PHOENIX – The first interchange under construction in Laveen for the Loop 202 South Mountain Freeway is taking shape, with a closure of Elliot Road at 59th Avenue allowing crews to make significant progress in a short time.

After extensive earthwork, six large concrete piers are now planted in the future median of the South Mountain Freeway. More than 300,000 cubic yards of dirt has been moved to create bridge approaches and ramps.

The piers will soon support a 272-foot, two-span bridge that will carry Elliot Road traffic over the South Mountain Freeway. Later this month, 26 concrete girders will be set on the piers to form the bridge.

Scheduled to open in March, it will be the first South Mountain Freeway bridge to be used by motorists. 

Since late October, crews have also installed underground utilities and drainage structures, including a 4-foot-wide storm drain crossing, and built retaining walls, called mechanically stabilized earth walls.

The retaining walls are the first to feature the “River Bank” aesthetic treatment reflecting Laveen’s agricultural heritage. This is one of five aesthetic patterns that will be used along various stretches of the South Mountain Freeway.

Following completion of the bridge and reopening Elliot Road at 59th Avenue in March, additional work needed to complete the interchange will include paving the ramps and mainline freeway, signage, final striping and landscaping.

Local traffic can detour to Dobbins Road between 59th and 75th avenues until the bridge is completed.

The South Mountain Freeway, which is slated to open late 2019, will provide a long-planned direct link between the East Valley and West Valley and a much-needed alternative to I-10 through downtown Phoenix. Approved by Maricopa County voters in 1985 and again in 2004 as part of a comprehensive regional transportation plan, the South Mountain Freeway will complete the Loop 202 and Loop 101 freeway system in the Valley.

For more information on the South Mountain Freeway, visit SouthMountainFreeway.com.

 

PHOENIX – The Loop 202 South Mountain Freeway remains on track to open by late 2019 with the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco affirming a U.S. District Court ruling that allowed the Arizona Department of Transportation to move forward with construction.

“This is a clear victory for one of the nation’s fastest-growing regions, ensuring that progress will continue on a project that will make this a better place to live and do business,” ADOT Director John Halikowski said. “ADOT has worked closely with the city of Phoenix, the Maricopa Association of Governments and Federal Highway Administration to develop the most extensive environmental review of any highway project to date in Arizona, and the courts have taken notice of this by ruling in favor of this project at every step.”

In a ruling released Friday, the Ninth Circuit affirmed an August 2016 ruling by the U.S District Court of Arizona on all issues.

The 22-mile freeway will provide a direct link between the East Valley and West Valley and a much-needed alternative to Interstate 10 through downtown Phoenix. Approved by Maricopa County voters in 1985 and again in 2004 as part of a comprehensive regional transportation plan, the South Mountain Freeway will complete the Loop 202 and Loop 101 freeway system in the Valley.

Halikowski added, “We’re committed to delivering on a promise to Maricopa County voters to complete the Loop 101 and Loop 202 system that will connect communities and employment centers while helping position the Phoenix area for continued growth and opportunity.”

Major construction on the South Mountain Freeway began early this year, and progress is evident throughout the entire 22-mile corridor. In Ahwatukee Foothills, interchanges are taking shape at 17th Avenue and 40th Street. In Laveen, crews are building two half-mile-long bridges that will provide a much-needed grade separated crossing over the Salt River. In the West Valley, the skyline is changing daily along Interstate 10 as work continues to create an interchange connecting with the South Mountain Freeway at 59th Avenue, including several flyover ramps.

For more information, visit SouthMountainFreeway.com.

PHOENIX – Construction equipment is now able to travel over 40th Street using new concrete bridge decks that eventually will carry traffic on the Loop 202 South Mountain Freeway.

Another sign of progress on a 22-mile freeway that’s scheduled to open by late 2019, deck construction is one of the final steps in building a bridge. At 40th Street in Ahwatukee, the work followed several months of fabricating and installing piers, abutments and girders.

In November, crews pumped approximately 235 cubic yards of concrete, enough to fill more than 20 dump trucks, into the eastbound and westbound steel-reinforced bridge decks during several nightly closures at the 40th Street and Pecos Road intersection. 

Then a self-propelled concrete leveling machine, called a bidwell, spread the concrete to ensure a flat surface throughout. After the concrete has had an opportunity to cure and reach maximum strength, vehicles can travel over the bridge.

Concrete approach and support slabs were also poured on the eastbound bridge, while the next phase of bridge construction will include adding concrete barriers. The bridges will be painted during the final stages of the project.

Deck construction is also occurring on the two half-mile-long bridges over the Salt River in Laveen and will occur next week at the Roosevelt Avenue bridge, just south of the Interstate 10/59th Avenue interchange in west Phoenix. Similar to 40th Street, nightly closures will be needed to complete the Roosevelt Avenue deck pour.

