By Caroline Carpenter / ADOT Communications

Our ADOT photographers perfectly captured the reflection of an employee on the job in this week's Art of Transportation. He's just one of the 3,800 ADOT employees working to provide a safe, connected and cost effective transportation system for Arizona citizens.

The sign in the above photo was likely made in the ADOT sign shop by another ADOT employee. It’s one of 500,000 signs ADOT maintains across the state. Our blog post on sign installation and our blog on replacing signs will give you more insight into how ADOT manages its half a million signs statewide.

Art of Transportation

We think there is beauty in transportation. It’s not all hard hats and pavement. Art of Transportation is a blog series featuring unique photos our team has taken while on the road or on a construction project.

With hundreds of blog posts in our archives, we understand if you haven’t had a chance to read them all.

However, there’s a lot of interesting content in those early posts and we don’t want you to miss out. That’s why we’re looking back and highlighting some of our favorites in a new series called, “From the Rearview Mirror.”

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Originally published on Aug. 22, 2013, this blog post gives a behind-the-scenes look at the ADOT Sign Shop, a place where thousands of signs are created each year. We followed this post up with a look at how ADOT created signs back in 1979 (surprisingly many of the methods employed then are still being used today!).

A look at ADOT's Sign Shop

Behind the scenes at ADOT's Sign Shop.

The ADOT Sign Shop is one very busy place…

Nearly 35,000 signs were created there during last fiscal year alone – that averages out to almost 3,000 signs each month!

Work orders come in from all over the state and can range from one or two signs to enough to re-sign a whole route (as was the case after a landslide forced a closure on US 89 – multiple new signs were needed to make drivers aware of the detour routes).

In addition to all the signs you see as you’re driving the state’s highway system, the sign shop crew also is responsible for creating the signs posted in ADOT rest areas and MVD offices.

Every sign is created by following guidelines (relating to size, color, shape, etc.) established in the federal Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices and ADOT’s Manual of Approved Signs.

Sign Shop Supervisor Marvin Phillips says his busy crew is dedicated. “Our customers are the driving public,” he said. “Their safety is our No. 1 concern.”

Check out the slideshow above for a behind the scenes look into ADOT’s Sign Shop.

ADOT crews put up some new signs last week, but hopefully you’ll never get a good view of them while you’re on the road…

That’s because these signs are there to tell drivers that they are driving the WRONG WAY.

“Do Not Enter” and “Wrong Way” signs are already in place along freeway off-ramps, but these new, larger versions are being installed and studied along exit ramps at six freeway interchanges. The decision to enhance wrong-way driver signs and markings and observe their effectiveness follows discussions between ADOT, the Arizona Governor's Office of Highway Safety and the state’s Department of Public Safety.

In addition to being bigger (the “Do Not Enter” signs are increased in size from 30 by 30 inches to 48 by 48 inches and the new “Wrong Way” signs measure 48 by 36 inches.), the signs are being placed lower on their posts to see if that will help in alerting confused or impaired wrong-way drivers.

As you can see in the video above, crews also added pavement markers in the shape of large arrows pointing the right way along the exit ramps. Those pavement markers have reflectors to display the color red as a warning to any drivers going the wrong way on the ramps. The reflectors are already in use as part of the lane markings on freeways.

It is not yet known how long the new signs and other changes will be studied before a decision is made about an expansion of the program to other state freeway or highway locations. There are more than 100 traffic interchanges on the Phoenix-area freeway system and more than 475 interchanges along the rest of the state highway system.

ADOT and other public safety agencies work in support of the three E’s of highway safety: engineering, education and enforcement. The sign changes and the addition of the reflective pavement marker wrong-way arrows are examples of near-term engineering steps ADOT can implement and study as part of an overall effort to reduce the risk of wrong-way drivers.

When you’re taking your next road trip through the state, you’ll likely notice our new signs that designate each of Arizona’s 14 highway rest area locations as “Safe Phone Zones.”

The signs are part of a nationwide effort to encourage drivers to pull into a safe location to use their phones for calling, texting and accessing mobile apps. They’re also the result of a partnership with GEICO.

