By John Halikowski / ADOT Director

The Arizona Department of Transportation has started a year-long pilot program that allows slightly heavier trucks to travel on interstates in Southern Arizona. The program began Sept. 1.

ADOT is responding to requests from area leaders to help make commercial traffic more efficient. We chose Interstate 10 in the Tucson/Marana area and Interstate 19 between Tucson and Nogales including Business 19 because these roadways are Key Commerce Corridors, contributing significantly to Arizona’s economy and being near Mexico, the state’s top international trading partner.

Operating at the speed of business means that ADOT looks for ways to make freight travel as friction-free as possible while safeguarding Arizona’s investment in our highways and protecting public safety. As part of the pilot program, trucks may receive permits from ADOT that allows them to carry up to 83,000 pounds rather than the current weight limit of 80,000 pounds, making for a smoother transition between rail and highway modes for freight shipments. We will be studying whether the higher weight limit has an impact on the condition of our highways and on the safety of the traveling public.

This pilot program represents ADOT’s commitment to support Arizona’s businesses and export industries. We are a member of the I-10 Corridor Coalition (California, New Mexico and Texas) whose mission is to make travel on Interstate 10 safer and more efficient including freight movement. I look forward to sharing the data we collect with the three state departments of transportation.

This post originally appeared on ADOT Director John Halikowski's
LinkedIn page. He has led the agency since 2009.

By John Halikowski / ADOT Director

What does Arizona Cardinals left tackle and captain Jared Veldheer have in common with the Arizona Department of Transportation? They both believe seat belts save lives.

In a new public service campaign launched by ADOT – Seat belts. For Life. – Jared Veldheer touts the need for proper equipment to play football. “I wouldn’t play football without wearing a helmet and shoulder pads, and I won’t drive my truck without wearing a seat belt. Being safe is being smart.” He ought to know as it is his job to protect the Arizona Cardinal's quarterback for any blind side hits. A seat belt serves the same purpose of protecting occupants in a vehicle.

On Arizona roadways in 2015, there were 258 unrestrained occupant fatalities, which account for 29 percent of the people killed in traffic crashes that year. In the past five years in our state, there have been 1,205 unrestrained occupant fatalities. Lack of seat belt use is annually one of the leading factors in traffic deaths.

Buckling a seat belt is the easiest thing to do when you get in a car. Its sole purpose is to help you survive a crash. Let the seat belt do its job – buckle up.

I want to thank Jared Veldheer for partnering with ADOT on this important safety campaign. You can view the two public service announcements –“Strong Man” and “Safety Gear” – at azdot.gov and on our social media channels – Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

And remember: Buckle up everyone, for every trip.

This post originally appeared on ADOT Director John Halikowski's
LinkedIn page. He has led the agency since 2009.

By John Halikowski / ADOT Director

Continuous Improvement. It represents a culture change at the Arizona Department of Transportation. It means focusing on what we do on a daily basis and seeing how we can do better for the customers we serve. Continuous Improvement means eliminating obsolete tasks through technology, streamlining processes and working together to try new ideas. We are engaging Continuous Improvement across ADOT, but the most visible changes for customers are taking place in the Motor Vehicle Division.

I know a visit to an MVD office can be arduous, to say the least, when it comes to wait times. I have challenged our team to reduce the wait times and they have risen to the challenge. Our Phoenix MVD office at 51st Avenue and Indian School is serving as a laboratory of experimenting with new ideas to streamline processes and reduce wait times. Recently, this office experimented with turning off the automated system that calls out numbers to let customers know when it is their time to approach a customer service representative. After checking in, customers line up along a path marked by yellow tape. While a MVD employee walks down the line to make sure customers have what they need to complete their transactions, another MVD employee directs people to the next available window. Initial results are promising. Customers completed their business in about 30 minutes rather than the average time of more than an hour. MVD’s goal is to reduce the office visit to 28 minutes at all our offices statewide (that’s the door-to-door time goal).

This effort at MVD represents just one example of ADOT employees examining our current processes and identifying ways to do better for the customers we serve, the taxpayer. It certainly is an exciting time at ADOT!

This post originally appeared on ADOT Director John Halikowski's
LinkedIn page. He has led the agency since 2009.

By John Halikowski / ADOT Director

In previous posts, I have mentioned the need to keep our interstate highway system running efficiently and effectively for commerce, especially for freight movement. I’m pleased to announce that the Arizona Department of Transportation is in line to receive a $54 million federal grant to help fund two key widening projects on Interstate 10 between Phoenix and Tucson. The grant will also help fund a dust storm detection and warning system and other traffic-management technology along this important trade corridor.

