PHOENIX – This week’s winter storms will have many desert dwellers heading to the high country to toss snowballs, make snow angels, sled, etc., etc. Have a great time if you’re among them, but leave prepared to spend extended time in frigid conditions and pack a fully charged cellphone and other safety essentials.  

Wherever you decide to play in the snow, make sure it isn’t along a highway. Using shoulders for anything but emergencies can endanger you, your passengers and other motorists while interfering with first responders and snowplows. In addition, the Arizona Department of Transportation’s plows can throw snow and ice a great distance off the roadway.

Pack plenty of patience and common sense along with coats, blankets, snacks, water and other essentials that ADOT lists here.

Pay close attention to the forecast. The latest for Arizona’s high country calls for snow showers to decrease but continue into Saturday around Flagstaff while persisting over the White Mountains. Be sure to slow down on roads slick with snow and ice.

With ADOT’s snowplows likely to be operating in many areas this weekend, always respect the plow. Stay a minimum of four vehicle lengths behind and don’t pass a snowplow until the operator pulls aside. Remember: The safest place on an icy highway is behind a snowplow.

Larger crowds tend to gather on weekends around the holidays at popular areas such as US 180 northwest of Flagstaff. That often leads to delays at day’s end when people stream home en masse.

You may be able to reduce the chance of being caught in delays by starting back early. And those taking US 180 through Flagstaff can save time by using a marked alternate route to Interstate 40 at Butler Avenue, via Switzer Canyon Drive and Route 66, and then heading west to I-17.

The Flagstaff Convention & Visitors Bureau lists designated snow-play sites at FlagstaffArizona.org and offers a winter recreation hotline at 844.256.SNOW.

Be sure to check highway conditions before hitting the road. Visiting ADOT’s Arizona Traveler Information site at az511.gov or calling 511 will alert you to incidents as well as snow and ice on the road. For Interstate 17 travelers, ADOT’s message boards provide estimated travel times to Flagstaff, Prescott and other popular high-country destinations.

The free ADOT Alerts app, available for iOS and Android devices at ADOTAlerts.com, will notify users about weather-related closures. In addition, it will alert those along US 180 if delays back to Flagstaff appear likely.

PHOENIX – Arizona Department of Transportation snowplows will operate around the clock when winter storms hamper travel on state highways. For Interstate 40 between Flagstaff and Williams, the highest freeway stretch in Arizona, an innovation known as the TowPlow helps give ADOT an edge by allowing just one driver to clear snow and ice from two lanes.

The TowPlow is a steerable trailer with a 26-foot blade that attaches to the back of a snowplow. Two TowPlows are assigned to I-40 west of Flagstaff, an area that often sees intense snowfall.

Able to do the job of two snowplows by clearing a 24-foot-wide path, this combination lets ADOT clear more lanes in less time using less fuel. When possible, ADOT will run another snowplow alongside the TowPlow setup, clearing both lanes and the shoulder at once.

Everyone benefits from having all of ADOT’s two TowPlows and nearly 200 snowplows clearing highways rather than having some taken out of service when misguided motorists crash into them. That’s why ADOT’s Know Snow tips include this simple request: Respect the plow.

Here’s how you do that:

• Give them room: Stay well behind any snowplow – a minimum of four vehicle lengths.
• Don’t try to pass: Plow drivers will move over periodically and allow traffic to pass when it is safe to do so.
• Think safety: The road behind a snowplow is the safest place to drive.

ADOT’s 400 snowplow drivers undergo extensive training so they can keep state highways safe. With the potential for winter storms to hit soon, now it’s time for you to get to Know Snow by reviewing ADOT’s safety tips at azdot.gov/KnowSnow.

For starters, slow down when roads are slick with snow and ice, leaving extra room behind the vehicle ahead. Take a fully charged cellphone, warm clothing and an emergency kit that includes blankets, food and water, medication and sand or kitty litter.

Check your vehicle before heading out in winter weather, making sure – at a minimum – that the tires, heater and windshield wipers are in good shape.

Before traveling, research weather conditions to determine whether it would be smarter to sit out a storm so ADOT’s snowplows can clear highways. Check road conditions by calling 511 or visiting az511.gov. ADOT’s Twitter account (@ArizonaDOT) and Facebook page (facebook.com/AZDOT) provide real-time information and interaction. And the free ADOT Alerts app available at ADOTAlerts.com will send critical information, including alternate routes, should snow and ice close a major highway.

So do you Know Snow in Arizona? If not, now’s the time to start learning with a trip to azdot.gov/KnowSnow.

PHOENIX – When blowing dust reduces visibility along 10 miles of Interstate 10 between Eloy and Picacho Peak, a detection and warning system developed by the Arizona Department of Transportation will quickly tell drivers to reduce speed for safety.

ADOT is completing installation of sensors, overhead message boards, variable speed limit signs, speed-feedback signs and closed-circuit cameras to create this first-of-its-kind detection and warning system in an area that is prone to sudden dust storms. The prototype system is expected to begin operating in the coming weeks between mileposts 209 and 219.

Those entering this stretch of I-10 already see signs saying Caution: Variable Speed Limit Corridor. This alerts drivers to a key part of the system: programmable signs that can instantly reduce the legal speed limit.

Placed every 1,000 feet for the first mile in each direction and then every 2 miles, the variable speed limit signs can change from 75 mph to as slow as 35 mph when there is blowing dust.

