Days of yore, holiday drives to grandma’s house and Arizona highways are among the topics that Dolan Ellis, Arizona’s official State Balladeer, has captured in his songs about the state.  

“Historians write the history, but balladeers bring it to life,” Dolan said during a visit to ADOT, when the agency’s Video Team recorded his rich baritone as he performed three of his ballads, "Scrubby," "Rock Springs" and "I-10 Highway."

Two of these songs have ties to the holiday season, making this a good time to revisit and share Ellis' melodies.

“Scrubby”

While we’re not certain of Scrubby’s condition these days, for more than three decades, the cedar tree in the median of Interstate 17 at Sunset Point has thrilled passersby with holiday finery secretly applied in the middle of the night. With its glowing lights, ornaments and tinsel, it has become a shining beacon of seasonal spirit for motorists.

Perhaps no Arizonan has captured this mystery better than Ellis in this ode to an evergreen. It begins:

Out in Arizona there’s a story to be told. 
Of Scrubby, the little cedar tree, that grows beside the road. 
I-17 to Flagstaff, from the desert down below, 
And a random act of kindness by some secret, caring soul. 

It brings a smile to every face that passes by that sight. 
Scrubby becomes a rock star, and for him this song I write. 

 “Rock Springs” 

In the mid-1950s, it could take eight hours to travel by car from Flagstaff to Phoenix. This song, written by Dean Cook, Lon Austin, and Tony Norris, is about family’s holiday trip to Phoenix, with the children, the dog and grandma's tree in the back – before Interstate 17 Black Canyon Freeway was completed in 1978. 

"Rock Springs" tells of a meandering route through Oak Creek Canyon, the Cleopatra Mine, Mayer and Bumble Bee. Much of this was along the Old Black Canyon Highway, scratched out of the 1878 Black Canyon stagecoach trail. It begins:  

It was snowing up in Flagstaff but we knew that the desert would be hot. 
So we crawled beneath the blankets. The dog always got the warmest spot, woof woof. 
It was 2 days to Christmas and we crawled into the back of dad’s old truck. 
Eight hours down to Phoenix -- if we didn’t run out of water, tires or luck. 

“I-10 Highway”

This song is a nostalgic journey, as Ellis recalls a trip along Interstate 10 to Tucson, where he passes farmers and reminisces about a sense of community and purpose. He also waxes historic about the instantly-recognizable Picacho Peak. 

It begins: 

Arizona I-10 Highway, there’s a trucker going my way, play a tune in the afternoon with a guitar that I carry on my back. 
I can see the sign to Tucson, from the freeway that I ride on, telling me all the sights to see down in Tucson, that are long gone with each puff from a diesel stack. 
As I pass the irrigation roads (and) crops some Pima farmer grows, folks flipping by like the pages of a worn-out history book. 
And the story that it seems to tell the pride of his work in a job done well and the cooperation of a reservation full of neighbors and the labors of his people (that it took).  

Ellis has been writing and performing songs about Arizona, its people, heritage, culture, wildlife and beauty, since 1959. Learn more about the State Balladeer, by reading these blog posts: 

Arizona's official balladeer celebrates I-17 Mystery Tree

State balladeer croons nostalgic over 'I-10 Highway'

State balladeer sings of drive from Flagstaff

Learn more about Ellis, his performance schedule, history and songs at DolanEllis.com. You can also learn about the Arizona Folklore Preserve in Ramsey Canyon in the Huachuca Mountains, which Ellis founded to preserve songs celebrating Arizona’s western heritage and culture, at ArizonaFolklore.com. 

 

What you see in these photos may seem like little more than a chunk of old pavement.

And it's true that, today, this aged segment is merely a modest pedestrian walkway outside of Prescott.

But belly on up and listen closely. This is a relic of the “Old Black Canyon Highway,” and it has a grand story to tell.

It begins in the pre-statehood days of the mid-1860s before there were highways, automobiles or railroads. It tells of a how a route that was little more than a footpath evolved into the Interstate 17 Black Canyon Freeway.

This is how it went, according to our comprehensive 2011 Arizona Transportation History.

The original Black Canyon Highway followed a Native American trail that wove along the Agua Fria west of Phoenix, twisted through a gorge and traipsed up a plateau that spreads from the Bradshaw Mountains to the edge of the Verde River valley.

 Are you listening? Can you hear marching feet?

