By John Dougherty / ADOT Communications

Occasionally things that are old look beaten up and unattractive. Sometimes they can look weathered with an interesting patina only found on well-aged items. That's exactly what we found with this guardrail on the old Canyon Diablo bridge near Two Guns in northern Arizona. This bridge was last used more than 70 years ago. It just proves you can get better with age!

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 Tom Herrmann / ADOT Communications

In 1965, as Interstate 10 was first making its way through Pima County, the bridge over Ina Road was among the first to be completed.

On the first Friday morning of 2018, that bridge came down to make way for a newer, wider, safer traffic interchange.

The flurry of activity that brought down the bridge was the first of many big steps that will shape the future for many years to come.

The Ina Road project – including new bridges to carry Ina Road over I-10, Union Pacific Railroad tracks and the Santa Cruz River, as well as widening both Ina and I-10 – is near its midpoint. The work should be complete a little more than a year from now. The next big step: Before the end of January westbound traffic will be moved to share the road with eastbound traffic on the new eastbound lanes.

Ina Road isn’t the only major freeway interchange getting improvements. The first phase of Ajo Way (State Route 86) interchange improvements will be completed in the spring. The new bridge already has a safer, wider single-point urban interchange and will include wider lanes on Interstate 19, a new bridge over the Santa Cruz River and a new pedestrian bridge at Michigan Avenue.

That’s not all we’re doing to improve roads in Pima County. East of downtown Tucson, this spring we’ll begin adding traffic signals and other improvements at the eastbound I-10 exits for Wilmot, Rita and Kolb roads. We already made similar changes at Houghton Road last year.

Our crystal ball – a.k.a. the state’s five-year construction program – shows there is more in store for Tucson and Pima County. Perhaps the biggest: widening I-10 over the three-plus miles from Ina to Ruthrauff. That work is scheduled to begin in fiscal year 2021.

By Tom Herrmann / ADOT Communications

Get ready, Pinal County. A big year is beginning.

Four major projects – three of them along Interstate 10 between Picacho and Casa Grande – will begin in earnest in January. All four will keep our engineers and construction crews busy for the next two years, making transportation in Pinal County smoother and safer.

Construction crews have already begun moving dirt east of I-10 in Eloy to add a third lane in each direction between Eloy and Picacho. Our crews will create a new interchange with State Route 87 and create a new alignment to the east of the current travel lanes. The added lanes will reduce congestion and make the road safer.

At the same time, we’re also building a dust detection system unlike anything that has been done in the U.S. Short- and long-range radar systems will help identify when blowing dust is creating a hazard for drivers, while electronic message boards and variable speed limits will get information to drivers that can help them make safe decisions.

The two projects, which are being done at the same time to coordinate the work, will cost about $58 million and are expected to be complete in fall 2019. Most of the work will be done away from the current travel lanes, meaning few restrictions and delays during the work.

In mid-January, the State Transportation Board will consider awarding the contract for widening a second section of I-10, between Earley Road and Interstate 8. The estimated $40 million project also includes replacing the bridge at Jimmie Kerr Boulevard and other improvements. Completion of that project is expected by late 2019.

And 20 miles up Maricopa-Casa Grande Highway, work is set to begin on a bridge that will carry State Route 347 over the Union Pacific Railroad tracks, eliminating frequent delays and increasing safety on the city’s busiest roadway. The $55 million project also is scheduled for completion by late 2019. Like the other projects, most of the work will be done away from current travel lanes, reducing delays.

The animation at right shows what the bridge is going to look like.

Four projects, a $150 million investment in Pinal County transportation and a boost for one of Arizona’s most-important key commerce corridors. We can’t wait to get going.

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.