Phoenix

How I-17 cross streets got their names

How I-17 cross streets got their names

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How I-17 cross streets got their names

How I-17 cross streets got their names

By Julian Lopez / ADOT Communications
August 31, 2024
A screengrab that says "How did these I-17 cross streets get their names?"

Back in June, we posted this video on social media that shared how US 60 Superstition Freeway cross streets – Mill, Rural, McClintock, Dobson, etc. – were named and many users asked us to look at other highways and streets.

Most of them wanted us to dig into Interstate 17. So, we did.

While I-17 travels more than 140 miles between Phoenix and Flagstaff, we focused on the nearly 30-mile stretch from between the Durango Curve and State Route 74. Here's how many of those cross streets got their name.

Buckeye Road: Buckeye Road is named after the city of Buckeye. The Buckeye Canal was established in 1885 and M.M. Jackson, one of its founders, named it after his home state of Ohio.

Grant Street: Grant Street is named after our 18th president, Ulysses S. Grant. 

Jefferson Street: Jefferson Street is named after our third president, Thomas Jefferson. 

Adams Street: Adams Street is named after our second president, John Adams.

Van Buren Street: Van Buren Street is named after our eighth president, Martin Van Buren.

The Stack: The Stack is a four-level interchange connecting Interstate 10 and I-17, west of downtown Phoenix.

McDowell Road: McDowell Road is named after Civil War General Irvin McDowell. Camp McDowell and Fort McDowell are also named after him. 

Thomas Road: Thomas Road is named after William E. Thomas, Arizona’s Territorial Deputy County Recorder in the early 1900s. 

Indian School Road: Indian School Road was named after the Phoenix Indian School, which opened in the 1890s.

Camelback Road: Camelback Road is named after Camelback Mountain.

Bethany Home Road: The road is named after the Bethany Home, which was a tuberculosis sanatorium in the early 1900s.

Glendale Avenue: Glendale Avenue is named after the city of Glendale, Ariz. The city of Glendale started as a temperance colony in the 1800s.

Northern Avenue: Northern Avenue is named for being at the northern edge of the Salt River Valley.

Dunlap Avenue: Dunlap Avenue is named after former Phoenix Mayor John T. Dunlap, who was the city’s mayor from 1904-05. 

Peoria Avenue: Peoria Avenue is named after the city of Peoria, Ariz., which was settled by families from Peoria, Ill.

Cactus Road: Cactus Road is named after the town of Cactus, which was northeast of Sunnyslope.

Thunderbird Road: Thunderbird Road is named after a nearby U.S. Army Corps training field for Allied pilots during World War II. 

Greenway Road: John Greenway was an Arizona pioneer who fought in the Spanish-American War and World War I.

Bell Road: Harvey Bell was a farmer who helped organize the Paradise Verde Irrigation District in 1916. The district was responsible for the Horseshoe Reservoir on the Verde River.

Union Hills Drive: Union Hills Drive is named after the Union Mine, a gold mine in Yavapai County.

Deer Valley Road: According to media reports, Deer Valley Road is named after a contest the city of Phoenix held in the 1940s or 1950s where residents could pick names for different regions in the city.

Pinnacle Peak Road: Named after nearby Pinnacle Peak.

Happy Valley Road: Our research could not find a definitive origin of Happy Valley.

Jomax Road: Jomax Road is named after sisters Josephine and Maxine Durham. The road led to a nine-hole golf course that Maxine owned with her husband, Fritz.

Sonoran Desert Drive/Loop 303: We couldn’t find a definitive reason for why this street was named Sonoran Desert Drive, but the Sonoran Desert spans parts of Arizona, California and Mexico.

Carefree Highway: Carefree Highway is named for the Town of Carefree, which is named after the “Carefree Development Corporation,” which founded the town.

Note: We want to thank the City of Phoenix Streets Department and City of Phoenix historian Steve Schumacher for helping confirm some of the harder-to-find information.

 

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I-10 Deck Park Tunnel in Phoenix dedicated to late ADOT engineer

I-10 Deck Park Tunnel in Phoenix dedicated to late ADOT engineer

I-17 101 traffic interchange

I-10 Deck Park Tunnel in Phoenix dedicated to late ADOT engineer

I-10 Deck Park Tunnel in Phoenix dedicated to late ADOT engineer

May 7, 2024

Dean Lindsey managed implementation of I-10’s ‘Final Mile’ in the 1980s

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.  

