It’s really remarkable to see the progress of projects like the one above, isn’t it?

We’ve been following this one – the Loop 303/I-10 Interchange – since ADOT started construction two years ago. Right now, work is about 65-70 percent complete and crews are slated to wrap things up by fall 2014.

When the project is finished, drivers will get a freeway-to-freeway connection between Loop 303 and I-10 (it will look similar to the Loop 101/I-10 interchange in Tolleson and Avondale for those of you familiar with the West Valley).

You can read more details in this blog post about the project’s start. You can also take a look at what the project site looked like a year ago in this February blog post (it’s come a long way!).

If you’re interested in the adjacent Loop 303 project (we’ve blogged plenty about that one!), stay tuned next week – we have a video update coming your way!

It’s been a while since we last checked in on the I-10/Prince Road widening project and judging by the video above, a lot has happened at the site.

But, before we take a look at the progress, let us first give you an overview of the project…

I-10 from Ruthrauff Road to Prince Road widening

ADOT started construction in September 2011 to widen I-10 between Ruthrauff and Prince roads in Tucson.

Besides widening that portion of I-10 to four lanes in each direction, the project also is set to reconstruct the Prince Road traffic interchange so that Prince Road will pass over the Union Pacific Railroad tracks and I-10 (this video gives a good explanation).

The project will also update the on- and off-ramps to provide better connections and access. New landscaping is part of the project, too.

Where things are now

You can see in today’s video that crews recently worked to install 22 girders (each measuring in at about 120 feet) for the bridge over the Union Pacific Railroad. According to Resident Engineer Mindy Teague, the process is a little trickier than some of the other bridges on the project.

“We have to coordinate all of our actions with the trains coming through,” she says.

After the girders have been placed, the next step is to pour the bridge deck, says Tucson District Engineer Roderick Lane in the video.

“There’s kind of a big span between this bridge and the next bridge and that’s all going to be filled with dirt, so it’s really going to open up the whole west side of Prince Road for quite a bit of development opportunity,” Lane says, adding that ADOT has put a lot of effort into making business accessible during construction. “The light is at the end of the tunnel. We’re down to the last six months, or so. You can see everything coming up out of the ground and we really appreciate everybody’s patience and efforts as we move through this.”

For more on the project, check out our previous blog posts.

What to expect in Tucson near the project area this Saturday (Nov. 23)

Motorists should expect heavy traffic and possible delays because of special events in Tucson on Saturday, Nov. 23.

Roadway restrictions are planned along I-10 and SR77 (Oracle Road) because of the El Tour de Tucson bicycle race. Drivers should allow extra travel time and consider alternate routes.

In addition, the University of Arizona football game home finale versus University of Oregon kicks off at 1:30 p.m. and significant traffic delays are expected. Football fans should leave early and consider using Kino Parkway or Park Avenue exits as alternate routes off of I-10 to Arizona Stadium.

Detours and road closures will be in place from 4 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 23 for El Tour de Tucson: Eastbound I-10 frontage road from Tangerine Road to 22nd Street will be narrowed to one lane. Cyclists will be traveling in the right lane, except within the Prince Road construction project area, where they will be in the left lane briefly and then back into the right lane.

Construction DETOUR:

• Due to the construction at Prince Road, vehicles will be detoured to the eastbound I-10 entrance ramp at Ruthrauff Road.
• Drivers can take the Prince Road exit ramp to access the frontage road businesses or Business Center Drive.
• Drivers leaving this area will be directed by law enforcement to use the right lane to allow cyclists to use the left lane.

Ramp restrictions will be in place on I-10 at Craycroft, Wilmot and Kolb roads. The eastbound I-10 exit ramp at Craycroft Road will be closed. The eastbound I-10 entrance and exit ramp at Wilmot Road will be closed. The eastbound I-10 exit ramp and westbound I-10 exit ramp at Kolb Road will be closed.

Northbound SR 77 from Ina Road to Rancho Vistoso Boulevard will be narrowed to two lanes. Cyclists will be traveling in the right lane and on the shoulder.

Westbound I-10 frontage road traffic will be detoured to eastbound 22nd Street. Eastbound 22nd Street will be restricted to one lane in each direction from I-10 to 4th Avenue. Cyclists will use westbound 22nd Street.

