BENSON – An Arizona Department of Transportation project extending the westbound Interstate 10 climbing lane in Benson is designed to enhance safety and reduce congestion in a busy stretch used by many large trucks. 

The $2.1 million project, which began this week, will extend a westbound third lane by a little more than half a mile between the I-10 junctions with state routes 80 and 90. The westbound I-10 climbing lane currently begins just east of SR 90 and runs west for 1.6 miles. 

Adding a third lane between mileposts 303.56 and 302.95 will help reduce bottlenecks caused by slower uphill traffic and offer other motorists an easier way to pass or avoid having to pass slower vehicles.

The work, which also includes pavement sealing, additional lighting, pavement markings and signage, and repaving the westbound SR 80 on-ramp, is expected to take about five months. Westbound I-10 will occasionally be limited to a single lane overnight through the project area, though not over weekends.

To learn more about this project and to subscribe for updates, please visit azdot.gov/projects and select Southcentral to find the I-10: SR 90 to SR 80 Climbing Lane Extension Project webpage.

Real-time highway conditions are available on ADOT’s Arizona Traveler Information site at az511.gov, the AZ511 app and by calling 511. ADOT also provides highway condition updates via its Twitter/X feed, @ArizonaDOT. 

TUCSON – The new year promises to be one of major improvements to Interstate 10 in the Tucson area, with construction crews finishing one improvement project on the northwest side while turning earth on a new one south of downtown.

The first big change starts with the Arizona Department of Transportation scheduled to complete a project reconstructing and widening I-10 between Ina and Ruthrauff Roads, which includes replacing the interchanges at Orange Grove and Sunset roads. That’s one of two significant projects ADOT has planned for southern Arizona in 2025, with another one taking place between Kino Parkway and Country Club Road in Tucson.

Along 4 miles of I-10 between Ina and Ruthrauff roads, traffic is already using newly rebuilt lanes. By early 2025, ADOT anticipates reopening a reconstructed Orange Grove Road interchange that will feature wider entrance and exit ramps to promote safety and better traffic flow. I-10 also will be reconfigured from three to four lanes of traffic in each direction.

The $171 million I-10 project is scheduled to wrap up in mid-2025, when a reconstructed Sunset Road interchange opens. The interchange will feature a connection eastward to River Road via a new bridge, funded by Pima County, that will carry traffic over the railroad tracks and Rillito River.

Throughout the project, ADOT is maintaining three lanes of traffic through the work zone during daytime hours and maintaining access to businesses. The public can get project updates and traffic alerts at azdot.gov/i10ina2ruthrauff

By the second half of 2025, ADOT is scheduled to begin work on another I-10 project that will reconstruct and widen I-10 between Kino Parkway and Country Club Road. The $600 million project will widen I-10 from two to three lanes in each direction between Kino Parkway and Alvernon Way, and to four lanes in each direction west of Kino Parkway.

The project will also reconstruct the Kino Parkway interchange, remove the existing Palo Verde Road interchange and construct a new Country Club Road interchange that will provide access for traffic that currently uses the interchange at Palo Verde Road to allow for safer traffic movements to and from I-10.

Other improvements include a new westbound on-ramp at the Alvernon Way interchange and an I-10 undercrossing to connect the North and South Kino Sports Complex. 

Construction is expected to begin in mid-2025 and continue through 2028. For more information, please visit I-10KinotoCountryClub.

Beyond Tucson, ADOT has several ongoing or new projects for southern Arizona in 2025. They include repaving 20 miles of SR 90 in and near Sierra Vista, and an intelligent transportation systems project on I-19 between Nogales and Tucson that will include new overhead message boards. For more information, please visit azdot.gov/projects.

TUCSON – New westbound lanes on Interstate 10 opened Tuesday morning between Ruthrauff and Orange Grove roads in the northwest Tucson area, putting an end to frontage road detours on a major widening project.

All traffic is now using the reconstructed lanes of I-10 as part of a project to improve safety and traffic flow by rebuilding and widening the interstate between Ina and Ruthrauff roads.

