PHOENIX – Construction of the first traffic interchange in the Laveen area for the Loop 202 South Mountain Freeway will require an extended full closure of Elliot Road at 59th Avenue beginning Monday, Oct. 23.

The closure, which will last through March 2018, will allow crews to accelerate construction of one of the 13 interchanges needed for the South Mountain Freeway.

In order to build the Elliot Road traffic interchange, construction crews will complete the following work:

• Perform earthwork needed for the freeway and connecting ramps
• Build the Elliot Road bridge over freeway
• Install underground utilities and drainage structures
• Construct retaining walls, called mechanically stabilized earth walls
• Place foundations for traffic signals and lighting

During the closure, local traffic will be detoured to Dobbins Road between 59th and 75th avenues.

When the closure is lifted next spring, local east-west traffic will be crossing over the new 272-foot-long, two-span bridge. This will be the first bridge completed as part of the South Mountain Freeway project.

Following the completion of the bridge, additional work will occur at a later date at the interchange and will include paving the ramps and mainline freeway, signage, final striping and landscaping.

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 – Commuting between the West Valley and downtown Phoenix can be a grind due to heavy traffic on Interstate 10. With construction underway on connections between I-10 and the Loop 202 South Mountain Freeway, there’s even more reason for motorists to consider alternative ways of getting where they need to be.

With October designated as Rideshare Month, the Arizona Department of Transportation and Valley Metro are encouraging those who travel regularly along I-10 in the West Valley to leave their cars at home and take the bus, carpool, vanpool, ride a bike, walk or work from home.

While lane restrictions and extended closures for South Mountain Freeway construction aren’t scheduled during rush hours along I-10, this stretch of freeway is the most-traveled in the state with approximately 200,000 vehicles using it per day.

There’s also a reduced speed limit of 55 mph through the construction zone between 43rd and 75th avenues as ADOT completes improvements for the South Mountain Freeway project.

“While capacity has not been reduced on I-10 through the South Mountain Freeway work zone, the lanes are narrower and traffic has been shifted to provide a safe work zone for the I-10 widening improvements that are part of the South Mountain Freeway project,” said Rob Samour, ADOT’s senior deputy state engineer for major projects. “Obeying the speed limit, paying attention and not driving distracted in the work zone are absolutely necessary as we look forward to providing motorists an alternative to I-10 when traveling between the East Valley and West Valley.”

Recently, South Mountain Freeway project team members participated in a Valley Metro webinar to transportation coordinators representing hundreds of large Valley businesses. Topics included an overview of current construction, upcoming traffic restrictions and the need to consider commuting alternatives.

“Rideshare Month offers a great opportunity to make a change in your daily commute if you drive solo. Thousands of Maricopa County residents are supporting clean air initiatives and relieving daily commute stress by being in a carpool, vanpool or riding the bus or train to work,” said Scott Smith, Valley Metro CEO. “Reducing the amount of cars on our freeways, or avoiding the commute altogether by working from home, brings home many personal and community benefits.”  

For more information on ridesharing, including looking for existing carpools and vanpools you can join and transit options, please visit ShareTheRide.com.

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.

I-10 travelers can stay informed about the South Mountain Freeway project and sign up for updates and weekly traffic alerts at SouthMountainFreeway.com.

PHOENIX – On several hot summer mornings, biologists dressed in hiking gear searched crannies along ridges in the southwest corner of the South Mountain Park/Preserve. Their mission: finding and then relocating the elusive chuckwalla.

These large lizards, which are common in the U.S. Southwest and northern Mexico, include the orange-tailed males that are unique to the South Mountain Park/Preserve. While most animals flee when threatened, chuckwallas wedge themselves deep in cracks between rocks.

That’s why the Arizona Department of Transportation, in partnership with the Arizona Game and Fish Department, the Gila River Indian Community’s Department of Environmental Quality and South Mountain Park/Preserve, is working to relocate chuckwallas in the small portion of the preserve where the Loop 202 South Mountain Freeway will pass. Construction in this segment of the 22-mile freeway corridor is scheduled to begin in mid-2018.

“With the work that we are doing in collaboration with our partners, we believe the chuckwalla population will continue to thrive in the area surrounding the South Mountain Freeway,” said ADOT biologist Kris Gade.