Eastbound I-10 exit ramps at Congress Road and 22nd Street/Star Pass Boulevard will be closed. The eastbound entrance ramps will remain open.

For the most current information about highway closures and restrictions statewide, visit ADOT's Travel Information site at az511.gov, follow us on Twitter (@ArizonaDOT) or call 511.

Select photo to view album.

Time sure does fly...

Construction started on the Loop 303/I-10 interchange project last winter, but now, only about one year later, work on the future freeway-to-freeway connection is 50 percent complete!

To mark the milestone, we thought we’d share a look at the project’s progress. So, enjoy the photos, and for more information, there are a few important sites you can continue to check regularly:

• For updates on all things Loop 303 and to take a virtual drive of the interchange, visit the project page.
• For details on how construction will impact your commute, check out the closures and restrictions page.
• And, of course, you can always revisit some of our previous project posts here on the blog!

Road maintenance is about more than just paving roads and fixing guardrail.

Hopefully, our blog has enlightened you to that fact. But we know we really haven’t even scratched the surface when it comes to covering everything our crews are responsible for.

That’s why today, we’re going to share with you, 5 ADOT electrical maintenance-related tasks you may not have known about: 

1) Blue Stake requests
Blue Stake refers to the law that requires anyone doing any sort of excavation to call a statewide hotline (811) before they dig. Arizona Blue Stake, Inc. will then notify any underground facility owners (water, gas, electrical, ADOT, etc.) so they can mark the locations of their underground lines, allowing the person doing the excavating to avoid them.

ADOT has six techs in the Phoenix Maintenance District alone devoted to Blue Stake requests. These employees work with Arizona Blue Stake, Inc. by researching and then marking the location of any ADOT underground utilities that are in the way of an excavation plan.

“Our Blue Stake crew is dedicated to protecting our underground facilities,” said Joe McGuirk, ADOT’s electrical operations engineer for the Phoenix district, adding that his crew gets about 25,000-30,000 “tickets” or inquiries a year.

Everyone knows about ADOT’s bridges, roads and facilities that sit above ground, but the agency has a lot underground, too. McGuirk said there are things like conduits and fiber cable for ADOT’s Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) that are underground and crucial to the operation of the state’s highway system, along with all the wires that keep the freeways lit at night.

2) Pump House Maintenance
Just in the Phoenix-metro area, there are 70 pump stations. They’re all positioned near roadways and help to keep the roads dry.

“They collect storm water,” McGuirk said. “We don’t want water on our roadway.”

ADOT crews maintain the pumps and make sure they’re ready and working properly. The crews on this team also work on regular improvement projects to make sure the pumps will work efficiently. Besides all this, the crews are on-call during rainstorms to fix anything that needs repair in order to avoid flooding.

3) I-10 Deck Park Tunnel maintenance
A crew of three works to “keep the tunnel safe and ready for traffic,” McGuirk said.

Cleaning and maintenance are among the team's regular duties, but they also maintain the tunnel’s ventilation system. The eight ventilation fans in the tunnel keep carbon monoxide at safe levels.

4) Signals and lighting
This is the ADOT Electrical Operation’s largest group. The ADOT employees on this team make sure all of ADOT’s signals and lights are in working order (that includes changing quite a few light bulbs!).

McGuirk said in the Phoenix area alone, ADOT has 164 signals (that doesn’t include ramp meters) and roughly 13,000 light bulbs to maintain.

Duties in this section include preventative maintenance and coordination with municipalities and railroads. Unfortunately, this team also has to regularly replace wire that is stolen right out of the ground.

5) Intelligent Transportation Systems
There are 200 traffic cameras in the Phoenix district, along with about 80 DMS boards, and McGuirk said he has a five-person team devoted to the care and preservation of the systems.

This includes repairs and upgrades to the DMS boards themselves and fixes to the detector stations.

“We maintain all the equipment out in the field for ADOT’s Traffic Operations Center,” he said.

There’s more… 
This is by no means a complete list of all the maintenance duties performed by ADOT crews. But, we hope it gives you a look at some of the “unseen” tasks being performed by our crews every day to help keep the state’s highway system operating smoothly.