 

1,000 cubic yards of concrete poured for new Broadway Road bridge

1,000 cubic yards of concrete poured for new Broadway Road bridge

I-17 101 traffic interchange

1,000 cubic yards of concrete poured for new Broadway Road bridge

1,000 cubic yards of concrete poured for new Broadway Road bridge

January 25, 2022

What takes 11 hours to empty, weighs just over 2,000 tons and can cover a football field half a foot deep? It's the 1,000 cubic yards of concrete that was poured over the weekend in conjunction with the Arizona Department of Transportation's Interstate 10 Broadway Curve Improvement Project.

On Saturday, I-10 Broadway Curve Improvement Project crews completed a critical step for the foundation that will support the new Broadway Road bridge that is being constructed over I-10. They poured 1,000 cubic yards of concrete to create what is called a “bridge footing.” This footing is a large concrete slab that will play an important role in the support and distribution of weight for the new bridge. 

The new bridge over I-10 is one of several bridges being replaced or widened as part of the I-10 Broadway Curve Improvement Project. Crews will take down the existing Broadway Road bridge after the new one is completed later on in the project. 

For more information on the I-10 Broadway Curve Improvement Project, visit https://i10broadwaycurve.com/  

To see video of the concrete pour: https://vimeo.com/669560984

ADOT’s dust detection system named as a ‘Gamechanger’

ADOT’s dust detection system named as a ‘Gamechanger’

I-17 101 traffic interchange

ADOT’s dust detection system named as a ‘Gamechanger’

ADOT’s dust detection system named as a ‘Gamechanger’

March 24, 2021

The first-of-its-kind dust detection and warning system installed by the Arizona Department of Transportation has been named one of the “Infrastructure Gamechangers” by the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE).

The detection system, which was completed by ADOT on a 10-mile stretch of Interstate 10 between Phoenix and Tucson in 2020, is among only four highway-related projects recognized nationally this year by the ASCE. The organization recognizes groundbreaking projects that represent the latest advancements in the way engineers plan, build and adapt to infrastructure needs. 

In announcing the national “Gamechangers,” ASCE President Jean-Louis Briaud said, “With resources stretched thin, finding solutions that can make the most of the tools afforded us can driver safety, variable speed corridor, be a challenge, but is an essential component of improving the built environment. ADOT’s dust-monitoring system will keep drivers safe and I-10 drivers moving efficiently. This project highlights the innovative nature of civil engineers, adapting to unique challenges to ensure our systems better serve the public.”

ADOT State Engineer Dallas Hammit added, “This recognition by our engineering peers is gratifying because it acknowledges the tremendous innovation and creativity that has gone into developing a system that will greatly enhance safety for drivers travelling through what can sometimes be a very challenging environment.”

Driving on Interstate 10 between Phoenix and Tucson during summer monsoon months can be hazardous when windblown dust reduces visibility, causing dangerous driving conditions. This technology has created an unprecedented innovation that helps increase driver safety. 

“Safety is our first priority and this first-of-its-kind technology answers a real need to make a very busy portion of highway much safer for motorists. It has already proven its effectiveness in recent dust storm events,” said Brent Cain, the director of ADOT’s Transportation Systems Management and Operations Division “Being chosen as an ASCE Gamechanger is a great honor.”

Drivers passing through the detection and warning zone encounter signs saying “Caution: Variable Speed Limit Corridor.” Soon after, a series of programmable speed limit signs every 1,000 feet can change the legal speed limit from 75 mph to as low as 35 mph. Additional variable speed limit signs are placed every 2 miles.

Overhead electronic message boards in and near the corridor alert drivers to blowing dust and warn them to slow down. Speed feedback signs inform drivers of their actual speeds.

Thirteen visibility sensors mounted on posts along the freeway use light beams to determine the density of dust particles in the air. Once visibility drops to certain levels, the system activates overhead message boards and the variable speed limit signs.

The sensors are complemented by a weather radar on a 20-foot tower at I-10 and State Route 87. It can detect storms more than 40 miles away, providing additional warning of incoming storms to ADOT and forecasters at the National Weather Service.

This technology is monitored by ADOT’s Traffic Operations Center in Phoenix, where staff can see real-time information on conditions such as the speed and flow of traffic. Closed-circuit cameras provide visual confirmation of conditions along the roadway and in the distance.

For additional information on dust storms and safety: www.pullasidestayalive.org

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