PHOENIX – Motorists using Interstate 15 in far northwestern Arizona will need to budget extra travel time over the next year as the Arizona Department of Transportation improves the decks of three bridges through the Virgin River Gorge between St. George, Utah, and Mesquite, Nevada.

Starting in April, crews will resurface the decks of Bridge No. 2 and Bridge No. 5, while Bridge No. 4 will get a new deck. Crews will move all traffic to one side of the freeway while working on the other, allowing one travel lane in each direction.

Completing this $6.4 million project, which is scheduled to wrap up in spring 2020, will require reducing the width of travel lanes to 10 feet during construction. All vehicles and loads wider than 10 feet will be required to use a 224-mile detour, with signs directing wide-load traffic to US 93, Nevada State Route 319 and Utah State Route 56 between Las Vegas and Cedar City, Utah.

Along with other improvements ADOT has made to I-15 bridges in recent years, this work will extend the lives of bridges along this busy corridor for commercial and passenger travel.

For more information, please visit azdot.gov/projects and click on the North Central District.

PHOENIX – A US 191 bridge about 7 miles north of the entrance to the Morenci Mine will close at noon Thursday, Feb. 28, for urgently needed repairs to a bridge abutment.

US 191 will remain open except for the area around the bridge, which is located north of Morenci near milepost 177. There is no estimated time for the bridge to reopen.

Drivers traveling between Morenci and Alpine will need to take US 191 south from Morenci to Three Way, follow SR 78 east into New Mexico to US 180, and follow US 180 north to Alpine.

The bridge was built by Freeport McMoRan, which operates the mine. A recent inspection identified the need to close it for repairs to address deterioration to an abutment that has occurred over time.

PHOENIX – The largest structures on the Arizona Department of Transportation’s Loop 202 South Mountain Freeway project are nearly complete, with crews finishing the concrete decks of two half-mile-long bridges that will carry traffic over the Salt River in the growing southwest Valley.

Since the first deck pour in November 2017, crews have put down approximately 11,500 cubic yards of concrete to create the driving surfaces for both bridges. That’s enough concrete to build a sidewalk between downtown Phoenix and the town of Queen Creek.

After pouring the concrete, mostly during overnight hours, crews used a self-propelled concrete leveling machine called a Bid-Well to create smooth, uniform decks for the bridges, which are located midway between Broadway Road and Southern Avenue along the 59th Avenue alignment.

Now that the concrete has cured, construction equipment is able to use the bridges for the first time as Connect 202 Partners, the developer of the South Mountain Freeway, moves ever closer to completing work in the 22-mile-long corridor. In addition to aiding construction, using the bridges helps keep trucks off local streets as they carry asphalt and concrete to other areas of the project.

Deck construction is one of the final steps in building a bridge. Construction of the Salt River bridges began in early 2017 with substructure work creating piers and abutments to support the bridge. Crews installed 292 girders that are the largest of their kind ever used for an ADOT project.

The Salt River bridges will provide a much-needed crossing to and from Laveen, especially when the river flows, while also reducing congestion at current crossings. The city of Phoenix’s 51st Avenue bridge is currently the lone all-weather Salt River crossing between 35th Avenue and Avondale Boulevard.

Final bridge construction will include completing lighting and painting, and installing barrier walls.

Scheduled to open as early as late 2019, the South Mountain Freeway will provide a long-planned direct link between the East Valley and West Valley and alternative to Interstate 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 information on the project, visit SouthMountainFreeway.com.

PHOENIX – As the Loop 202 South Mountain Freeway advances, bridge girders are being installed this week at two of the 14 planned traffic interchanges, marking the first time on this Arizona Department of Transportation project that these massive support beams are being set at two interchanges in the same week.

Working overnight, crews with Connect 202 Partners, the developer building the South Mountain Freeway, placed 15 steel-reinforced concrete girders over 32nd Street near Pecos Road in Ahwatukee.

Each of the girders weighs 105,000 pounds and is 116 feet long. Two large cranes carefully hoisted and set these girders atop the abutments and piers. Placing a single concrete girder can take up to one hour.

With the 32nd Street girder placement completed, the same crews will move several miles to the northwest and set an additional 16 girders over three nights at the Broadway Road overpass near 59th Avenue in Laveen. The work will occur from 7 p.m. to 6 a.m. Thursday, Dec. 6, Friday, Dec. 7, and Saturday, Dec. 8, if weather permits.

All of the girders are manufactured locally and hauled to construction sites overnight, when traffic is lighter.

Thus far, more than 600 girders have been installed on 40 bridge structures throughout the South Mountain Freeway corridor.

With girders in place at 32nd Street and Broadway Road, crews will finish pouring concrete decks and add barrier walls on the bridges.

Last month, ADOT announced plans to add a South Mountain Freeway interchange at 32nd Street following an environmental study stemming from stakeholder input. The connecting ramps at the 32nd Street interchange will be completed after the South Mountain Freeway opens.

The 22-mile South Mountain Freeway, which is scheduled to open as early as late 2019, will provide a long-planned direct link between the East Valley and West Valley and a much-needed alternative to Interstate 10 through downtown Phoenix. Approved by Maricopa County voters in 1985 and again in 2004 as part of a comprehensive regional transportation plan, it will complete the Loop 202 and Loop 101 freeway system.

You can stay informed about the South Mountain Freeway project and sign up for updates and weekly traffic alerts at SouthMountainFreeway.com.