By Ryan Harding / ADOT Communications

While the Grand Canyon itself may be a tad older than 100 years, this year Arizona is celebrating the centennial of Grand Canyon National Park, which was established on Feb. 26, 1919, under President Woodrow Wilson.

ADOT is helping mark the occasion by installing 40 Grand Canyon Centennial signs along state highways across Arizona. Two additional signs will be temporarily displayed at Wesley Bolin Memorial Plaza near the State Capitol in downtown Phoenix.

Governor Doug Ducey unveiled the sign at a ceremony Wednesday outside the Capitol. The photo above shows the governor with ADOT Director John Halikowski and Debbie Johnson, director of the Arizona Office of Tourism.

The Arizona Office of Tourism, with support from APS, provided the $30,000 needed to create the signs.

And for a little multimedia, here's Governor Ducey's tweet with video of the unveiling.

Happy Birthday, Grand Canyon! @GrandCanyonNPS @ArizonaTourism @ArizonaDOT @AZStateParks @apsFYI #GrandCanyon100 pic.twitter.com/gsYcduTadd

— Doug Ducey (@dougducey) February 27, 2019

With hundreds of blog posts in our archives, we understand if you haven’t had a chance to read them all.

However, there’s a lot of interesting content in those early posts and we don’t want you to miss out. That’s why we’re looking back and highlighting some of our favorites in a new series called, “From the Rearview Mirror.

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Do you remember what you were doing three years ago today? We sure do! Our team was prepping for Arizona’s big birthday on Feb. 14, 2012. Arizona was turning 100 and our plan was to document everything that ADOT does in a 24-hour span.

On the big day, we kept readers updated by sharing our photos through social media and on the ADOT Blog. The post below came along a month later and features video that was captured on the state’s Centennial. Now, as the state is almost set to turn 103, we want to say: Happy Birthday, Arizona!

Centennial video captures a day in ADOT history

When Arizona turned 100 last month, we celebrated by documenting everything ADOT does across the state in a single day.

And, oh what a day it was!

Our team was up early – out on the road, covering everything from construction projects and maintenance work to planning meetings and the MVD.

If you followed along with us back on Feb. 14, you saw our photos, kept up through social media and probably recall that we promised a mini-documentary detailing the day.

Well, that video is ready and we’re very proud to announce its premiere!

The video speaks for itself … so, we won’t say much more, except that we hope you’ll sit back, relax and enjoy what our team has put together!

When Arizona turned 100 last month, we celebrated by documenting everything ADOT does across the state in a single day.

And, oh what a day it was!

Our team was up early – out on the road, covering everything from construction projects and maintenance work to planning meetings and the MVD.

If you followed along with us back on Feb. 14, you saw our photos, kept up through social media and probably recall that we promised a mini-documentary detailing the day.

Well, that video is ready and we’re very proud to announce its premiere!

The video speaks for itself … so, we won’t say much more, except that we hope you’ll sit back, relax and enjoy what our team has put together!

You don’t have to call this state home to understand the appeal of Arizona Highways magazine.

Readers everywhere appreciate the publication’s gorgeous photography and stellar writing – it boasts subscribers from all 50 U.S. states and two-thirds of the countries on this planet!

Not only does it have reach, but the magazine has some real staying power. It’s been around since a few engineers from the Arizona Highway Department (now known as ADOT) published the first issue back in 1925.

According to the Arizona Highways website, the magazine’s first issues contained travel stories and photos – in black and white.

“The first issue had 26 pages, including advertisements and ran a travelogue on the Phoenix to Yuma highway. The editor listed 17 other travelogues that the magazine would cover. One thousand copies were printed and they sold for 10 cents each.
 

Those early issues also contained page after page of details of road-building projects ‘to tell of the work being done by the Arizona Highway Department’.”

Today the photos are in color and the issue price has risen slightly, but the magazine still operates as a division of the Arizona Department of Transportation.

We’re proud of the connection and we thought it was only fitting to provide a little bit of the magazine’s history during a week that we've devoted to Arizona’s past (and present).

