating an interchange with I-10 at 59th Avenue.

Stay tuned and learn more as we progress toward opening the 22-mile Loop 202 South Mountain Freeway by late 2019.

By John Dougherty / ADOT Communications

Just like many people remodel their homes, the Chevelon Creek Bridge went through a major remodel a few years ago. Not only did the 100-year-old bridge get a new coat of paint in an extensive process that involved wrapping the entire bridge in plastic, but the bridge deck was replaced. Steel repairs were also made. This Art of Transportation photo showcases some of the shiny new rivets that were replaced as part of the bridge overhaul.

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.

By Ryan Harding / ADOT Communications

In less than four days last month, crews installed a 110-foot prefabricated bridge – Arizona's first ever – along Oatman Highway, about a mile north of Interstate 40 in Topock. As bridge projects goes, that's lightning fast. The video above gives you an idea of the speed.

ADOT administered this project for Mohave County, which received a $1 million Federal Highway Administration grant toward the $1.8 million total cost.

Assembling the elements in advance at another location not only saved $2.6 million on the project but greatly reduced the time required for construction. That greatly reduced how long Oatman Highway had to be closed.

By Tom Herrmann / ADOT Communications

A couple looked closely at the map showing plans for State Route 347 in Maricopa. She pointed at the place where the Arizona Department of Transportation will build a bridge to carry the city’s busiest road over the Union Pacific Railroad tracks.

An engineer working on the project asked if they had any questions. “Can you build it faster?” she said, smiling.

More than 200 Maricopa residents attended a public meeting about the project Wednesday evening, filling the Maricopa Unified School District board room to capacity, just as they had done for a similar meeting last July. They asked when and where the work would start (this fall, east of the current roadway), what it would mean for traffic during construction (little to no impact for the first 18-20 months) and whether the project would mean more stop lights on SR 347 (no).

Maricopa is one of the fastest-growing communities in Arizona, with nearly 50,000 residents, and SR 347 is the route many take to get to work in the Phoenix area. For those who live south of Maricopa-Casa Grande Highway, trains crossing the roadway mean delays. Today, 40-60 trains cross the highway every day; in 20 years, that number could be as high as 100.

Over the course of an hour, residents saw a presentation and asked questions about the plans. At the end, most applauded what they see as a needed improvement for their community. Some stayed for nearly an hour after the meeting to ask even more questions.

After more than five years of planning, work will begin in less than six months. For many at Wednesday’s meeting, that day can’t arrive soon enough.