This sponsorship program is part of ADOT’s rest area public-private partnership program, which we told you about last October, and is ADOT’s first fully implemented public-private partnership. Under this five-year agreement, Infrastructure Corporation of America, a private company, manages the daily maintenance and operations of the rest areas, and has implemented a sponsorship and advertising program to generate revenue for reinvestment in the rest areas. The GEICO sponsorship is the first one to move forward. ADOT still owns all 14 rest areas.

As you can see in the video above, ADOT Director John Halikowski was joined earlier this week at ADOT’s offices in Phoenix by representatives from the Arizona Governor’s Office of Highway Safety, GEICO and Infrastructure Corporation of America to unveil the new Safe Phone Zone signs.

“ADOT’s top priority is safety and we are committed to educating the public about the dangers of distracted driving,” said Director Halikowski. “These Safe Phone Zones provide travelers with the opportunity to pull into a rest area where they can use their phones safely and responsibly. We are able to move this project forward because of the legislation enacted to generate public-private partnerships in Arizona — partnerships that have proven to be an innovative approach to funding transportation projects with non-traditional funding sources.”

ADOT is one of several state departments of transportation to implement public-private partnerships to move public transportation projects forward with private investment. For more information about ADOT’s public-private partnership program, go to azdot.gov/P3.

Remember last weekend when I-10 was closed through downtown Phoenix for an APS power line project?

Even though it wasn’t shut down for an ADOT project, we did take advantage of having a totally empty freeway by getting some chores done, including cleaning the Deck Park Tunnel and installing some new freeway signs.

This particular installation (on I-10 at the 12th Street overpass), shown above, took just eight hours.

While the video speaks for itself, we do want to point out a few things…

• The new signs are coated with highly reflective, prismatic sheeting. Because of that, the sign requires no electrical lighting (that’s a cost savings!).
• You’ll notice that the “old” signs had a bit of graffiti painted on them, which is why the new signs have graffiti shields. Graffiti shields are intended to prevent someone from reaching over to spray graffiti on the signs – the two-foot shield extensions make it nearly impossible. Graffiti is no small matter. Besides often being an eyesore, the paint can affect a sign’s readability by obstructing the text and by damaging the sign’s reflective coating.
• While it may not look like it, the new sign is really big. The sign (we’re talking about both of the green panels) measure in at 16 feet high x 56 feet wide!

For more about ADOT signs, including a look inside the sign shop, check out our previous blog posts.

When a new highway sign is installed, the act normally isn’t too noteworthy.

But on Friday March 21, some new signs got a lot of attention because of what they represent…

The new signs mark the future I-11 corridor between Phoenix and Las Vegas. They were installed by ADOT along US 93, a likely route for the proposed interstate. Four of the “Future I-11 Corridor” signs have been installed leading to the Hoover Dam Bypass Bridge, which was constructed in 2010 to interstate-highway standards.

“I-11 will serve a vital role in commerce and trade, not only for Arizona and Nevada but for the country and neighboring nations. Equally important, it will connect the two biggest cities in the United States without an interstate between them: Phoenix and Las Vegas,” Arizona Governor Jan Brewer said at the March 21 event unveiling the new signs. “I-11 will be the first direct trade route from western Mexico to Canada through our two great states. We know transportation is a primary driver of commerce and tourism – and we should continually seek to enhance our economic competiveness. By facilitating the movement of goods and people through a direct Mexico-to-Canada interstate, I-11 will pay dividends in fostering this crucial mission and boosting important international partnerships.”

The 2012 federal transportation bill designated the I-11 corridor between Phoenix and Las Vegas. Efforts are ongoing to secure the same recognition – and perhaps some preliminary funding – for segments stretching south to Mexico and north toward Canada.

“Ultimately, I-11 will be more than a route connecting communities. It will be a transportation corridor linking economies to generate prosperity for the region,” said ADOT Director John Halikowski. “In Arizona, we are focusing on our state’s Key Commerce Corridors. Interstate 11 is part of the mix. The longest concrete arch bridge in the Western Hemisphere, named in memory of Mike O’Callaghan and Pat Tillman, is ready and waiting to be the backbone of the I-11 Corridor.”