We also wanted to take just one more opportunity to highlight the magazine’s Arizona Centennial Photo Project, which is what inspired our own centennial project.

To create a photographic record of the state’s 100^th birthday, the magazine put a call out to amateur and professional photographers. The aim was to capture an extensive account of a day in the life of Arizona on Feb. 14, 2012. The results so far have been really good, according to Arizona Highways Photo Editor Jeff Kida.

“The idea came from us doing the February (Centennial) issue of the magazine. We looked at historic photos from the big collections … we also went to small private libraries and private collections,” Kida said. “What gave us a real sense of time and place came from everywhere.”

Photographers still have time to upload their shots. Remember, the photo must have been taken on Feb. 14, but you’ve got until Feb. 28 to submit.

There’s quite a range of people places and things, but it really does give a glimpse of Arizona, which was the goal, Kida says.

“If you’re looking back 50 years from now … (the project) will hopefully answer the questions, what were they doing, what did it look like and how did people live,” Kida said.

Happy 100th Birthday, Arizona!

As most of the state enters party mode today and stops to reflect on Arizona's past, we wanted to take a different approach to our Centennial revelry...

We thought it might be interesting to celebrate Arizona's history by reflecting on where we are today.

Don't get us wrong...we're huge history buffs and plan to dedicate many blog posts during the Centennial year looking back at the impact transportation has had on shaping our state -- from the federal wagon road that would later become Route 66 to the very last mile of Interstate 10 between California and Florida (which happens to run straight through downtown Phoenix).

But today, we want to document a day in ADOT history. How does ADOT, on a daily basis, impact Arizona? How will the work we do today improve the Arizona of tomorrow?

We have folks across the state capturing ADOT activities today and plan to compile the footage into a mini documentary of sorts, which is what brought me to the Phoenix District Maintenance yard just after 5:00 this morning...

I'm part of the crew assigned to the Phoenix metro East Valley (okay, we're not really a "crew" -- there's two of us).

So far we've hit a landscaping debrief meeting (basically a round up of the day ahead before loading the trucks and prepping the gear).

We then swung by the Traffic Operation Center to check in on the traffic engineers monitoring the Valley-wide commute.

Now we're en route to a sound wall project (and hopefully we'll get some coffee soon!).

We'll keep you updated on happenings around the state throughout the day (I hear it's snowing in Flagstaff) and I hope you'll check in with us today either here or on our Facebook page!

We'll know where we were when Arizona turned 100...we'd love to know where you were, especially if you took an ADOT road to get there!

Update (12:30 p.m.):
When we left off, we were heading to a sound wall project up in the northeast Valley. The wall is one of 10 being built as part of the Maricopa Regional Supplemental Noise Walls project.

On the stretch we visited (on the Loop 101 near Shea Blvd.) crews will pour 203 cubic yards of concrete today -- about 21 truck loads.(Ardent ADOT Blog followers will appreciate my excitement that I not only noticed the wattles in the area, but knew their purpose and their name!)

From there we hustled one on-ramp over where a three-person ADOT maintenance crew replaced a downed ramp meter in about 40 minutes flat!(You might remember we blogged about the new ramp meters in the Valley back in June.

Next up was another maintenance project...a guard rail replacement on the I-10 near downtown Phoenix. Crews are working to replace about 315 linear feet of guard rail badly damaged when a produce truck overturned last week. Luckily, neither the driver nor any other motorists were hurt. The guardrail and the lettuce, however, didn't fair as well.

Checking in around the state...
Earlier this morning we got an update from down in the southern portion of Arizona. Crews were out working on the new eastbound I-10 overpass at SR 90 near Benson. That project involves the reconstruction of the existing traffic interchange and realignment of more than a mile of curves on I-10 west of SR 90 in northeastern Cochise County.

We also heard from our folks out in the West Valley. Crews were up early out on the I-10 in Goodyear (check out our slideshow at the top of this post for a look at some of the heavy-duty equipment necessary for a big project like this one!). Some of the work being done this morning included the construction of a new ramp at Citrus Road as part of the Loop303/I-10 interchange project.

