SR 87

PAYSON – The Arizona Department of Transportation is starting a pavement replacement project on State Route 87 south of Payson in order to create a smoother driving surface and extend the life of the roadway.

The project will start on Tuesday, Sept. 6, north of the community of Rye and stretch nine miles up to Indian Road, which is mileposts 241 to 250. Drivers heading to and from the Valley and Payson and the White Mountains area should expect lane restrictions and travel delays during the project.

Did you know that several Arizona highways can bring you into locales named for various types of flora?

These families remember the loved ones they've lost all year long by keeping their small part of Arizona grand and litter-free.

PHOENIX – Drivers can expect delays along an 11-mile stretch State Route 87 between Payson and Pine this week while Arizona Department of Transportation crews clean up litter that has built up along the highway.

SR 87 will be restricted to one lane with alternating north- and southbound traffic from 7:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 23, through Thursday, Feb. 25. Drivers should expect delays and intermittent stops while flaggers direct traffic through the work zone between mileposts 255 and 266.

Drivers should slow down, watch for personnel and obey all traffic signs.

State highways can take you to some truly great places. State Route 87 will get you to this historic schoolhouse in Strawberry.

How do you know that a slope is secure? Why, you use incinometers and piezometers, of course!

PHOENIX - The Arizona Department of Transportation has been honored by the Arizona Transportation Partnering Excellence Award Committee for excellence shown in a number of infrastructure and other projects statewide in 2020. 

These awards recognize transportation partnership teams that show a high degree of achievement by using partnering principles and processes related to the transportation industry.

Riprap and hydro-seeded mulch may not sound that interesting, but they are doing the important work of keeping drivers safe on State Route 87.

PHOENIX – The Arizona Department of Transportation is installing three new traffic signals on State Route 87 near Sacaton to enhance safety and to better manage traffic in an area where traffic volumes have nearly tripled in the past two decades.

Working with the Gila River Indian Community, ADOT is adding the signals at Sacaton Road, SR 187/Olberg Road and at Gilbert Road.

Who better to set a good example and help clean a stretch of highway than the Boy Scouts?

PHOENIX – The Arizona Department of Transportation has completed the replacement of guardrail along more than 11 miles of SR 87 northbound after it was damaged in the Bush Fire this summer.

With the new guardrail in place, lane restrictions along northbound SR 87 toward Payson have been removed. Crews had been gradually reducing the lane restriction as sections of guardrail were replaced.

ADOT secured federal emergency relief funds to cover the $2 million cost of repaired guardrail and the right-of-way fence.

PHOENIX – Drivers heading north to Payson, the Mogollon Rim and the White Mountains for the Labor Day holiday weekend should budget extra time and consider alternate routes with 7 miles of State Route 87 still limited to one lane while crews repair guardrail and fencing damaged by the Bush Fire. 

Following wildfires this summer, there is a high chance of flooding. Here is what ADOT is doing to deal with the issue.

Three ADOT projects from the last year have been recognized as some of the best in the industry in the 2020 America's Transportation Awards.

PHOENIX – While the Arizona Department of Transportation has an ongoing project to replace the guardrail and right-of-way fence along state routes 87 and 188 after they were damaged in the Bush Fire, the landscape surrounding those highways cannot be so quickly fixed, making the whole area susceptible to flooding during summer monsoon storms.

That’s why ADOT has developed an emergency action plan to respond quickly in case of flooding.

More than 20 years ago, ADOT did a careful balancing act of widening State Route 87.