2*2*

What, you may ask, is that symbol?

It’s a fair question. Since this is a family-friendly publication, we take pains to never use offensive language. Therefore, we cleaned up the above reference to the year that is mercifully coming to an end. 

And to be honest, this year came with more than its fair share of asterisks. (We’ll be kind and not mention that sports championships in shortened seasons should be labeled as such, so as not to offend our friends to the west).

But we digress…

All of us here at the ADOT Ranch agree that if we hear the phrase “a year like no other” one more time, our family-friendly policy will be sorely tested. But, yeah, 2*2* was… different. 

Even so, that doesn’t mean ADOT didn’t soldier on and pursue its mission to “Connect Arizona. Everyone. Everywhere. Every Day.” We most definitely did that. 

We’d like to tell you about the things we’ve been able to accomplish this year. It’s been a year of challenges that required adaptability and innovation. We are always looking for ways to make things better and, well, this year has certainly put us to the test.

At some times we answered the bell better than others, but we always responded to the unexpected and continued to improve our roadways, bridges, other critical infrastructure, as well as our customer service. That’s our job, and it reminds us of the truth that transportation is personal.  

We thought a video might demonstrate this pretty well, so sit back for a few minutes and take a look at how ADOT responded to “a year like no other.” Ahhh! I can’t believe we said it!

2*2*!

US Route 66 is known as the Mother Road, the very symbol of the rise of the automobile era and cross-country travel. While we will not take anything way from the Main Street of America, further south there existed an equally important route. And, for Arizona at least, it did turn out to be the mother of highways.

That road was US Route 80, though its story starts long before roads had paving, let alone numbering. Part of it was originally broken by Lt. Col. Phillip St. George Cooke as he and the Mormon Battalion created a wagon route between Santa Fe and San Diego during the Mexican-American War. Part of it came from the Gila Trail, which led settlers and gold seekers along a southernly route to California. Other parts came from U.S. Army expeditions and railroad scouting in the second half of the 19th century.

In early 20th century, roads fit for the increasingly popular automobile became necessary. But the burgeoning network didn't have a standardized numbering system. Instead they were given a variety of names such as the Meridian Highway (between Winnipeg, Canada, and Laredo, Texas), National Old Trails Road (Baltimore to Los Angeles) and the Yellowstone Trail (Boston to Seattle). 

In 1914, the Automotive Club of Savannah conceived of the Dixie Overland Highway, which would be a southern all-weather route between Georgia and California. To reach this goal the road would incorporate parts of other routes, including the Lee, Bankhead and Ocean-to-Ocean highways. After some debate San Diego was chosen as the western terminus – though at first the only way to get a car past the sand dunes around Yuma was to use a road made of wooden planks.

According to the Federal Highway Administration, it soon became apparent that the jumble of named highways was too confusing and nowhere near orderly enough for planned continent-spanning highways. In 1925, transportation officials gathered to put into place a system to change all that. From this came the numbering convention we all know and love, as well as the familiar US highway shield, both of which were adopted by the American Association of State Highway Officials, now the American Association of State Highway and Transportation or AASHTO. 

With this change, the southern route that had been the Dixie Overland/Lee/Bankhead/Ocean to Ocean/etc. Highway was dubbed US 80.

In a 1927 printed log of nation's highways, AASHTO listed US 80 as being 2,726 miles long, with the Arizona portion snaking its way through a circuitous route that passed through Douglas, Lowell, Bisbee, Tombstone, Benson, Tucson, Florence, Mesa, Phoenix, Buckeye, Gila Bend, Sentinel and Yuma. The map at top right shows US 80's original route overlayed on the current state highway system, as well as how it traversed Tucson and Phoenix.

Much like its northern sister, US 66, US 80 was an important automobile crossing that became an economic engine for the cities it passed through. Both it and US 66 were completely paved or surfaced with oil in Arizona by the spring of 1939. Following World War II, US 80's traffic even rivaled that of the more famous highway to the north. Over the next couple decades the road's alignment would be adjusted, such as when the Mule Pass Tunnel near Bisbee was completed in 1958 or when it was routed east of the Gila River instead of having to cross at the Gillespie Dam, which you can see in this 1956 map of the state.

So what happened to this once vital road across Arizona? The answer is the interstates. As these new highways were laid out, US 80 was mostly usurped by Interstate 8 and Interstate 10, which either appropriated its alignment or created a quicker bypass.