Electronic message boards placed 5 miles apart in the pilot area will alert drivers to blowing dust, while ADOT traffic operators can use overhead message boards on the way toward the dust detection zone to warn drivers of potentially hazardous conditions ahead.

Closed-circuit cameras will allow staff at ADOT’s Traffic Operations Center in Phoenix to see the real-time conditions on the roadway, while in-pavement sensors will report the speed and flow of traffic.

Along with the threat from monsoon storms in the summer and fall, conditions in this stretch of I-10 are such that strong wind any time of the year can suddenly produce localized dust that severely reduces visibility, a phenomenon known as a dust channel.

The warning system also includes weather radar, which will be mounted on a 20-foot tower at the State Route 87 interchange in Eloy, that can detect storms more than 40 miles away. This radar will complement 13 sensors mounted on posts next to the freeway that use beams of light to determine the density of dust particles in the air.

In addition to enhancing safety by providing earlier warnings about blowing dust, this innovative system will advance ADOT’s understanding of whether similar technology can be effective in other locations around Arizona.

The system, costing about $6.5 million, is funded in part by a $54 million federal FASTLANE grant ADOT received for I-10 projects that widened stretches between Eloy and Picacho and between Earley Road and Interstate 8 in Casa Grande to three lanes in each direction. As part of those projects, costing $115 million in all, ADOT improved interchanges at State Route 87 near Eloy and Jimmie Kerr Boulevard in Casa Grande.

Technology can’t replace common sense when it comes to driving into a dust storm. Though drivers will have almost instantaneous warnings about hazardous conditions along these 10 miles, the safest course of action will remain putting off travel if a severe storm is imminent. If caught in a sudden dust storm in or beyond the pilot area, a motorist should pull far off the roadway, turn off lights and remove one’s foot from the brake.

For additional information on dust storms and safety, including what to do if caught in blowing dust, please visit PullAsideStayAlive.org.

PHOENIX – The Arizona Department of Transportation is completing a project to install hundreds of new, more visible wrong way signs along Phoenix-area freeways as part of ongoing efforts to get the attention of often-impaired drivers who go the wrong direction on off-ramps or in travel lanes.

Updated, more noticeable wrong way signs are among countermeasures the state is using to reduce the risk of serious crashes caused by wrong-way drivers.

The most recent $2.1 million sign project is a continuation of ADOT’s statewide initiative in recent years to replace older signs with larger and lowered “wrong way” or “do not enter” signs along exit ramps on Valley freeways and other Arizona highways.

As an example, updated red wrong way signs on posts along off-ramps have been increased in size from 30 by 24 inches to 48 by 36 inches. Over time, the bottom edge of such signs has been lowered to approximately 3 feet above the ground, rather than 7 feet, to have them closer to a wrong-way driver’s line of vision.   

The latest wrong way sign upgrades have included sections of interstates 10 and 17, US 60 (Superstition Freeway), State Route 51, Loop 101 (Agua Fria Freeway) and Loop 202 (Santan Freeway).

In addition to the ground-mounted signs along exit ramps, the current project includes dozens of large wrong way signs installed on bridges or sign structures on the Valley freeway system. These noticeable signs, measuring 5 feet by 8 feet, are above the left lanes of freeways where wrong-way drivers tend to travel

ADOT first installed 26 of these larger signs above the left lanes of I-17 in Phoenix in 2017 in association with the first-in-the-nation thermal-camera wrong-way vehicle alert system being evaluated by the state.

The wrong way signage project in the Phoenix area, paid for with federal highway safety funds, also has added more of the white pavement arrows pointing in the correct direction of travel along many of the freeway exit ramps where the new wrong way sign upgrades have been made.

PHOENIX – The Arizona Department of Transportation has received a 2019 National Roadway Safety Award for the wrong-way vehicle alert system being tested on Interstate 17 in Phoenix.

ADOT’s project is one of seven nationally to receive the awards, in which the Federal Highway Administration and Roadway Safety Foundation recognize roadway safety achievements that move the United States toward a goal of zero deaths and serious injuries on the nation’s roadways.

“This award acknowledges a key part of Arizona’s aggressive, coordinated response to reduce the risk of serious crashes caused by wrong-way drivers and make our roads safer,” Governor Doug Ducey said. “In addition to innovative engineering that’s leading the nation, we’ve increased penalties for those who drive the wrong way while impaired and invested in having more state troopers patrolling during nighttime hours, when wrong-way driving occurs most. We have more work to do, and improving safety for all our road users will continue to be a priority.”

This first-in-the-nation, $4 million system installed along 15 miles of I-17 uses thermal cameras to detect and track wrong-way vehicles while also immediately alerting ADOT and the Arizona Department of Public Safety. This can save state troopers valuable time in responding to incidents rather than waiting for 911 calls from other motorists, while also allowing ADOT to quickly alert other drivers via overhead message boards.

Since ADOT installed it in early 2018, the I-17 system has detected more than 90 wrong-way drivers, nearly all of whom turned around on off-ramps. 

The system’s 90 thermal cameras are positioned to detect wrong-way vehicles entering off-ramps or traveling along I-17. A detection also triggers an internally illuminated wrong-way sign with flashing red lights aimed at getting the attention of wrong-way drivers.

ADOT is completing an evaluation of the I-17 system to determine which elements should be used on other freeways, including the Loop 202 South Mountain Freeway.

For more information on the award, please visit RoadwaySafety.org.