The grant is part of the FASTLANE program, which was established under the 2015 FAST Act, the five-year federal transportation funding act. It is a highly competitive program overseen by the U.S. Department of Transportation. There were 10 times the number of requests from state departments of transportation than available funding. Thank you to the team at ADOT, our partners at the Federal Highway Administration, and the members of Arizona’s Congressional delegation who advocated for this funding.

This added federal funding comes on top of $86.5 million allocated in the state budget for highway projects in Arizona, including I-10, thanks to the leadership of Governor Doug Ducey and the members of the Arizona legislature.

The I-10 corridor between Phoenix and Tucson carries as many as 120,000 vehicles per day, and about 30 percent of those vehicles are trucks. It’s a highway that is vital to freight traffic and the need to keep Arizona competitive by accommodating daily business and travel needs.

To learn more about the I-10 improvement projects being planned, please visit our website.

This post originally appeared on ADOT Director John Halikowski's
LinkedIn page. He has led the agency since 2009.

By John Halikowski / ADOT Director

Continued investment in our state’s busiest corridors and those beyond our state borders will provide better mobility and help enhance trade, commerce and economic development. With the U.S. marking the 60th anniversary of the Interstate Highway System, it seems the perfect opportunity to remind everyone of the efforts the Arizona Department of Transportation is doing with the state's Key Commerce Corridors.

I-11

I-11 is a proposed interstate corridor connecting Arizona with regional and international markets. The progress on the Interstate 11 study shows ADOT’s commitment to establish a key border-to-border corridor and trade route to Mexico that will continue our state’s efforts to boost commerce, job growth, and economic development. We are in the midst of our initial environmental study as part of the planning process in studying the corridor from Nogales to Wickenburg. We have the support of partner agencies; they realize the benefits that I-11 can bring in terms of competitiveness, regional and global connections, and business opportunities for this new freight and travel route.

I-10 Corridor Coalition

I recently had the opportunity to sign an agreement with three other state departments of transportation – California, New Mexico and Texas – to make travel on Interstate 10 safer and more efficient. This agreement builds upon our commitment to build a reliable, friction-free I-10 corridor to support Arizona’s businesses and export industries. When you combine Arizona, California, New Mexico and Texas into one region, it would have the 10th largest economy in the world. We intend to share resources, best practices on safety, improve freight movement, coordinate use of technology, and promote cooperative planning. This coalition illustrates ADOT’s efforts to reach beyond our state borders for collaboration and opportunities to build a more efficient transportation system.

State Route 189

Although State Route 189 is only 3.75 miles in length in Nogales, Arizona, this particular route connects one of the busiest land ports in the U.S., the Mariposa Port of Entry, to Interstate 19. A majority of the winter produce that is consumed each year in the U.S. crosses through the Mariposa Port of Entry from Mexico. For ADOT, SR 189 is an important trade route, not just for Nogales but for Arizona’s economy as a whole. That is why ADOT is investing in improvements. I believe that investment speaks volumes to the importance of SR 189 in our system and our commitment to see the route improved to accommodate future trade opportunities with Mexico, our state’s largest foreign trading partner.

AZ-Mexico Corridor Study

Earlier this year, I had the distinct honor of signing a memorandum of understanding with my counterpart, the undersecretary of infrastructure for Mexico’s Ministry of Communications and Transport. This memorandum establishes a joint planning committee to study ways to improve the corridor along Interstate 19 in Arizona and Highway 15 in Mexico. This multi-year AZ-Mexico Corridor Study is a one-of-a-kind effort that will help us market our region throughout the world. This effort is just another opportunity where we can invest resources to enhance connectivity, economic development and job growth from transportation infrastructure improvements.

Transportation does indeed bring value to our state. At ADOT, we relish the challenges to study a future trade corridor, improve a vital interstate highway across multiple states, enhance a major trade route in Southern Arizona, and collaborate across the border. It’s an exciting time at ADOT and for Arizona!

This post originally appeared on ADOT Director John Halikowski's
LinkedIn page. He has led the agency since 2009.

By John Halikowski / ADOT Director

For those of us in Arizona, summertime means much higher temperatures during the day, not-so-cool nights in the desert, and the monsoon that brings memorable lightning shows and dust storms. The weather officials designate monsoon season from mid-June to mid-September. At ADOT, our crews remind everyone of the do’s and don’ts of driving through a dust storm with our "Pull Aside, Stay Alive" education campaign. Your safety is important to us at ADOT, so I encourage you to follow our messages and avoid driving into or through a dust storm.

