SR 92

Three summer projects improving Sierra Vista-area highways

Three summer projects improving Sierra Vista-area highways

Three summer projects improving Sierra Vista-area highways

May 18, 2018

SIERRA VISTA – With one project nearing completion and two others about to begin, the Arizona Department of Transportation is improving traffic flow on highways in the Sierra Vista area.

On the north side of the city, ADOT has just a few months to go on a project to improve the intersection of State Route 90 and Buffalo Soldier Trail at Hatfield Street. The $2.6 million project, which began last fall, includes wider shoulders, a right-turn lane for northbound traffic on SR 90, new traffic signals and new street lights.

Crews are working now on a retaining wall on SR 90 and removing median islands in the intersection. Completion is expected this summer. Drivers should expect delays and reduced speed limits in the area, which is east of the entrance to Fort Huachuca.

A $3.6 million project to improve the intersection of SR 92 and Foothills Drive began this month. It includes widening the intersection, making signal and drainage improvements, constructing sidewalks and ramps, and adding curbs.

The work is expected to continue until September, with access to area businesses maintained throughout.

In July, crews are scheduled to begin a pavement-preservation project on 4.5 miles of SR 92 between Fry Boulevard and Kachina Trail. The road surface will be milled and repaved, and sidewalks, ramps and curbing will be added. Drivers should anticipate shoulder and lane restrictions and delays in the area.

Information on all three projects is available on at azdot.gov/Projects (see South Central District projects).

A tale fit for Halloween: ADOT’s bat man to the rescue

A tale fit for Halloween: ADOT’s bat man to the rescue

A tale fit for Halloween: ADOT’s bat man to the rescue

October 31, 2016

Lesser long-nosed bat

By Tom Herrmann / ADOT Communications

Just in time for Halloween, we have a not-so-scary tale of bats, a bridge project and an ADOT biologist.

It begins a day or so after Labor Day, just before crews are to start rebuilding the State Route 92 bridge over the San Pedro River between Sierra Vista and Bisbee, Arizona Department of Transportation crews make one last check under the bridge to be sure we're good to go.

We were not. Two lesser long-nosed bats had made a temporary home under the bridge. The photo above shows them in their perch.

The bats are an endangered species, which means we had to stop most work to avoid disturbing them. Most of the time, these migratory bats head to Mexico and farther south well before Labor Day, but our friends decided to hang out a little longer in southern Arizona.

ADOT and the Federal Highway Administration, in consultation with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, decided it would be best to wait until cooler weather encouraged the bats to move on. Our best estimate for that to happen was mid-November.

Enter Josh Fife, a biologist with ADOT Environmental Planning who made several visits to the remote, 61-year-old bridge to check on the bats. The other day, he noticed that they appeared to have flown on. After three straight bat-free days, he gave the OK for work to resume.

In addition to protecting the bats, Fife's checks saved a month of delays on the project, which is expected to be complete by early summer, and the costs associated with waiting.

As Bill Harmon, ADOT’s district engineer for southeast Arizona, put it, “Josh batted 1.000 on this one.”

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Abracadabra: Replacing a southern Arizona bridge while keeping it open to traffic

Abracadabra: Replacing a southern Arizona bridge while keeping it open to traffic

Abracadabra: Replacing a southern Arizona bridge while keeping it open to traffic

September 12, 2016

Project Overview Map

By Tom Herrmann / ADOT Communications

A magician on one of those TV talent competition shows recently reached into his bag of tricks and turned 200 Rubik’s Cubes into an image of Brad Pitt. The judges were amazed.

What ADOT crews are doing with a bridge in southeast Arizona may not make Simon howl, but it’s every bit as magical. They’re replacing a 61-year-old bridge with a wider, better bridge – without ever stopping traffic from using the old one. And they’ll do it right before your eyes.

We’re replacing the old two-lane Santa Cruz River bridge on State Route 92 between Sierra Vista and Bisbee. The bridge, built in 1955, no longer meets modern bridge standards.

The bridge will only be closed one day at the start of the work so crews can prepare the bridge for one-way traffic. For the next eight months, traffic will move on one side of the bridge while ADOT crews do their magic below the other side.

Don’t worry; we’ve done this before, on the SR 90 a few miles to the north. Girders stay in place to support traffic while we replace the piers and build a new, wider deck.

Why are we doing it this way? This approach will spare drivers a potentially long and difficult detour. There is a one-lane bridge a few miles away on Hereford Road, but the next-closest bridge is on SR 90, an inconvenient route for people who live near the border.

By next summer, the old bridge will be gone, a new one will be in its place and not once will SR 92 drivers have been without their bridge.

Abracadabra.

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SR 92 San Pedro River Bridge replacement work begins

SR 92 San Pedro River Bridge replacement work begins

SR 92 San Pedro River Bridge replacement work begins

September 9, 2016

PHOENIX – Southern Arizona drivers can expect minor delays for the next eight months on State Route 92 in southern Cochise County as crews work to replace a 61-year-old bridge over the San Pedro River.

The bridge will close from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Monday, Sept. 12, so Arizona Department of Transportation workers can put temporary striping, construction barriers and a traffic signal in place. Drivers will use Palominas and Hereford roads as an alternate.

The bridge is expected to remain open throughout the project, with traffic alternating in one lane as crews work on the other lane. The temporary traffic signal will control traffic throughout the $4.3 million project, which is expected to be completed by June.

Crews have already begun clearing vegetation around the bridge, which is near milepost 340, about halfway between Sierra Vista and Bisbee. Crews will work weekdays from 6 a.m. until 2 p.m., with work hours shifting to 7 a.m. until 3 p.m. during winter months.

The existing bridge was constructed in 1955 and no longer meets modern bridge standards. The new bridge will be a 362-foot-long, three-span concrete girder bridge that provides greater clearance above the river. The bridge will feature a 12-foot-wide travel lane in each direction with 10-foot-wide shoulder on each side.

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