PHOENIX – The South Mountain Freeway’s first new interchange at 40th Street has opened on schedule, an important step forward for the state’s largest-ever freeway construction project.

The interchange is ready for traffic less than four months after 40th Street closed south of Cottonwood Lane to allow construction of the new interchange.

At 92 feet wide, the interchange has nearly double the capacity of the previous intersection of 40th Street and Pecos Road. It will have two southbound lanes that will continue south of the freeway, two left-turn lanes to eastbound Loop 202 South Mountain Freeway, and a right-turn lane to westbound Loop 202. There also are two northbound lanes, with a left-turn lane to westbound Loop 202, and a dedicated northbound left-turn lane into the Park & Ride parking lot.

The fully functioning interchange includes ramps that will allow drivers to enter and exit the future freeway lanes in both directions. While construction continues, speed limits will remain at 40 mph on both future freeway lanes and the remaining sections of Pecos Road.

There also is a new traffic signal at Cottonwood Lane and 40th Street, which will benefit drivers turning into and out of the Park & Ride lot, as well as neighborhood traffic.

The new design also will give bus riders a new option for entering the 40th Street Park and Ride location. In addition to entering from 40th Street, drivers can enter and exit from the westbound on-ramp to Loop 202. The entrance to the Park and Ride is about 100 yards west of 40th Street.

In addition, the Wild Horse Pass Hotel and Casino and the Phoenix Premium Outlets will be accessible either from I-10 and Wild Horse Pass Boulevard, or by taking 40th Street south to Willis Road.

The 22-mile freeway is scheduled to open in 2019, with final construction slated to wrap up early next year.

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. For information on the project, visit SouthMountainFreeway.com.

PHOENIX – After construction on 40 bridges over more than two years, workers have placed the final girder for the Loop 202 South Mountain Freeway, the Arizona Department of Transportation’s single largest-ever freeway construction project.

Crews with Connect 202 Partners, the freeway developer, lowered the 91-foot, 77,000-pound girder into place recently at the interchange under construction at Desert Foothills Parkway in Ahwatukee. This work will be followed by pouring the concrete deck for the overpass later this month.

More than 1,000 girders, all of them manufactured locally, have been installed for the 22-mile freeway, which will connect with Interstate 10 at the Loop 202 Santan Freeway in Chandler and 59th Avenue in west Phoenix.

Along with the South Mountain Freeway interchange under construction at 17th Avenue, Desert Foothills Parkway will have a first diverging diamond configuration, in which local street traffic makes a temporary shift to the left side while crossing the freeway, allowing for direct left turns onto entrance ramps. In addition to enhancing safety, a diverging diamond interchange is designed to move traffic efficiently because there is no need for left-turn arrows.

Both interchanges will be partial diverging diamonds because neither Desert Foothills Parkway nor 17th Avenue continues to the south. A typical diverging diamond interchange accommodates local traffic approaching from both directions.

A full diverging diamond interchange is scheduled to open in summer 2020 at the Happy Valley Road and Interstate 17, and one is planned for Houghton Road at I-10 in the Tucson area.

The South Mountain Freeway is expected to open to traffic before the end of 2019, with work continuing into 2020. The largest freeway construction project in Arizona history, 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 information on the project, visit SouthMountainFreeway.com.

PHOENIX – With all bridge girders in place, frontage road construction underway and an overpass built over railroad tracks, among other milestones, Loop 202 South Mountain Freeway construction continues advancing along the 59th Avenue alignment south of Interstate 10 (Papago Freeway) in west Phoenix.

In the first half of 2019, crews working on this Arizona Department of Transportation project have made significant progress along the Papago segment between Interstate 10 and Lower Buckeye Road, including:

• Placing the last bridge girder, measuring 97 feet long and weighing 83,000 pounds, for the Van Buren Street traffic interchange.
• Starting construction on the 59th Avenue northbound frontage road between Buckeye Road and Van Buren Street that is slated to open late this year.
• Opening the future 59th Avenue southbound frontage between Van Buren Street and Buckeye Road to carry two-way traffic until the northbound frontage road is completed.
• Pouring the concrete bridge deck for the Lower Buckeye Road interchange. The Buckeye Road and Van Buren Street interchanges are next in line for similar work.
• Building an overpass over the Union Pacific Railroad tracks.

The South Mountain Freeway will include 2.5-mile frontage roads to maintain northbound and southbound access to businesses and residences adjacent to the freeway between Roosevelt Street and Lower Buckeye Road. These one-way frontage roads will have two travel lanes in each direction and traffic signals at each major intersection.

With various lane closures still in place along 59th Avenue for final construction between I-10 and Lower Buckeye Road, motorists should consider alternate routes such as 51st and 67th avenues until late 2019. While business access is being maintained at all times, the potential for delays will continue.

Motorists should slow down and obey the speed limit and allow extra travel time.

The South Mountain Freeway is scheduled for full completion in 2020, although traffic is expected to be using the freeway earlier. It 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, please visit SouthMountainFreeway.com.