The South Mountain Freeway will provide a long-planned direct link between the East Valley and West Valley and a much-needed alternative to Interstate 10 through downtown Phoenix. Approved by Maricopa County voters in 1985 and again in 2004 as part of a comprehensive regional transportation plan, the South Mountain Freeway will complete the Loop 202 and Loop 101 freeway system in the Valley.

For more information, visit SouthMountainFreeway.com.

PHOENIX – Motorists who normally use Southern Avenue at 59th Avenue need to plan ahead and allow extra travel time as the Arizona Department of Transportation starts construction Monday, Nov. 27, on a Loop 202 South Mountain Freeway interchange in Laveen.

Southern Avenue will be closed at 59th Avenue through March so crews can build the southern half of one of the 22-mile freeway’s 13 interchanges.

Baseline and Broadway roads are among options for east-west travel between 51st and 67th avenues. Heavier-than-normal traffic is expected on alternate routes during this extended closure.

The full closure of Southern Avenue at 59th Avenue will allow crews to install drainage structures and relocate utilities, which require open trenches across the full width of the roadway.

Southern Avenue will be widened to complete the interchange in two phases. Paving in the first phase will allow crews to complete the northern half of the interchange without a second extended closure.

Local traffic and access to nearby schools and businesses will be maintained at all times.

In order to build the interchange, crews will complete the following work:

• Perform earthwork needed for the freeway and connecting ramps
• Begin construction of a 125-foot bridge over Southern Avenue
• Install underground utilities and drainage structures
• Pave the eastbound Southern Avenue lanes

After the Southern Avenue closure is lifted, additional work will include paving the ramps and mainline freeway, installing signage, constructing retaining walls, finishing construction of the Southern Avenue bridge, completing final striping and adding landscaping.

The South Mountain Freeway, which is scheduled to open in late 2019, will provide a long-planned direct link between the East Valley and West Valley and a much-needed alternative to I-10 through downtown Phoenix. Approved by Maricopa County voters in 1985 and again in 2004 as part of a comprehensive regional transportation plan, the South Mountain Freeway will complete the Loop 202 and Loop 101 freeway system in the Valley.

Real-time highway conditions are available on ADOT’s Arizona Traveler Information site at az511.gov, by calling 511 and through ADOT’s Twitter feed, @ArizonaDOT. When a freeway closure or other major traffic event occurs, our free app available at ADOTAlerts.com will send critical information directly to app users in affected areas – where possible, in advance of alternate routes.

PHOENIX – Another critical step in building the Loop 202 South Mountain Freeway will start Monday, Nov. 27, as construction begins on the Southern Avenue interchange, work that will require an extended full closure of Southern at 59th Avenue.

The closure, scheduled to last through March, will allow crews to build the southern half of one of the South Mountain Freeway’s 13 interchanges, including moving more than 450,000 cubic yards of dirt. Sixteen concrete piers have already been planted to support a bridge over Southern Avenue.

During the closure, traffic will detour to either Broadway or Baseline roads between 51st and 67th avenues. Approximately 10,000 vehicles per day travel through the intersection of Southern and 59th avenues.

In order to build the interchange, crews will complete the following work:

• Perform earthwork needed for the freeway and connecting ramps
• Begin construction of the 125-foot Southern Avenue  bridge over the freeway
• Install underground utilities and drainage structures
• Pave the eastbound Southern Avenue lanes

Southern Avenue will be widened to complete the interchange in two phases. This paving will allow crews to complete the northern half of the interchange without an extended closure.

After the Southern Avenue closure is lifted, additional work will include paving the ramps and mainline freeway, installing signage, constructing retaining walls, finishing construction of the Southern Avenue bridge, completing final striping and adding landscaping.

This is the second South Mountain Freeway interchange under construction in the Laveen area. Last month, work started on the Elliot Road overpass. Elliot Road at 59th Avenue will remain closed through the end of March.

The South Mountain Freeway, which is scheduled to open in late 2019, will provide a long-planned direct link between the East Valley and West Valley and a much-needed alternative to I-10 through downtown Phoenix. Approved by Maricopa County voters in 1985 and again in 2004 as part of a comprehensive regional transportation plan, the South Mountain Freeway will complete the Loop 202 and Loop 101 freeway system in the Valley.

For more information on the South Mountain Freeway, visit SouthMountainFreeway.com.

PHOENIX – When the Loop 202 South Mountain Freeway opens to traffic in late 2019, sound walls lining one or both sides along 11 of its 22 miles will reduce noise near neighborhoods and incorporate designs specific to various segments.

As the corridor looks more and more like the freeway it will become, crews have started building sound walls between 40th and 48th streets in Ahwatukee and near the Interstate 10 interchange at 59th Avenue in west Phoenix.