“In 1864, the part of this route between Dewey and Prescott was declared the first public road in the new Arizona Territory,” ADOT’s history says. “Soon it was being used by the U.S. Army as part of a route from Fort Whipple, outside Prescott, to Fort McDowell, east of Phoenix.”

It had a major makeover in 1877, when Maricopa County included the Black Canyon route on a roster of wagon roads that would be constructed from Phoenix to Prescott.

Hear the galloping hooves?

In 1878, the first stagecoach line began operating on the route from Cañon, today’s Black Canyon City, to Prescott. It may sound glamorous, but the horse-drawn carriages provided passengers a jarring 30-hour ride. There were steep climbs, dangerous crossings of the Agua Fria River and the threat of literal highway robbery by bandits.

But no matter how risky, the route was convenient (for the times), and when Arizona became a state in 1912 the stagecoach road along the Black Canyon route had become a favorite of early automobile enthusiasts.

Can you hear loud engines and honking horns?

The road stayed like that for a while. Competing highway projects, politics and an old-time railroad that shortened the trip prevented the Black Canyon road from turning into a major highway for several more decades.

It wasn’t until 1936 that construction began on State Route 69 between Phoenix and Prescott, a stretch that followed the Black Canyon route and would later comprise part of modern day Interstate 17. The project didn’t get too far along before it was interrupted by the Great Depression and World War II.

After the war, the highway was realigned out of the canyon north of Black Canyon City and up onto the mesa. It bypassed Bumble Bee and the other old mining camps, which by then were mostly abandoned. The new highway was dedicated in December 1952, though it would not be completely paved until 1955.

There’s more than a little sentimentality about making the trip between north and south in those days.

Songwriters Dean Cook, Lon Austin, and Tony Norris wrote the ballad “Rock Springs” about a 1950s family driving in an old pickup truck from Flagstaff to Phoenix at Christmastime. 

Dolan Ellis, Arizona’s State Balladeer, also performs this song, and did so in ADOT’s studio along with two others in December 2019. It puts to verse the meandering route through Oak Creek Canyon, the Cleopatra Mine, Mayer and Bumble Bee. And it delights in the memory of how thirsty travelers would stop at Rock Springs for water and gas.

As the chorus goes: 

And we’ll stop at old Rock Springs, where the water flows so clean.

Cool water in the desert was a thirsty traveler's dream.

And we’d stop at old Rock Springs, where the water flows so clean.

Cool water in the desert was a thirsty traveler's dream.

Construction on today's I-17 started in earnest in 1956 and wasn't finished in northern Arizona until August 1978.  Even this seems a ways back. But now you know how this important interstate grew from a footpath more than 160 years ago.

This was just a thumbnail sketch, but you can learn more about the extraordinary history of this highway in an earlier ADOT blog. 

The use of thermal detection cameras to spot wrong-way vehicles on freeway off-ramps along Phoenix-area freeways will continue to grow, especially after the cameras have worked well as part of a pilot project along Interstate 17. 

As one example, you can look ahead to significant stretches of Loop 101 currently being widened to also have the thermal camera wrong-way vehicle alert technology added.

ADOT began operating the I-17 alert system in January 2018 along the 15-mile stretch of the Black Canyon Freeway between the I-10 “Stack” interchange near downtown and the Loop 101 interchange in the north Valley.

Thermal cameras were the key components installed to detect wrong way vehicles and immediately alert both ADOT and the Arizona Department of Public Safety so troopers can respond faster than waiting for 911 calls and operators in the ADOT Traffic Operations Center can quickly post warning messages for other drivers with just the push of a button.

ADOT’s I-17 system, a first-in-the-nation effort, was designed to reduce the risks created by often-impaired wrong-way drivers. Our assessment found the thermal cameras are very reliable in detecting those vehicles. 

ADOT’s look at data from the I-17 project shows more than 100 wrong-way drivers set off alerts when thermal cameras detected their vehicles. More than 85 percent of the drivers made a self-correcting turn on an exit ramp without entering the freeway. The I-17 system includes specialized background-illuminated signs along off-ramps that light up toward a potential wrong-way driver in an effort to get that driver’s attention.

While the I-17 system went through testing, ADOT converted thermal cameras already in use for traffic signal timing so they also can detect wrong-way vehicles. Cameras at Loop 101 interchanges between 59th Avenue and Bell Road in the northwest Valley were among those set for such detections.

