SR 88

PHOENIX – Arizona Department of Transportation crews are removing vegetation, grading the roadway and repairing drainage culverts to prepare for a project that will restore limited access to a stretch of State Route 88 (Apache Trail) that has been closed since severe flooding in 2019.

The work is preparing the roadway for a $4 million interim project scheduled to begin this summer that will make the 5 unpaved miles that remain closed near Fish Creek Hill east of the Phoenix area (mileposts 222-227) accessible to high-clearance four-wheel drive vehicles and utility task vehicles.

GLOBE - The Arizona Department of Transportation has reopened a nearly 2-mile segment of State Route 88 west of Theodore Roosevelt Dam to provide access to Reavis Trailhead Road/Forest Road 212.

PHOENIX – The Arizona Department of Transportation and the Tonto National Forest are starting a project this week to pave and make other improvements to an 11-mile gravel section of the highway between Apache Lake and the Theodore Roosevelt Dam. 

The work includes installing an aggregate base and covering it with a chip seal, in addition improving drainage features that are not functional or have been damaged by flooding. The project will also improve sight lines at five locations.

PHOENIX – Due to a closure of most parts of the Tonto National Forest, State Route 88 has been closed east of Tortilla Flat and between Roosevelt and Apache lakes.

The eastbound closure of SR 88, also known as the Apache Trail, begins at milepost 213 beyond Tortilla Flat, which remains accessible. The westbound closure begins at State Route 188. 

PHOENIX –  State Route 88 reopened Monday just west of State Route 188, once again allowing access between Roosevelt Lake and Apache Lake, according to the Arizona Department of Transportation. Rockfall had closed the road at milepost 242, 2 miles west of Roosevelt Lake, while crews removed earth and rocks.

However, a section of SR 88 remains closed indefinitely between the Fish Creek Hill scenic overlook at milepost 222 and the Apache Lake Marina turnoff near milepost 229. This is because extensive damage occurred last year from flooding out of the Woodbury Fire burn scar. 

PHOENIX –  Rockfall has closed State Route 88 just west of State Route 188, blocking access between Roosevelt Lake and Apache Lake, according to the Arizona Department of Transportation. The closure is at milepost 242, which is 2 miles west of Roosevelt.

There is no estimated reopening time; however, this is expected to be an extended closure while crews remove earth and rocks.

PHOENIX – The Arizona Department of Transportation has reopened 9 miles of State Route 88 between Tortilla Flat and the Fish Creek Hill scenic overlook to the east, but an unpaved stretch remains closed indefinitely between the overlook and the Apache Lake Marina turnoff due to extensive flood damage.

Those taking State Route 88 (Apache Trail) between Apache Junction and Tortilla Flat should use caution with some areas at the edge of the roadway coned off while the Arizona Department of Transportation addresses flood damage.

PHOENIX – A section of State Route 88 (Apache Trail) has reopened from SR 188 to the Apache Lake marina turnoff after being closed because of flood damage.

Motorists can now access Apache Lake by taking SR 188 either from US 60 or SR 87 and taking SR 88 west. High clearance vehicles are recommended on this unpaved section of SR 88.

Motorists using SR 88 should be aware of the possibility of severe flooding and debris flows from areas affected by the Woodbury Fire, which burned 100,000 acres immediately east of and uphill from the highway.

Flooding from the hurricane remnants that lashed Arizona last week, exacerbated by tens of thousands of acres of high desert burned in the Woodbury Fire, caused extensive damage along State Route 88 east of the Valley.