While this is the final of three traffic shifts that returned drivers from frontage road detours to the main lanes of I-10, the $171 million project will continue for about one more year.

Crews are still working to rebuild the interchange at Orange Grove Road, which is expected to reopen in the next several months.

The final major step of the project involves completing a Sunset Road extension east of I-10 to River Road, with new bridges over the Union Pacific railroad tracks and the Rillito River. The Sunset Road interchange is expected to open as the project winds down in late 2025.

Other project improvements include:

• Rebuilding the Orange Grove Road bridges to allow for higher clearance
• New Orange Grove and Sunset road interchanges that will feature additional lanes on entrance and exit ramps to promote safety and reduce delays
• Replacing all nine bridges in the project area, including those over Canada del Oro Wash and Rillito River
• Constructing an access path to the Chuck Huckelberry Loop from Sunset Road
• Related work on lighting, landscaping and drainage

The I-10 project is part of the Regional Transportation Authority’s roadway improvement plan, managed by the Pima Association of Governments. The project began in early 2023 and is expected to continue through late 2025. 

ADOT will maintain access to local businesses throughout the project.

For more information, please visit azdot.gov/i10ina2ruthrauff.
 

TUCSON – New westbound Interstate 10 lanes opened early Wednesday morning between Orange Grove and Ina roads in the northwest Tucson area as part of a larger project to improve safety and traffic flow.

This progress comes as work is now 60% complete on a project to reconstruct and widen I-10 from three to four lanes between Ina and Ruthrauff roads. Work began in early 2023, requiring traffic on both directions of I-10 to use the frontage roads as a detour while crews reconstructed the highway.

This week’s traffic shift to the reconstructed highway also sets the stage for several other milestones to occur by the end of 2024. In the next few months, all of eastbound I-10 traffic will shift from the frontage road detour onto new lanes, as will the remaining section of westbound I-10 that is under construction between Ruthrauff and Orange Grove roads. And by late 2024, the interchange at Orange Grove Road will reopen.

Work on the $171 million project will continue through 2025.

Other current activity includes work on a Sunset Road extension east of I-10 to River Road, with new bridges over the Union Pacific railroad tracks and the Rillito River. The Sunset Road interchange is expected to open as the project winds down in late 2025.

Other project improvements include:

• Rebuilding the Orange Grove Road bridges to allow for higher clearance
• New Orange Grove and Sunset road interchanges that will feature additional lanes on entrance and exit ramps to promote safety and reduce delays
• Replacing all nine bridges in the project area, including those over Canada del Oro Wash and Rillito River
• Constructing an access path to the Chuck Huckelberry Loop from Sunset Road
• Related work on lighting, landscaping and drainage

The I-10 project is part of the Regional Transportation Authority’s roadway improvement plan, managed by the Pima Association of Governments.

ADOT will maintain access to local businesses throughout the project.

For more information, please visit azdot.gov/i10ina2ruthrauff.

TUCSON – A planned traffic shift to new westbound Interstate 10 lanes at Orange Grove Road has been postponed due to a mechanical issue with lane striping equipment, according to the Arizona Department of Transportation.

The change onto new I-10 lanes, which had been scheduled to be complete by Tuesday morning, will be rescheduled in the coming days.

Traffic continues to use the westbound frontage road as a detour through the work zone.

For more information, please visit azdot.gov/i10ina2ruthrauff.

TUCSON – New westbound Interstate 10 lanes are scheduled to open by Tuesday morning between Orange Grove and Ina roads in the northwest Tucson area as part of a larger project to improve safety and traffic flow.

This progress comes as work is now 60% complete on a project to reconstruct and widen I-10 from three to four lanes between Ina and Ruthrauff roads. Work began in early 2023, requiring traffic on both directions of I-10 to use the frontage roads as a detour while crews reconstructed the highway.

This week’s traffic shift to the reconstructed highway also sets the stage for several other milestones to occur by the end of 2024. In the next few months, all of eastbound I-10 traffic will shift from the frontage road detour onto new lanes, as will the remaining section of westbound I-10 that is under construction between Ruthrauff and Orange Grove roads. And by late 2024, the interchange at Orange Grove Road will reopen.