The end to US 80 in Arizona actually started in 1964 when California began a massive renumbering of its highways. One part of that was retiring or truncating US highways in favor of the interstates. By the end of the decade US 80 ended at Yuma. In 1977, AASHTO approved Arizona's request to remove the US 80 designation from all but the section between the New Mexico state line and Benson. Both Arizona and New Mexico would petition in 1989 to remove the US 80 designation between Benson and Anthony, New Mexico. The remaining stretch in Arizona became State Route 80. Two years later, AASHTO would approve another request to terminate US 80 in Dallas, where it remains to this day.

Though it's been more than 30 years since US 80 has been an actual highway in Arizona, you can still see its influence. The route it once used to serpentine across the bottom half of the state is more or less the same alignment as portions of State Route 80, I-10, State Route 77, State Route 79, US 60, State Route 85 and I-8. More than that, you can still drive portions of "Old US 80" in southwestern Arizona near Yuma and again north of Gila Bend. If you ever get the urge to travel what remains of this mother of Arizona highways, you can find this helpful marker in Gila Bend pointing out the way. 

Did you know that Arizona had 4.54 million visitors in 2018? Or that the state's attractions brought in $24.4 billion in travel revenue in for fiscal 2018?

Impressive, right? But what, we hear you asking, does that have to do with transportation? 

Glad you asked. Because if you look at the 15 top travel destinations for the state, they, with a couple exceptions, have something in common: a handy state highway nearby.

It's true. You can find the visitor numbers reported to the Arizona Office of Tourism for natural and man-made attractions, respectively, here and here.

Take the (unsurprisingly) top tourist attraction in the state: Grand Canyon National Park. Its 6.38 million of its visitors can easily get there from State Route 64. Or State Route 67 if they felt like taking in the view from the North Rim. There's even the ADOT-operated Grand Canyon National Park Airport in Tusayan.

Next down on the list is the London Bridge in Lake Havasu City, which had 3.76 million visitors who wanted to capture the spirit of Old London Town. It's less than a thousand feet from State Route 95.

And how could 3.64 million people expect to play in Lake Powell and the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area if it weren't for US 89?

The Phoenix Zoo, State Farm Stadium, Westworld of Scottsdale, Gila River Arena and the Desert Botanical Garden in the Valley all make the list, falling at numbers 4, 6, 9, 10 and 14, respectively, ranging between 1.4 million and 500,000 visitors in 2018. And each is a short hop from the Loop 202 or Loop 101 freeways. Lake Pleasant Regional Park, with 662,000 visitors, came it at No. 11 and is accessed from State Route 74. 

The list can go on and on: No. 8 Saguaro National Park and Interstate 10; No. 12 Petrified Forest National Park and Interstate 40 or US 180; and No. 15 Bearizona and Interstate 40. 

Next time you gear up for the next big family trip or a local staycation, a state highway is likely nearby to help you get there.

 

You are getting away for a long weekend in the White Mountains. Or maybe you are coming back from a vacation at Rocky Point. Either way, you are on the highway and wondering how much longer until you reach your destination.

Then, a little farther down the road, you see a familiar green shape. It's a sign letting you know that you are now X miles from Pinetop-Lakeside or have Y miles left to get to Phoenix.

Distance signs are an essential part of the state highway system, but how much have you ever thought about them? Questions that occasionally pop up on our social media include why signs list the destinations they do, or what points are those signs measuring to exactly? If that is something that's ever crossed your mind, here's a primer about how exactly distance signs get the job done.

It all starts with which cities to show. Distance signs can show up to three destinations, with the bottom slot reserved for what are known as "control cities."

A control city is defined in Section 300 of our Traffic Engineering Guidelines and Processes as one containing a junction of two or more state or federal highways. A control city also can be one whose location can be easily determined by highway users, is on the state highway map and "whose population and character are generators of sufficient traffic to be a focal point for travel." Control cities for an interstate must meet similar qualifications, with the added stipulation that they be cities of "national significance." 

The listed control city for a route should remain the same along the entire highway until that destination is reached. If there are two cities of equal significance, they can be displayed on alternating boards.

Above control cities go intermediate destinations, which must have at least one motorist service, be a traffic generator that the highway was built to service or be an important route junction. If there are two such cities along the route, both can be shown.

On a rural freeway, the top line should be reserved for the next community the freeway will pass through or the next major highway junction. After that, the next intermediate destination should be displayed. Finally, an upcoming rest area also can be listed in the top or middle slot, if desired.

So we have our destinations. But when the sign says X miles to Payson, where exactly are they measuring to?

This one is a bit easier to answer. The guideline and processes say the distance shown should be to the center of the destination, rounded to the nearest mile. And what exactly constitutes a "center?" It could be anything deemed to be significant near the center of the community, such as a major railroad junction, business district, post office, city/town hall or something similar. 