Capturing these lizards, which can measure up to 15 inches long, was no easy task. Groups of four to eight biologists made multiple passes, looking deep into crevices in the rocks with flashlights. If a lizard was spotted, the biologists would first attempt to grab it with their gloved hands before the chuckwalla could dive deeper into a crack. If the chuckwalla wiggled too deeply into a narrow crack, it sometimes required multiple biologists to move the rock with a pry bar while another made the capture.

Approximately 120 chuckwallas were captured and released several hundred feet away.

Before they were released, the chuckwallas were weighed and measured, and their feet were tagged with white paint. In addition, 15 chuckwallas were fitted with radio telemetry harnesses so biologists can track their movements. And all got a tiny transponder tag inserted beneath their skin to help biologists identify them during future surveys.

“The Arizona Game and Fish Department routinely works with ADOT to minimize wildlife impacts by highway construction projects,” said Daniel Leavitt, the Arizona Game and Fish Department herpetologist who led the department’s chuckwalla efforts. “That is why it is key to learn what we can about chuckwallas that may impacted by this project and safely relocate them to a new area nearby. Data collected during this partnership will be used to assist in decisions to help conserve and protect chuckwallas and other wildlife near the Loop 202 extension in the future.”

Relocating chuckwallas is just one example of ADOT’s environmental stewardship during construction of the South Mountain Freeway. As with any ADOT project, this began with a biological evaluation to determine what impacts the work will have on plants and animals.

Project biologists are also tracking movements of desert tortoises in the segment where the freeway will pass through the preserve, and working with wildlife rehabilitators as needed to relocate burrowing owls and other wildlife that may be disturbed by construction.

The completed freeway also will have several multiuse crossings in the center segment, identified in consultation with the Arizona Game and Fish Department, to allow wildlife to pass along with hikers and those riding on horseback.

The 22-mile freeway, expected to open by late 2019, 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.

For more information, visit South MountainFreeway.com.

PHOENIX – The Loop 202 South Mountain Freeway, already the largest single highway project in Arizona history, now has the longest bridge girders of their type in the state.

As long as a 17-story building and each weighing as much as 14 elephants, 94 extra-long single span girders have already been placed on two bridge structures (northbound and southbound) that will carry traffic over the Salt River when the South Mountain Freeway opens by late 2019.

Each of the concrete girders weighs 169,000 pounds and is 170 feet long. That’s 9 feet longer than the Arizona Department of Transportation’s current longest span for a similar girder type: 161-foot-long girders set for the Bell Road bridge over the BNSF Railway tracks in Surprise as part of a Grand Avenue (US 60) interchange completed in 2016.

In all, 292 girders will be installed for the Salt River bridges. The girders, which serve as support beams, are manufactured locally and placed during overnight hours.

Currently, crews are installing deck panels ‒ more than 600 thus far ‒ atop the girders that will allow them to pour the concrete bridge deck late this year. Early next year, Connect 202 Partners, the developer responsible for building the South Mountain Freeway, will place the remaining girders on the Salt River bridges.

These bridges, the longest on the project at approximately 2,700 feet, or about a half-mile long, will provide a much-needed all-weather link to and from Laveen when the Salt River flows while also reducing congestion at current crossings.

The city of Phoenix’s 51st Avenue bridge is currently the lone all-weather Salt River crossing between 35th Avenue and Avondale Boulevard. 

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 an ADOT YouTube video on Salt River bridge construction, visit https://youtu.be/Ofs8TSELRy4. For information on the project, visit www.SouthMountainFreeway.com.

PHOENIX – Pecos Road traffic between 17th Avenue and 24th Street in the Ahwatukee Foothills will be briefly detoured to Chandler Boulevard when controlled rock blasting for the Loop 202 South Mountain Freeway project begins Tuesday, Sept. 12.

Periodic closures of Pecos Road are expected to last approximately 30 minutes, as crews need to secure and clear the area. There will be no more than one closure per day, and the work will comply with safety standards established by the city of Phoenix and the U.S. Bureau of Mines.

During these restrictions:

• Pecos Road traffic will be temporarily diverted to Chandler Boulevard via 24th Street or Desert Foothills Parkway, depending on where the work is located. 
• Desert Foothills Parkway and 17th Avenue may be restricted to local traffic only.
• Chandler Boulevard is the alternate route.

To avoid peak travel times, temporary closures of Pecos Road will be limited to weekdays during midday hours (9 a.m.-3 p.m.) through mid-2018.

Message boards in the area will provide advance notice of any traffic restrictions.

The 22-mile South Mountain Freeway, expected to open by 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 controlled rock blasting, visit SouthMountainFreeway.com/Pecos.