The I-11 and Intermountain West Corridor Study

The Arizona and Nevada transportation departments have been working since 2012 on the Interstate 11 and Intermountain West Corridor Study, which includes detailed corridor planning of an interstate link between the Phoenix and Las Vegas metropolitan areas, and an extension of the corridor that would run through southern Arizona to Mexico and north through Nevada toward Canada.

The Interstate 11 and Intermountain West Corridor Study is a two-year, multiphase, high-level study examining the feasibility, benefits, opportunities and constraints of a proposed new interstate highway corridor. This initial study is expected to be completed later this year. Funding to construct a potential corridor has not been identified. In addition to the Arizona and Nevada departments of transportation, the Maricopa Association of Governments, Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada, Federal Highway Administration and Federal Railroad Administration are partners in the study.

For more information about the I-11 and Intermountain West Corridor Study, visit i11study.com or check out our previous blog posts.

What’s in a name, or a number for that matter? You’d still be able to “get your kicks” even if it wasn’t called Route 66…

But it turns out there actually is meaning behind our state’s highway names. That’s what we learned after turning to page 39 of “Arizona’s Transportation History,” a publication produced last year by the ADOT Research Center that takes a look back (way back to the 1400s) at the state’s highway system.

Here’s a passage directly from the report that explains how and why Arizona’s highways were numbered.

It was in late 1925 that the final step was taken toward setting up a modern highway network in Arizona. Following guidelines developed by the American Association of State Highway Officials (in 1973 the AASHO changed its name to the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials – AASHTO) and approved by the Bureau of Public Roads, the highway department assigned each of Arizona’s highways a unique number, with the east-west roads getting even numbers and the north-south roads getting odd numbers.

The National Old Trails Highway, which ran from Lupton to Topock via Holbrook, Winslow, Flagstaff, Ash Fork, and Kingman, was initially designated U.S. Route 60. Soon thereafter it was renumbered U.S. Route 66. Under that number, as the celebrated Route 66 connecting Chicago with Los Angeles, this highway would become Arizona’s most famous stretch of roadway. The Springerville-Holbrook alternate route of the National Old Trails Highway was numbered U.S. Route 70, a designation it would lose in the mid-1930s, when it was renumbered U.S. Route 260.

The Lee/Bankhead/Dixie Overland highways, which ran from Rodeo, New Mexico, to Yuma via Bisbee, Benson, Tucson, Florence, Phoenix, and Gila Bend, was numbered U.S. Route 80. This had been Arizona’s first complete east-west highway, and now, as part of U.S. Route 80, it made up one section of the Southwest’s most important highway, connecting El Paso with Tucson, Phoenix, and Los Angeles.

The northern branch of the Lee Highway, from Duncan, on the New Mexico border, to Phoenix via Globe, was designated U.S. Route 180; later, in the mid-1930s, it was renumbered U.S. Route 70.

Parts of the Grand Canyon–Nogales Highway were designated U.S. Route 380 (south of Tucson) and U.S. Route 280 (between Phoenix and Ash Fork), while a new highway from Flagstaff to Fredonia, on the Utah border, was designated U.S. Route 89. Soon the 380 and 280 numbers were dropped, and the entire highway from Nogales to Fredonia was made part of U.S. Route 89, which eventually would connect Mexico and Canada.

Arizona also began numbering its own highways. The first numbered state highways were State Route 79, from Prescott to Jerome; State Route 87, from Mesa to Casa Grande; State Route 88, which was the Apache Trail; State Route 83, from Vail to Sonoita; and State Route 82, from Nogales to Tombstone via Patagonia and Sonoita. Several of these highways still bear the same numbers today.

Another interesting note we found in the report has to do with the now-familiar symbols for U.S. and Arizona highways. According to the report, just as Arizona routes were being given unique numbers, the state also adopted the “shield” symbol for federal highways and the Arizona-shaped signs for state highways.

