SR 260

PHOENIX – To enhance safety and improve traffic flow in a growing area of the Verde Valley, the Arizona Department of Transportation is set to begin upgrading nine miles of State Route 260 to four-lane divided highway between Camp Verde and Cottonwood west of Interstate 17.

The $62 million project, scheduled to start Monday, March 6, also will create seven roundabout intersections at Thousand Trails Road, Coury Drive, Cherry Creek Road, Horseshoe Bend Drive, Wilshire Road and two locations that will accommodate future development.

In an age when most messages get where they're going in a flash, the Hashknife Pony Express endures in a traditional ride along state highways.

PHOENIX – Motorists traveling between Holbrook and the East Valley may see Pony Express re-enactment riders carrying mail along state highways from Wednesday, Feb. 8, through Friday, Feb. 10, according to the Arizona Department of Transportation.

Departing from Holbrook at 8 a.m. Wednesday, the Hashknife Pony Express riders will stop at post offices in Heber-Overgaard, Payson and Fountain Hills en route to their final destination in downtown Scottsdale. The Navajo County Sheriff’s Posse has been staging this 200-mile ride for nearly 60 years.

PHOENIX – Drivers have a wider, safer US 60 climbing west from Superior, a new bridge that will eliminate flooding closures on US 95 near Yuma and a rehabilitated Virgin River Bridge No. 6 on Interstate 15 thanks to just some of the Arizona Department of Transportation projects completed this year in Greater Arizona.

More is on the way in 2017, including widening the last section of State Route 260 between Interstate 17 and Cottonwood, and starting work on a bridge carrying State Route 347 over railroad tracks in Maricopa.

PHOENIX – The Arizona Department of Transportation, White Mountain Apache Tribe and U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs are working together to remove trees considered hazards along the State Route 260 right of way through the eastern Arizona reservation.

Football fans headed to Camp Tontozona near Kohls Ranch should be prepared for heavy traffic on SR 260.

PHOENIX — A little more than six months after the Arizona Department of Transportation eased some weight restrictions on several highways in the White Mountains region to aid forest recovery efforts, more than 67 million pounds of timber has been removed to reduce the risk of future wildfires.

ADOT has been in the news lately for a photo posted to our Twitter and Facebook sites.

Get an update on the SR 260 bridge rehabilitation project, located about 17 miles east of Payson.

Judging from the video above, crews have been busy since we last checked in on the SR 260 widening project east of Payson… Go watch the video from a year ago to compare with today’s and see if you agree (we’ll wait right here!).

The official start of winter is approaching, but the cold weather is already here! Over the past few weeks, we’ve told you how ADOT prepares for the snowy conditions common this time of year in Arizona’s high country.

Some terrain is so rough and rocky that even heavy-duty machinery can’t break through. That was the case last Thursday when ADOT crews used more than 7,000 lbs. of explosives to remove roughly 8,000 cubic yards of material along SR 260, about 20 miles east of Payson.