The majority of interchanges along the new Loop 202 South Mountain Freeway have thermal cameras set up to send wrong-way vehicle alerts to ADOT and AZDPS. Wrong-way vehicle technology projects are underway along Loop 303 from I-10 in the West Valley on up to the I-17 interchange in north Phoenix. 

Thermal cameras also will be in place at off-ramps along the Loop 101 Price Freeway between Baseline Road and Loop 202 in Chandler and the Loop 101 Pima Freeway between I-17 and Princess Drive in the north Valley. The wrong-way vehicle alert technology was added to the ongoing widening projects taking place in those areas.

ADOT will pursue opportunities to deploy thermal cameras along other Valley freeways as well as state highways, starting with rural interstates, as funding and necessary fiber-optic infrastructure become available. ADOT’s assessment of the I-17 pilot system also recommends installing the illuminated, flashing “Wrong Way” signs at urban locations as funding allows.

While we will continue to stress that technology can’t keep a wrong-way driver from getting behind the wheel, nor can it physically prevent a crash, it continues to show that it is an important tool to use to alert law enforcement and warn other freeway drivers when a wrong-way vehicle is detected.

If you're a driver whose travel takes you along Interstate 17 near Central Avenue south of downtown Phoenix, you've likely noticed some changes now that bridge resconstruction work has started in that area.

As we told you about a few weeks ago, we have kicked off our project to replace the aging Central Avenue bridge. The new structure will raise the clearance from 14 to 16 feet, which better allows for modern commercial vehicles, trailer-towed construction equipment and the coming Central Avenue light rail extension. That's a slideshow of the beginning of the $13.5 million replacement project you can see to the right. You can also check out the project's page on our website to learn more.

But after this weekend, you'll notice more changes.

Starting tonight,  the southbound freeway will be closed at Seventh Avenue while northbound will be closed between the Interstate 10 "Split" and Seventh Avenue. When it reopens early Monday morning, traffic will have been switched to using just the northbound bridge, so the southbound bridge can be reconsructed. Once that wraps up early next year, traffic will be switched to the southbound structure so the northbound bridge can be similarly improved. While the project continues, outside of other needed closures or restrictions, we will keep two I-17 lanes open in both directions.

But while we are keeping lanes open, drivers should continue to budget extra time if their commutes take them through the work zone. You can also consider using alternate routes, such as I-10 through downtown Phoenix.

The whole project is scheduled to be wrapped up in fall 2021, and we are confident you will notice and appreciate this improvement.

Work to build a new, larger Interstate 17 bridge over Central Avenue south of downtown Phoenix is now underway as ADOT and partner agencies look ahead to improvements beyond the freeway itself. But the progress also means drivers should consider using alternate routes, including Interstate 10, while the bridge reconstruction requires I-17 lane closures.

The current I-17 bridge, dating back to 1962, provides clearance of just under 14 feet for vehicles passing underneath it along Central Avenue. ADOT’s $13.5 million project will provide a new structure with clearance of approximately 16 feet, which certainly helps with the movement of today’s larger commercial vehicles as well as the variety of construction equipment that is often hauled on trailers.

Meanwhile, the timing of the I-17 bridge reconstruction has been coordinated with the city of Phoenix and Valley Metro, since the modernized bridge will allow the future Central Avenue light rail line to extend south of the downtown area.

If you’re a driver who uses the stretch of I-17 between the I-10 “Split” interchange near Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport and the I-10 “Stack” south of McDowell Road, you should plan ahead for lane restrictions now that a work zone is established in the area between Seventh Street and Seventh Avenue.

I-17 is now narrowed to two lanes in both directions approaching Central Avenue. By early June, additional work will be done to temporarily switch I-17 traffic to one side of the freeway so that the first half of the new bridge can be built. The freeway will operate with two lanes in each direction outside of times when closures or other restrictions are needed for work, mostly during overnight hours or on some weekends. That’s why it might be a good idea to use I-10 as a way to travel beyond the I-17 bridge construction zone.

The entire project is scheduled for completion in fall 2021. Additional information is available at azdot.gov/I17CentralBridge.

When finished, the new I-17 bridge will have been widened enough to accommodate a future project to add auxiliary, or merge, lanes along the right shoulder of I-17 in both directions between the on- and off-ramps at Seventh Street and Seventh Avenue.

It’s another step forward in what regional planners see as major improvements to help manage the traffic needs along one of the original backbone freeways in the Valley of the Sun.