US 60

Bell/Grand project: Traffic shift allows work to start on new intersection, roadway

Bell/Grand project: Traffic shift allows work to start on new intersection, roadway

I-17 101 traffic interchange

Bell/Grand project: Traffic shift allows work to start on new intersection, roadway

Bell/Grand project: Traffic shift allows work to start on new intersection, roadway

May 20, 2016

SURPRISE ‒ As a $41.9 million overpass and interchange rises at Bell Road and Grand Avenue (US 60), Bell Road  traffic on the east side of the project area is shifting to the south lanes as crews start work on a new intersection and road at 134th Avenue.

The intersection will eventually replace one a block to the west at 134th Drive and Bell Road, and in the coming weeks crews also will be creating a road from this new intersection to 134th Drive north of Bell, maintaining convenient access to businesses there.

It’s another sign of progress on a project designed to alleviate traffic congestion and another a step toward reopening Bell Road by November.

Crews have connected rows of columns on the east side of the project with support beams, known as caps, that will hold girders to carry the overpass and interchange over Grand Avenue and the BNSF Railway tracks. On the west side of Grand Avenue, two complete rows of columns have been completed.

In addition to building and connecting bridge columns, work scheduled in the next week includes: completing a sewer main on Bell Road east of 134th Drive; preparing to pave and form the curb and gutters to build the east side of Grand Avenue; and relocating and installing utilities.

A full closure that began April 1 between 134th Drive and West Point Parkway is allowing faster construction that will have Bell Road open for the holiday shopping season.

The primary detour route is along Dysart, Greenway and Litchfield roads. Please obey all traffic signs and posted speed limits, and also note that additional law enforcement is on patrol.

Access to businesses next to the project area will be maintained throughout the project.

Bell/Grand project: Connecting columns sets stage next phase of construction

Bell/Grand project: Connecting columns sets stage next phase of construction

I-17 101 traffic interchange

Bell/Grand project: Connecting columns sets stage next phase of construction

Bell/Grand project: Connecting columns sets stage next phase of construction

May 13, 2016

SURPRISE ‒ Things are coming together at Bell Road and Grand Avenue (US 60) as crews pour concrete platforms connecting columns for girders that will support a $41.9 million overpass and interchange.

Once rows of columns are completed on both sides of Grand Avenue, crews install wood forms for these concrete platforms, or caps. Later, girders will be placed on them to carry Bell Road over Grand Avenue and the BNSF Railway tracks.

Other work scheduled for the coming week includes installing underground utilities on Bell Road east of 134th Drive and along the new alignment of 134th Avenue, and also preparing to pave and form the curb on the east side of Grand Avenue.

All Grand Avenue traffic in the project area is using lanes that normally carry traffic southeast. When paving and other work is completed for lanes that will carry traffic northwest, all traffic will switch to that side and work will begin work on the southeast-bound lanes.

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The Arizona Department of Transportation’s project remains on schedule for Bell Road to reopen by November. A full closure between 134th Drive and West Point Parkway is allowing faster construction that will have Bell Road open in time for the holiday shopping season.

The primary detour route is along Dysart, Greenway and Litchfield roads. Please obey all traffic signs and posted speed limits, and also note that additional law enforcement is on patrol.

Access to businesses next to the project area will be maintained throughout the project.

Road Trip: Arizona’s piece of US 60, an original transcontinental highway

Road Trip: Arizona’s piece of US 60, an original transcontinental highway

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Road Trip: Arizona’s piece of US 60, an original transcontinental highway

Road Trip: Arizona’s piece of US 60, an original transcontinental highway

May 12, 2016

US 60 Map

By Gant Wegner / ADOT Communications

What Arizona highway features a 5,500-foot elevation change from pine-topped mountains to Sonoran Desert lowlands, a river canyon, tunnel, metropolitan-area freeway and urban corridor, and ranchland, farmland and copper mines?

Hint: It’s not an interstate freeway.

It is US 60.

In its heyday before the construction of the Interstate Highway System, US 60 was the ribbon of transcontinental two-lane blacktop that guided motorists across the lower half of the United States between the beaches of Virginia and downtown Los Angeles. While interstate freeways have replaced much of US 60, some of the original roadway still exists. In Arizona, we have the final few hundred miles, between the New Mexico state line and Interstate 10, about 30 miles east of California.

But US 60 is more than a highway. It is a 400-mile lesson in Arizona history and geography.

Let’s buckle up and take a road trip to see what US 60 offers:

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We start our journey at the New Mexico state line and travel west through rolling ranchland. Remember the late actor John Wayne? He liked this part of Arizona so much he bought the 26 Bar Ranch near Springerville.

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After passing through the town of Show Low (do you get the card game reference?), US 60 heads southwest and up into the “high country” of the Mogollon Rim. Here, high-desert grassland is replaced by stately ponderosa pine trees – the largest stands of this type of pine in the United States – where people enjoy cool, fresh air in the summer and snow in the winter.