Work on the $171 million project will continue through 2025.

Other current activity includes work on a Sunset Road extension east of I-10 to River Road, with new bridges over the Union Pacific railroad tracks and the Rillito River. The Sunset Road interchange is expected to open as the project winds down in late 2025.

Other project improvements include:

• Rebuilding the Orange Grove Road bridges to allow for higher clearance
• New Orange Grove and Sunset road interchanges that will feature additional lanes on entrance and exit ramps to promote safety and reduce delays
• Replacing all nine bridges in the project area, including those over Canada del Oro Wash and Rillito River
• Constructing an access path to the Chuck Huckelberry Loop from Sunset Road
• Related work on lighting, landscaping and drainage

The I-10 project is part of the Regional Transportation Authority’s roadway improvement plan, managed by the Pima Association of Governments.

ADOT will maintain access to local businesses throughout the project.

For more information, please visit azdot.gov/i10ina2ruthrauff.

TUCSON – The Arizona Department of Transportation is preparing to move forward with a project in 2025 that will reconstruct and widen Interstate 10 between Kino Parkway and Country Club Road southeast of downtown Tucson.

On Friday, Aug. 16, the State Transportation Board awarded the design-build project to Sundt-Jacobs. At $600 million, it will be the largest highway construction project in southern Arizona history. 

The project will include:

• Widen I-10 to three lanes in each direction between Kino Parkway and Alvernon Way, and to four lanes in each direction west of Kino Parkway.
• Reconstruct the interchange at Kino Parkway.
• Remove the existing interchange Palo Verde Road.  
• Construct a new interchange Country Club Road that will provide access for traffic that currently uses the interchange at Palo Verde Road to allow for safer traffic movements to and from I-10.
• Construct a new westbound on-ramp at the Alvernon Way interchange.
• Construct an I-10 undercrossing to connect the North and South Kino Sports Complex.

Construction is expected to begin in mid-2025 and continue through 2028.

The project will be the first to result from a study completed in 2020 that recommended how to best improve mobility along a roughly 10-mile stretch of I-10 from I-19 to Kolb Road. The study also identified an alignment for an extension of State Route 210 (Barraza Aviation Parkway) along Alvernon Way that will connect I-10 to downtown Tucson.

ADOT is planning to share more detailed design plans for the corridor and provide an opportunity for the public to speak with members of the design team at a community open house event in early 2025.

For more information, please visit I-10KinotoCountryClub.

PHOENIX – The Arizona Department of Transportation is honoring a late civil engineer tasked with managing the development of the Interstate 10 Deck Park Tunnel and final segments of the Papago Freeway north of downtown Phoenix.

On Tuesday, May 7, ADOT Director Jennifer Toth, former ADOT Director and U.S. Secretary of Transportation Mary Peters and others dedicated the I-10 tunnel in Dean Lindsey’s name with signs outside each tunnel entrance and a plaque in Margaret T. Hance Park. Lindsey guided development of the interstate’s downtown-area segments, including the tunnel, in the 1970s and ’80s. The Deck Park Tunnel, which was part of the “Final Mile” of I-10 across the country, opened to traffic in August 1990. 

ADOT officials, former colleagues and others joined Lindsey’s family in the park, located above the tunnel through which well over 250,000 vehicles pass daily, to unveil a plaque reading “Dean Lindsey I-10 Memorial Tunnel.” The work included close collaboration with the city of Phoenix and the community on the complex development of the tunnel and the city’s Margaret T. Hance Park. 

“Dean Lindsey had a reputation for bringing people together during the design work that allowed I-10 and Hance Park to become realities in the downtown Phoenix area more than 30 years ago,” Director Toth said. “He was a key architect of the early Valley freeway program, and I’m sure he’d want to share this dedication with those who worked beside him.”

That sentiment was shared by a one-time colleague, retired ADOT Chief Deputy State Engineer Bob Mickelson. 