In case a new sign is needed, our Guidelines and Processes reference has extensive tables listing control cities and other communities along any given state highway, plus mileage figures between the state line and destinations in neighboring states and Mexico.  

And there you have it. You may not remember this the next time a helpful green sign lets you know you still have X miles left to Prescott or Y miles until Bisbee, but it's a good thing to have handy just in case anyone in the car asks. Drive safe out there!

 

For the past nearly four months, bus riders who use the 40th Street Park & Ride in Ahwatukee have had to work around our work.

 

As construction crews finished work on the interchange of 40th Street and the South Mountain Freeway, drivers could only access the Park & Ride from the north, coming down from Chandler Boulevard.

 

Today, not only can drivers access the lot from the south, there’s a new way to enter and exit the parking area.

 

As of Friday, Sept. 6, not only has 40th Street reopened, but so have ramps to the Loop 202 South Mountain Freeway – the first interchange along the South Mountain Freeway to open to traffic. The picture at right shows the interchange in use.

 

And with the new ramps, there is a new way into the park and ride that should be more convenient for many riders.

 

The existing entrance to the parking area remains open. Drivers on 40th Street coming from either north or south can enter there, as they always have.

 

But we’ve added a new entrance from the westbound on-ramp to Loop 202. About 100 yards west of 40th Street, drivers can turn right into the parking area. At the end of the day, drivers also will have the option to enter the westbound on-ramp through that driveway, which should add convenience for many of those who use the park and ride lot.

 

There have been – and will continue to be – inconveniences as we finish the largest freeway construction project in Arizona history. We’ll continue to make every effort to minimize the disruption to your daily schedules while we complete our work. Thanks for your patience.

Have you ever wondered why 411th Avenue in Tonopah is Exit 95 off Interstate 10? Or why if you are turning on to Dragoon Road in southeastern Arizona you take Exit 318?

Or how about using Exit 67 to get to Dateland from Interstate 8, or Exit 322 on Interstate 17 to get to Munds Park?

The answer is deceptively simple: It's all about mileposts.

So, quick background: Mileposts for an interstate start at "0" at either the western or southern state line, and increase as you head in the opposite direction, according to the Federal Highway Administration's page on its website about the interstate system. (The exception in Arizona being I-17 doesn't start at "0" because it took over its alignment and mileposts from the original State Route 69, but that's another story.)

As you head either east or north, the first exit you come to is numbered by the milepost immediately west or south of it. So if an exit is at milepost 8.7, it would be signed as Exit 8. If the next is at milepost 15.2, it will be Exit 15. And so on and so forth. And in case there are multiple exits at the same junction, like in the photo here, you use sequential letters to differentiate the ramps.

Sounds simple, right?

Except that's not always true countrywide. Some states, mostly in the East, don't use a milepost numbering system but rather a consecutive numbering system for their exits. So, coming from the west or south the first exit will always be Exit 1 and the next – no matter how far away – would be Exit 2.

However, the milepost system (or properly the reference location system) is the Federal Highway Administration's preferred way of numbering exits. In the 2009 revision of the Manual of Unified Traffic Control Devices (the federal guidelines for all things highways such as signs, pavement markers, signals, etc.), language was added saying, "Interchange exit numbering shall use the reference location sign exit numbering method. The consecutive exit numbering method shall not be used."

In Section 2E.31, paragraphs 4 and 5, the manual goes onto say why FHWA prefers this over the consecutive method: "Reference location sign exit numbering assists road users in determining their destination distances and travel mileage, and assists highway agencies because the exit numbering sequence does not have to be changed if new interchanges are added to a route"

 

By Steve Elliott / ADOT Communications

A year ago, I shared how I'd spent more free time than I should developing playlists of songs related to transportation: one for my phone and one on Spotify that everyone can enjoy.

Well, I'm still at it. AZ Transportation Tunes, posted by our Spotify account at ArizonaDOT, is approaching 100 songs that celebrate or at least mention ways we get around. You can follow this link to sample it, but the full experience requires a free Spotify account.

So what's new to the list since I last shared this hobby of mine? For me, the highlights include Dolly Parton taking a "Highway Headin' South," Patsy Cline strolling down "Lonely Street" and Dionne Warwick sharing mixed feelings about "Trains and Boats and Planes," shown at right. There also are some great covers, such as Shawn Colvin singing "Lodi," The Cheetah Girls' live concert version of "(Get Your Kicks on) Route 66" and Christina Aguilera and Missy Elliott's "Car Wash" mix from the movie "Shark Tale." With apologies to the Soul Survivors, I'd much rather listen to Margo Thunder's funk-infused rendition of "Expressway to Your Heart."