There’s a lot more to cover on this subject – and we will, so stay tuned!

West Valley drivers have, no doubt, already noticed there’s a lot happening over on the I-10/Loop 303 interchange project, but for the rest of you, we thought we’d provide a quick update…

Just back in July, a couple of new ramps opened up at I-10/Sarival Avenue (an eastbound on-ramp and westbound off-ramp). And, since then, two additional ramps have opened – a new westbound I-10 on-ramp and eastbound off-ramp at Citrus Road.

Now that those ramps are open to drivers, ADOT has been able to move forward with the permanent closing of the I-10 on- and off-ramps at Cotton Lane and the partial closure of Cotton Lane and Loop 303 through fall 2014 (see map above). The closures are necessary so crews can continue to work on the Loop 303/I-10 interchange (you can take a “virtual” look at the future interchange online).

When the $134 million interchange project in Goodyear is complete, I-10 access to Cotton Lane will be restored via frontage roads stretching between Sarival Avenue and Citrus Road.

Besides the new interchange, ADOT is working on a series of ongoing projects that will modernize Loop 303 into a six-lane freeway between I-10 and Grand Avenue by late 2014.

Have you “liked” ADOT’s Facebook page yet?

Well, what are you waiting for!?! Maybe we’re a little bit biased, but we think some pretty cool stuff gets posted over there, including this photo from a few weeks ago

It was posted as part of a “Where in AZ?” challenge, but actually proved to be not that much of a challenge – quite a few people guessed the location right away!

Which brings us to the topic of today’s blog post: the photo … well, not the photo, but the project that’s in the photo, more specifically the I-10/SR 90 traffic interchange project.

It sits southeast of Tucson and just west of Benson (many of you who have taken a trip to Kartchner Caverns might recognize the turnoff).

You’ll learn more about the project in the video above, but basically this project is going to reconstruct the existing traffic interchange and realign more than a mile of curves on I-10 west of SR 90.

The new interchange and realignment will feature wider entrance and exit ramps with traffic signals, overpass bridges that will provide for future growth, and a design that will accommodate a future project to add a westbound I-10 climbing lane starting at the Ocotillo Road exit east of SR 90.

If that wasn’t enough, the project also entails the construction of new access roads to SR 90, drainage improvements, improved lighting, utility relocation and other roadway enhancements.

The project is scheduled for completion by fall 2012, except for the final paving – due to upcoming colder weather (it's got to get here eventually, right?) the paving work will take place in spring 2013. We’ll keep you updated on the progress here on the blog and on our Facebook page (hint, hint … go “like” us!).

As ADOT prepares to open a new eastbound on-ramp and westbound off-ramp at Sarival Avenue and I-10, crews have been busy adding the finishing touches…

Painting, striping and sign installation were among the final tasks completed this week, but even though the ramps are expected to open today, the work is nowhere near over. That’s because these ramps are just part of a larger, ongoing ADOT project that will build a freeway-to-freeway interchange between I-10 and Loop 303 (we blogged about the project earlier this year).

Two additional I-10 ramps are scheduled to open at Citrus Road by late August, which will set the stage for the permanent closing of the I-10 on- and off-ramps at Cotton Lane and allow crews to continue to work on the I-10/Loop 303 interchange.

More about this project:

• By early September, Cotton Lane will be closed between Van Buren Street on the south and McDowell Road on the north. Drivers will be able to use Sarival Avenue or Citrus Road as primary north-south routes in the area. Local access will be maintained along Cotton Lane between Van Buren and Garfield streets. 
• By late September, ADOT plans to close the stretch of Loop 303 between McDowell and Thomas roads and detour traffic along a new section of Cotton Lane west of the freeway construction work zone. Traffic signals will be installed at McDowell Road and the new Cotton Lane intersection.

When the $134 million Loop 303/I-10 interchange project in Goodyear is completed, I-10 access to Cotton Lane will be maintained via frontage roads stretching between Sarival Avenue and Citrus Road. ADOT is working on a series of ongoing projects that will modernize Loop 303 into a six-lane freeway between I-10 and Grand Avenue by late 2014.