Next, we checked in on a meeting over in the West Valley. No big machinery was anywhere to be seen, but the work being done is just as vital to the project. Teams discussed an upcoming water shut-off that will affect residents near the I-10 and Citrus Road as part of the Loop 303/I-10construction.

Phew ... it's been a busy morning! We've got a lot more ground to cover and I'm headed back on the road so keep checking back for more updates.

Update (2:15 p.m.):
It really is amazing how much goes on at ADOT in one day...and I'm only seeing half of one metro area!

Continuing our trek through Phoenix, we stopped by Equipment Services to see what they're working on. On any given day, they service and repair up to 300 vehicles that come in to the 26 service stations set up around the state. ADOT shop employees do everything from body and paint work to inspecting crane cables to installing radios and lights for department vehicles.

Across the street at ADOT's sign shop, they're busy testing traffic signal controllers, creating new interstate freeway signs and prepping screens for the sign-making process. On average, the sign shop makes 30,000 signs a year.

From there, we headed to SR 143 out by Sky Harbor International Airport. This project is designed to reconstruct the SR 143/Sky Harbor Boulevard traffic interchange to improve access to and from the airport … we blogged about it back in December.

Today, contractors installed sign foundations at Sky Harbor Blvd and SR 143 and poured Moment Slabs (big concrete footers for 42" barrier walls also being erected).

Next up...we're off to catch up with the afternoon maintenance and landscaping crews and check in with our video counterparts shooting around ADOT HQ...Stay tuned!

Update (4 p.m.):
Well, we made our way back to the office (unfortunately missed the landscape crews we were trying to track down).

I had a minute to check in with our team here at ADOT HQ. They’ve been shooting all day and got some great footage of:

• Contracts and Specifications
• The ADOT Research Center Library
• The Bridge Design Group
• The Pavement Materials Testing Lab

All the footage from today is going to be turned into a comprehensive video that will give viewers a glimpse of everything ADOT does in a day. Be on the look out for it soon!

We’re still getting photos coming in from all over the state and we’ll continue to update our Flickr photo album … check back tomorrow morning to see some of the photos we get throughout the evening!

That’s it for now ... our team is headed back out on the road to get the afternoon commute. Thanks for spending your Centennial Day with us!

We’re just one day away from a very significant date in our state’s history … tomorrow is when Arizona officially celebrates 100 years of statehood!

We don’t know about you, but such an important milestone really starts to make us think about what life must have been like for Arizonans way back in 1912.

How’d they earn a living? Where did they go for fun? What were the roads like? (Come on, we do work for a transportation agency after all!)

History buffs can rest assured – this blog is going to delve into the past a little later this week by examining the early days of transportation in Arizona. But for tomorrow, Arizona’s 100th birthday, we’re not looking back …

We’ve got something else planned – something that will give Arizonans of 2112 a vivid glimpse of this state in 2012.

We’re documenting a day in the life of ADOT!

With video and still cameras in hand, our team members will be at projects, office buildings, planning meetings, labs and maintenance yards – basically anywhere ADOT business is taking place. We’ll snap photos and capture video in an attempt to showcase everything that happens in one day at ADOT.

The majority of what we catch will be used to create a comprehensive video that you can be sure we’ll post here on the blog as soon as it’s finished. We’ll also keep you updated tomorrow through all our social media channels (more on that at the end of this post).

Before we rest up for the big day ahead, we want to highlight another special project slated for tomorrow … it’s one that actually inspired our centennial plans.

Arizona Highways is looking to create a photographic record of the state’s 100th birthday with the Arizona Centennial Photo Project. Open to all amateur and professional photographers, the project will assemble a wide range of photos from all over the state to give an extensive account of Feb. 14, 2012!

It’s a special day and so much is planned around the state.

We hope you'll check back with us early and often tomorrow because throughout the day we'll be posting photos from out in the field. You can visit us here on the blog, over on our Twitter feed and on our Facebook page to keep up and see how we're doing in our pursuit!