More from the report on the signs we now know today as the norm…

The Arizona Highway Department also began putting up standardized road signs, under a system devised by the AASHO and approved by the federal government. These included octagons for stop signs, black-on-yellow diamonds for warning signs, and circles for railroad signs. As part of this signing program, all previous signs put up by the private highway associations and local governments were taken down.

For more on Arizona’s transportation history, check out the report for yourself. You can also get a glimpse of our state’s past by revisiting our “From the ADOT Archives” blog posts.

The ADOT Sign Shop is one very busy place…

Nearly 35,000 signs were created there during last fiscal year alone – that averages out to almost 3,000 signs each month!

Work orders come in from all over the state and can range from one or two signs to enough to re-sign a whole route (as was the case after a landslide forced a closure on US 89 – multiple new signs were needed to make drivers aware of the detour routes).

In addition to all the signs you see as you’re driving the state’s highway system, the sign shop crew also is responsible for creating the signs posted in ADOT rest areas and MVD offices.

Every sign is created by following guidelines (relating to size, color, shape, etc.) established in the federal Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices and ADOT’s Manual of Approved Signs.

Sign Shop Supervisor Marvin Phillips says his busy crew is dedicated. “Our customers are the driving public,” he said. “Their safety is our No. 1 concern.”

Check out the slideshow above for a behind the scenes look into ADOT’s Sign Shop.

How important are all the signs posted along Arizona’s highway system?

Well, we’d literally be lost without them.

Not only do signs tell us where to exit, how fast to travel and when we have to stop, they also can warn of conditions ahead to help keep us safe.

It’s a good bet that signs have been on the roads for as long as ADOT has been building roads.

But, we’re not going back that far today. The photos you see are from just 34 years ago (March 28, 1979, to be exact).

And, believe it or not, many of the methods employed in ADOT’s sign shop then are still being used right now.

We have an upcoming blog post that will show you how modern ADOT crews make signs. Until then, why not check out some of our previous posts about signs? We’ve blogged recently about how ADOT keeps its signs readable, reflective and in good repair.

It’s safe to say things have changed since 1912 when the Arizona Highway Department was first established. But you don’t just have to take our word … we’ve got plenty of pictures to prove it. We combed through our archives and decided to periodically post these photos from the past in a blog series we’re calling, “From the ADOT Archives.”

A whole lot of work goes into making sure ADOT signs stay readable, reflective and in good repair…

That’s why it is so upsetting to see one of those signs after it has been defaced with graffiti.

Graffiti, besides often being an eyesore, can affect a sign’s readability by obstructing the text. And, did you know that spray paint damages a sign’s reflective coating making it more difficult to read at night?

In addition to all that, cleaning graffiti from a sign (or replacing that sign all together) can require a freeway closure, which costs time and money, but is necessary for the safety of the ADOT crews doing the work as well as the driving public.

So, if graffiti is the problem, what’s the answer?

Depending on your commute, you may already have noticed one solution being tested on a few of the state’s highway signs.

Graffiti shields (see photo above) are intended to prevent someone from reaching over to spray graffiti on the signs. The two-foot shield extensions make it nearly impossible.

The shields were designed in-house and are fabricated by ADOT’s Interstate Signing crew. They could potentially mean a cost savings in the long-term because ADOT crews won’t have to replace the signs as often and traffic control isn’t needed to close down a highway. Initial costs for the shields include the need for one full closure, along with labor and materials.

According to ADOT's Interstate Signing Supervisor, Dudley Heller, the aluminum shields are fairly easy to install – they bolt right on to the actual sign. He says a lot of thought was put into the shield design, down to the color. The shields are painted with a flat black paint because if maintenance crews do need to repaint a portion of the shield, there’s no need for color matching out in the field.

The shields seem to be doing their job by keeping taggers away. On top of that, many drivers say they like the look of the shields.

“I’ve gotten a lot of good reviews,” Heller said. “People will tell me, ‘they ought to put the graffiti shields on all the signs’.”

For information on how ADOT combats graffiti on freeway structures, check out this blog post from last year.