ADOT is doing more than an education campaign. We are partnering with Arizona State University in having a meteorology graduate student work with our Traffic Operations Center in Phoenix, monitoring weather and providing real-time insight into changing conditions. We can deploy our crews and communicate to the public on pending weather conditions, like dust storms, to make our roads safer for travel, especially during the monsoon. It is a unique partnership I’m proud exists at the agency.

This past month, we witnessed the need to close I-10 in both directions several times near San Simon due to blowing dust from a neighboring farm. Through that effort, we are witnessing enhanced coordination with multiple state agencies. Besides the law enforcement activity associated with closing a major highway during a dust storm, it sometimes requires us to work with other agencies like the Arizona departments of Agriculture or Environmental Quality to assist with dust mitigation efforts. As always, the Arizona Department of Public Safety is a key partner.

For the future, ADOT will work closely with the Arizona Department of Public Safety on implementing variable speed limits when weather conditions like dust storms warrant a reduction in the speed limit for safety.

Drive safely this summer. And wait on washing your vehicle until the monsoon ends!

This post originally appeared on ADOT Director John Halikowski's 
   LinkedIn page. He has led the agency since 2009.

By John Halikowski / ADOT Director

Nearly 60 percent of the winter produce consumed in the United States comes through the Mariposa Port of Entry in Nogales. Chances are that the salad served in Chicago and the sandwich enjoyed in Dallas have ingredients that came through Arizona.

Trucks hauling all of that produce travel along State Route 189 and Interstate 19 north to Tucson, where they reach one of the greatest distribution corridors in the U.S.: Interstate 10. From Tucson, they may head west to California or east to Texas, joining goods shipped around the country by Arizona businesses.

That’s what makes the partnership agreement I signed recently, along with the transportation directors from California, New Mexico and Texas, so important.

Instead of working independently, Arizona and other states in the I-10 Corridor Coalition have agreed to put their heads together to determine the best ways to do everything from regulating commercial traffic to inspecting vehicles that cross state lines to finding the most economical way to build that next large project.

That will allow safer and more efficient travel, both commercial and personal.

When that happens, goods can reach their destinations as quickly as possible and at the lowest cost possible.

It’s a boost not only for Arizona but for all four states in a region that combined would have the 10th largest economy in the world. We envision an I-10 corridor that one day will be filled with truck platoons and connected vehicles, weigh-in-motion sensors and automated truck parking lots.

A similar corridor coalition along I-95 has demonstrated success from Florida to Maine. With this agreement, Arizona and our partners are taking an important step forward for transportation in the Southwest.

This post originally appeared on ADOT Director John Halikowski's
LinkedIn page. He has led the agency since 2009.

By John Halikowski / ADOT Director

The formal definition of “accident” is “an event occurring by chance or unintentionally.” When a driver intentionally speeds and gets injured or dies in a traffic collision, is it an accident? When a driver intentionally drinks, is impaired and then gets behind the wheel and causes injury or death to others in some type of traffic crash, is it an accident? By the dictionary’s definition, these events are not accidents, as the driver intentionally engaged in risky behavior.

There is a movement among safety advocates to refrain from referring to traffic crashes as accidents since a majority of crashes are caused by human error. Almost all crashes stem from driver behavior like drinking, distracted driving and other risky activities like speeding. Vehicle malfunctions and weather account for about 6 percent of crashes, based on national statistics. Data in ADOT's 2015 Arizona Motor Vehicle Crash Facts report show that speeding and impaired driving were each factors in a third of the 895 people killed in crashes. The most common driver violation cited in all crashes – fatal and non-fatal – was “speed too fast for conditions.”

At ADOT, we don’t use the word “accident” in our terminology when describing traffic collisions or analyzing crash data. It has been our long-standing practice to use the word “crash” or “collision.” True “accidents” are quite rare.

When a driver intentionally engages in risky behavior behind the wheel, we shouldn’t use the word “accident” when something happens. It is no accident.

This post originally appeared on ADOT Director John Halikowski's
LinkedIn page. He has led the agency since 2009.

By John Halikowski / ADOT Director

In collaboration with the Federal Highway Administration, ADOT is participating in the National Household Travel Survey. This survey, conducted by the U.S. Department of Transportation, is a year-long effort to assess the travel patterns of randomly selected households throughout the country. By law, all information is kept confidential.

For ADOT, this national travel survey serves as an important planning tool. The survey results help ADOT plan for the future by knowing which roads folks travel on a daily basis, length of travel and where travel occurs in the state.

While only 30,000 households in Arizona will be contacted to participate, ADOT wants as much input as possible. We created a self-reporting survey that is short and simple. The information will enhance our efforts in designing and improving our state’s transportation system. Your input is important.

This post originally appeared on ADOT Director John Halikowski's
LinkedIn page. He has led the agency since 2009.