I've used the past year to address the playlist's deficit in songs about trucks. Del Reeves is "Looking at the World Through a Windshield," while New Riders of the Purple Sage offer one of many memorable versions of "Truck Drivin' Man." Minnie Pearl and Commander Cody and his Lost Planet Airmen tug at the heartstrings with "Giddyup Go Answer" and "Mama Hated Diesels," respectively. And how had I missed "Eighteen Wheels and a Dozen Roses" by Kathy Mattea (at right)? Meanwhile, Jerry Reed's "East Bound and Down" from the movie "Smokey and the Bandit" made my personal list but not ADOT's given its focus on a certain adult beverage.

There's a category I call "Amazing discoveries one makes when Googling 'songs about cars/boats/trucks/planes/trains/etc.'" That yielded Dinah Washington's rendition of "Red Sails in the Sunset" and Alison Krauss' "Endless Highway," among other great songs.

Then there's a category I call, "How did I forget that song?" With an eye toward infrastructure, a coworker noted the omission of the Yes hit "Roundabout" (which requires an investment of more than 8 minutes, by the way). No road trip or movie montage would be complete without Jackson Browne's "Running on Empty" (at right). To my shame, I'd left out Steppenwolf's "Born to Be Wild" and The Who's "Magic Bus." I'd also forgotten "Midnight Train to Georgia" by Gladys Night and the Pips.

If your data plan and vehicle sound system are better than mine, you might want to consider trying out our playlist during your summer travels. You could wind up "Rockin' Down the Highway," "Swinging Down the Lane" or "Walking in the Rain,"

By John Halikowski / ADOT Director

It is hard to believe that we are about to say goodbye to 2018 and ring-in 2019. But, before the calendar page turns to a new year, I want to take the opportunity to highlight just a few accomplishments our Arizona Department of Transportation employees have achieved so far. I am proud of the work we have done. It’s our “Connecting One ADOT” philosophy that exemplifies the true meaning of collaboration and that we work as a system to meet the needs of our customers every day.

So here is a snapshot of what we’ve accomplished in 2018:

• Halfway through the building of the South Mountain Freeway, the first public-private partnership construction project (P3) and the most expensive in ADOT’s history.
• Installed the first-in-the-nation wrong-way driver detection system on a 15-mile stretch of Interstate 17, garnering national attention and achieving the desired results of deterring wrong-way drivers from entering the freeway.
• Received the Government Innovation Award and Best of Class by GCN, an information technology industry magazine, and a runner-up award in the National Operations Center of Excellence (NOCoE) inaugural Transportation Systems Management and Operations (TSMO) Awards for the wrong-way driver detection system.
• Acknowledged by the National Operations Center of Excellence (NOCoE) inaugural Transportation Systems Management and Operations (TSMO) Awards as the winner for Best TSMO Project, Improving an Agency’s TSMO Capabilities, Major Incident or Special Event, and Public Communications for the re-striping and resigning effort on WB US 60.
• Began installing the first-in-the-nation dust detection system on Interstate 10 between Casa Grande and Tucson.
• Continuing the environmental study of the future Interstate 11 corridor.
• Delivered safety campaigns in the form of the “Drive Aware, Get There” Public Service Announcement, and the http, along with another successful safety message contest that generated 2,200 entries and 2,500 votes statewide.
• Established even shorter wait times at our Motor Vehicle Division offices than last year, expanded office hours and offered new services – Permit Test @ Home and ETitle – with more innovative solutions coming next year.
• Recognized MVD with the “Improvement through Efficiencies Service” Award by the American Motor Vehicle Administrators Association (AMVAA).
• Continued to be the national leader in facilitating the development of autonomous vehicle technologies.
• Reduced inactive project balances by over $100 million by Financial Management Services so ADOT has money to commit to more projects.
• Trained 1,750 Mexican commercial drivers by our Border Liaison Unit to meet our vehicle safety requirements at the ports of entry and graduated 523 drivers for the International Border Inspection Qualification (IBIQ) program, ensuring efficiency at border inspections.
• Recovered $6.5 million to restore and repair state highways by our Insurance Recovery Unit.
• Awarded Medals of Valor to eight employees for their heroic actions, along with 13 Director Pins and 13 Citation Awards for service.
• Won two first place awards, Best Internal Newsletter and Best Twitter, at TransComm 2018 by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials communications subcommittee.
• Provided transportation logistics, law enforcement coverage and communication support for the late Senator John McCain’s funeral services.

I wish I had more space to list even more accomplishments. It is an honor to work alongside such dedicated public servants who make transportation personal and provide a safe and reliable transportation system for the citizens of Arizona and the traveling public.

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This post originally appeared on ADOT Director John Halikowski's
LinkedIn page. He has led the agency since 2009.