PHOENIX – Another section of Pecos Road in Ahwatukee is closing permanently as traffic moves onto the future Loop 202 South Mountain Freeway’s westbound lanes between 32nd Street and the Interstate 10/Loop 202 Santan Freeway interchange. Meanwhile, 40th Street is closing temporarily through the work zone to accommodate interchange construction.

To set up these changes, Pecos Road between 24th Street and I-10, along with 40th Street south of Cottonwood Lane, will be closed from 7 p.m. Sunday, May 12, to 5 a.m. Monday, May 13. Pecos Road traffic will then be moved onto the South Mountain Freeway prior to the Monday morning commute.

East-west traffic will remain on this section of Loop 202 in a temporary configuration, with two lanes in each direction, until the freeway opens.

This is the second shift of Pecos Road traffic onto the South Mountain Freeway. In February, Pecos Road traffic moved onto the freeway’s future eastbound lanes between 17th Avenue and Desert Foothills Parkway.

With 40th Street scheduled to be closed south of Cottonwood Lane until September, alternate north-south routes include I-10 and 24th and 32nd streets. Motorists will be able to access the 40th Street/Pecos Park-and-Ride by using 40th Street from the north, and those traveling to Wild Horse Pass Hotel and Casino and the Phoenix Premium Outlets should take I-10 to Wild Horse Pass Boulevard.

Crews also will be paving the on- and off-ramps for the 40th Street interchange, making cross-street improvements, installing new traffic signals and completing additional grading and drainage work.

The 22-mile South Mountain Freeway is scheduled for full completion in 2020, although traffic is expected to be using the freeway earlier. It 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.

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

PHOENIX – Dobbins Road has reopened to traffic west of 51st Avenue in Laveen with construction nearly complete on a Loop 202 South Mountain Freeway interchange.

An extended closure allowed crews to accelerate construction of the interchange, including building a two-span, 215-foot-long bridge over Dobbins Road. In all, the South Mountain Freeway will include 42 bridges, including 15 interchanges, along its 22 miles.

Since late October 2018, crews at Dobbins Road have:

• Moved more than 350,000 cubic yards of earth to create bridge approaches and ramps
• Installed underground utilities and drainage structures
• Applied aesthetic treatments that feature the “River Bank” pattern honoring the area’s agricultural heritage
• Placed foundations for traffic signals and lighting

Some overnight closures of Dobbins Road between 59th and 63rd avenues will be needed to complete remaining bridge work and painting.

This is the fourth interchange in the Salt River segment (Lower Buckeye Road to 51st Avenue) to be substantially completed, along with Southern Avenue, Elliot Road and Estrella Drive. The Broadway Road and Baseline Road interchanges remain under construction in the Salt River segment and are expected to be completed this summer.

The South Mountain Freeway is scheduled for full completion in 2020, although traffic is expected to be using the freeway earlier. It 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 – As part of the state’s largest single highway project ever, a stretch of Interstate 10 through the Loop 202 South Mountain Freeway work zone in west Phoenix will receive a fresh layer of rubberized asphalt, requiring multiple traffic restrictions and closures this month.

The entire length of the I-10 work zone, 4.5 miles between 43rd and 75th avenues, will get a new final riding surface. That begins this month west of 63rd Avenue, and crews will complete work east of 63rd Avenue in the fall after bridge work is complete in the I-10 median.

This weekend, both directions of I-10 between 59th and 83rd avenues will be reduced to two lanes to allow crews to lay asphalt from the median barrier to the HOV lanes from 9 p.m. Friday, May 3, to 5 a.m. Monday, May 6. In addition, the eastbound HOV on-ramp and westbound off-ramp is closed at 79th Avenue.

The remainder of the I-10 travel lanes will be paved the following two weekends and will require full closures of I-10 as follows:

Westbound I-10 between 51st and 83rd avenues will be closed from 10 p.m. Friday, May 10, to 5 a.m. Monday, May 13. The westbound I-10 on-ramps at 27th, 35th, 43rd, 67th and 75th avenues will be closed to help reduce traffic backups.

Eastbound I-10 between 83rd and 51st avenues will be closed from 9 p.m. Friday, May 17, to 4 a.m. Monday, May 20. The eastbound I-10 on-ramps at 99th, 91st, 83rd, 79th and 75th avenues will be closed to help reduce traffic backups, along with the eastbound on-ramp I-10 at Loop 101 (Agua Freeway) and Thomas Road.

Motorists should consider alternate routes, including the Loop 101 west of Interstate 17, or exiting I-10 sooner and taking local streets to re-enter past the closure point.

Crews will mill off the top inch of pavement that has reached the end of its service life and replace it with a new top layer of rubberized asphalt.

The South Mountain Freeway is scheduled for full completion in 2020, although traffic is expected to be using the freeway earlier. It 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 information on the project, please visit SouthMountainFreeway.com.

ADOT works to inform the public about planned highway restrictions, but there is a possibility that 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.