“You can’t overstate the work that Dean put into the Papago Freeway,” Mickelson said. “There were times he was working seven days a week. He was wonderful with people, which was important at a time when planning that section of I-10 was politically charged. He was the right man to lead the planning and design processes for the tunnel project, the I-17 Stack interchange and the I-10 connections with State Route 51.” 

Lindsey began working for ADOT in 1974. He also spent time working in the consultant engineering sector. His daughter Laura Felten summed up her father’s legacy this way:

“Dad loved his work at ADOT and looked back on it with pride. He had many stories about the accomplishments, the camaraderie with coworkers and the problem solving required to deliver projects. Whenever our family drives through the Deck Park Tunnel, we call it ‘PaPa’s Tunnel.’ We are so honored that it now bears his name.” 

Lindsey retired from ADOT in 2006 and passed away in 2023. He was honored with an Arizona Transportation Legacy Award in 2014 during the 63rd Conference on Roads and Streets held in Tucson. The Arizona State Board on Geographic and Historic Names is the official state body that approved naming the tunnel in Dean Lindsey’s honor.  

PHOENIX – Consider making an early start toward State Farm Stadium if you’re planning to spend Tuesday night together with tens of thousands of other Rolling Stones fans. 

With the concert scheduled for 8 p.m. and doors opening at 6 p.m., heavier traffic is likely all down the line on westbound Interstate 10 in Phoenix and on Loop 101 (Agua Fria Freeway) in Glendale as concertgoers join the usual crowd goin’ home. ADOT encourages all drivers to allow extra time and avoid acting like wild horses. We have sympathy for you. 

The situation needn’t ruin your Ruby Tuesday or leave you shattered, however. Those who gotta get away from the Chandler/southeast Valley area might actually get some satisfaction by using westbound/northbound Loop 202 (South Mountain Freeway) to bypass I-10 through downtown Phoenix. Parking lots open at 4 p.m., so if you make an earlier start you just might wind up hanging fire while waiting on a friend who didn’t heed this advice. You can tell them, “Miss you.” 

You can get the real-time lowdown on highway conditions on ADOT’s Arizona Traveler Information site at az511.gov or by calling 511. ADOT also shines a light via its Twitter/X feed, @ArizonaDOT.

TUCSON – Some of the most visible work to rebuild a section of I-10 in the Tucson area is quickly progressing as work crews have now set more than 80 bridge girders in place and installed large sections of the new concrete driving surface.

Work is now 40 percent complete on the Arizona Department of Transportation’s project to reconstruct and widen I-10 between Ina and Ruthrauff roads, with work starting just less than one year ago.

A key element of the project involves placing 217 girders for nine new bridges, and most of those girders along I-10 will be set by the end of March. Meanwhile, work crews have completed 80 percent of concrete paving work and are now turning to concrete drainage features and barriers.

That concrete barrier work is key to a future milestone that will return drivers back to I-10 itself rather than using the current detour along frontage roads. Once the barrier work is complete by late summer, westbound and eastbound I-10 traffic will shift to the reconstructed freeway lanes.

When traffic returns to I-10, crews will then focus on finishing the Orange Grove Road interchange, which is expected to reopen in late 2024. 

After that, work shifts to the Sunset Road interchange. As part of that interchange work, ADOT will construct a project funded by Pima County that will extend Sunset Road east to River Road with new bridges over the Union Pacific Railroad tracks and the Rillito River.

The overall project will continue through late 2025, when the Sunset Road interchange will reopen.

ADOT will maintain access to local businesses throughout the project.

Other project improvements include:

• Rebuilding the Orange Grove Road bridges to allow for higher clearance
• New Orange Grove and Sunset road interchanges that will feature additional lanes on entrance and exit ramps to promote safety and reduce delays
• Replacing all nine bridges in the project area, including those over Canada del Oro Wash and Rillito River
• Constructing an access path to the Chuck Huckelberry Loop from Sunset Road
• Related work on lighting, landscaping and drainage

The I-10 project is part of the Regional Transportation Authority’s roadway improvement plan, managed by the Pima Association of Governments.

For more information, please visit azdot.gov/i10ina2ruthrauff.