Sound walls, the most common type of noise-reducing barrier used along Phoenix-area freeways, are designed to limit the intensity of freeway traffic noise that travels into nearby areas.  Extensive studies helped determine where sound walls are needed for the South Mountain Freeway.

“Sounds walls can significantly reduce freeway noise by blocking the path that sound waves travel from the traffic toward a residential area,” said Rob Samour, ADOT’s senior deputy state engineer for major projects. “Combined with our use of rubberized asphalt pavement, we’ll be able to limit traffic noise throughout the entire corridor, similar to other Valley freeways.”

The South Mountain Freeway sound walls will mostly range between 16 and 20 feet in height. In all, the freeway’s sound walls will include more than 1 million masonry blocks.

Construction involves installing concrete footings for foundations, along with placing reinforced steel within the footings to support masonry blocks that are stacked layer upon layer. Later, the walls will be painted and aesthetic panels will be added to complete the look.

Along with retaining walls and other features, sound walls will help create the freeway’s distinctive aesthetic character areas complementing its surroundings, helping tell an area’s story and creating a more appealing environment for drivers. One pattern will evoke the Laveen area’s agricultural heritage, while others will feature desert plants and simple shapes based on native cholla and ocotillo cactuses.

In contrast to vertical lines on walls along other Valley freeways, the South Mountain Freeway’s sound and retaining walls will display horizontal lines. These were designed in collaboration with the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation to honor the legendary architect’s connection with the South Mountain foothills, where he worked on the design for a resort that wasn’t built following the 1929 stock market crash.

The South Mountain Freeway, which is slated to open late 2019, will provide a long-planned direct link between the East Valley and West Valley and a much-needed alternative to I-10 through downtown Phoenix. Approved by Maricopa County voters in 1985 and again in 2004 as part of a comprehensive regional transportation plan, the South Mountain Freeway will complete the Loop 202 and Loop 101 freeway system in the Valley.

For more information on the South Mountain Freeway, visit SouthMountainFreeway.com.

PHOENIX – The skyline is changing almost daily at Interstate 10 and 59th Avenue as an interchange takes shape that will connect with the Loop 202 South Mountain Freeway in west Phoenix.

After work completed last weekend, motorists now see the first girders, more than six stories above I-10, for a flyover ramp that will carry South Mountain Freeway traffic to westbound I-10.

Two large cranes hoisted and placed the concrete girders, each approximately 150,000 pounds and up to 165 feet long, during an overnight closure of eastbound I-10. This 1,565-foot-long bridge will be the longest of five flyover ramps at the interchange, which will allow seamless travel to and from the 22-mile South Mountain Freeway.

In the last two weeks, crews have placed 36 girders to support a concrete bridge deck that crews are scheduled to pour late this year.

The interchange also will include roadways parallel to I-10 between 51st and 67th avenues that will replace direct freeway access to 59th Avenue and improve traffic flow. New auxiliary lanes will feed I-10 traffic to the interchange, and crews also will resurface I-10, create new drainage structures and build retaining and barrier walls.

The South Mountain Freeway will provide a long-planned direct link between the East Valley and West Valley and a much-needed alternative to I-10 through downtown Phoenix. Approved by Maricopa County voters in 1985 and again in 2004 as part of a comprehensive regional transportation plan, the South Mountain Freeway will complete the Loop 202 and Loop 101 freeway system in the Valley.

For a YouTube video of the I-10/Loop 202 interchange construction in west Phoenix, please visit: https://youtu.be/tYtBv6onYZw.

For more information on the South Mountain Freeway, visit SouthMountainFreeway.com.

PHOENIX – Pecos Road between 40th and 24th streets will be closed this weekend for utility work for the Loop 202 South Mountain Freeway. The Arizona Department of Transportation is urging Ahwatukee motorists to consider alternate routes, such as Chandler Boulevard.

The Pecos Road closure starts 3 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 28 and extends to 5 a.m. Monday, Oct. 30. The closure will allow crews from Connect 202 Partners, the developer for the Loop 202 South Mountain Freeway, to excavate trenches across Pecos Road to relocate utilities for the 22-mile-long freeway.

Access to Pecos Storage will be maintained from 32nd Street during this work.

In addition, 40th Street will closed between Briarwood Terrace and Pecos Road on Thursday, Oct. 26 from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. and Friday, Oct. 27 from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. for ongoing bridge work at the 40th Street traffic interchange.

ADOT works to inform the public about planned highway restrictions, but unscheduled closures or restrictions may occur. Weather can also affect a project schedule. To stay up to date with the latest highway conditions around the state, visit ADOT’s Arizona Traveler Information site at az511.gov or call 511.

You can stay informed about the South Mountain Freeway project and sign up for updates and weekly traffic alerts at SouthMountainFreeway.com.