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Continuing southwest and across the Rim, we cross a bridge over the Salt River Canyon. Downstream, this river is engineered with dams into four reservoirs that feed an irrigation canal system that turned desert into farmland and spurred the growth of a place we call Phoenix. Next up are the towns of Globe and Miami, home to a major copper mine operation (one of Arizona’s Five C’s).

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Beyond Globe-Miami we drive down from the Rim through some rugged, rocky terrain. ADOT is working to improve the flow of traffic in this corridor by blasting away a hillside to construct a new passing lane.

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Queen Creek Tunnel guides us through a mountainside as we approach the town of Superior. ADOT is adding some 21st-century technology to the interior of this 64-year-old, 1,000-foot-long tunnel. New LED lighting will automatically adapt its brightness to the ambient light outside the tunnel. West of Superior, ADOT is expanding US 60 to two lanes in each direction.

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There is a big change ahead as the scenery opens up to Phoenix’s Valley of the Sun metropolitan area. When US 60 was established through Arizona in the 1930s, Phoenix had a population of 50,000. By 2016, four million people had made the region their home. Over time the highway has been widened and improved by ADOT to handle all the city slickers. It was given a fancy name, too – Superstition Freeway – where six lanes run in each direction through the East Valley.

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Speaking of names, after the Superstition Freeway merges with Interstate 10, US 60 reappears in downtown Phoenix as Grand Avenue, an urban corridor running diagonally through the city. Retro motels and mom-and-pop storefronts are a snapshot of the highway’s past, while landscaping, bike lanes and cross-street overpasses are a nod to today’s urban renewal efforts and transportation engineering efficiencies.

Driving along farther to the northwest, we keep one eye out for street-legal golf carts in Sun City, developed in the early 1960s as the country’s first “active adult” retirement community. Then we are into the suburb of Surprise and the Bell Road/Grand Avenue intersection, site of a critical ADOT project building a Bell Road overpass to cure a traffic bottleneck.

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We leave the metropolitan area and Grand Avenue reverts back to US 60. Forty miles later we enter a roundabout at the junction with US 93, announcing our arrival in the town of Wickenburg. Named after a Prussian (that’s German to you and me) prospector who discovered gold in 1863 in the nearby Vulture Mine, the town’s early population was supported by goods delivered along a route that later became the modern US 60. Today’s Wickenburg maintains a frontier flavor along the town’s main streets and hosts an annual Gold Rush Days festival with a rodeo.

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Heading west from Wickenburg is the final, 70-mile stretch of US 60. Our view is pure Sonoran Desert with lonely mountain ranges in the distance. We slow down through the hamlets of Aguila, Wenden and Salome. Patches of green land explain why there are clusters of people living in this unforgiving environment – someone needs to tend the irrigated fields of alfalfa, vegetables and pistachio trees.

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Our US 60 road trip comes to a close. After we zip past RV parks centered in a place called Brenda, an “END 60” sign abruptly marks the spot where US 60 disappears from maps and merges into Interstate 10.

We have a choice to make: I-10 west to Los Angeles or I-10 east to Phoenix.

Which do you choose?



We take for granted the ability to travel around Arizona on a network of highways and interstate freeways. The Road Trip series of blog posts takes a closer look at those roadways – their history and unique characteristics, and ADOT’s efforts to ensure your next journey is safe and efficient.

Bell/Grand project: In shadow of columns, progress being made at and below ground level

Bell/Grand project: In shadow of columns, progress being made at and below ground level

I-17 101 traffic interchange

Bell/Grand project: In shadow of columns, progress being made at and below ground level

Bell/Grand project: In shadow of columns, progress being made at and below ground level

May 6, 2016

SURPRISE ‒ While columns that will support a $41.9 million overpass and interchange at Grand Avenue (US 60) and Bell Road are the most obvious signs of steady progress, a great deal of work is occurring at and below ground level.

On tap for the coming week as the Arizona Department of Transportation moves forward on the project: preparing to pave and form the curb and gutters to build the east side of Grand Avenue, adding electrical conduit and foundations for Grand Avenue lighting and installing a storm drain and sewer main on Bell Road east of 134th Drive.

Bell Road closed April 1 between 134th Drive and West Point Parkway to allow faster completion of a bridge that will carry traffic over Grand Avenue and the BNSF Railway tracks and provide ramps to and from Grand. The closure will end by November.

The primary detour route is along Dysart, Greenway and Litchfield roads. Please obey all traffic signs and posted speed limits, and also note that additional law enforcement is on patrol.

Access to businesses next to the project area will be maintained throughout the project.

Twice-weekly US 60 project closures to continue through June

Twice-weekly US 60 project closures to continue through June

I-17 101 traffic interchange

Twice-weekly US 60 project closures to continue through June

Twice-weekly US 60 project closures to continue through June

May 6, 2016

PHOENIX ‒ With about 2,000 truckloads of earth still to remove, blasting to create a passing lane along US 60 east of Superior is expected to continue through June.

The highway will be closed in both directions from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays, a schedule the Arizona Department of Transportation designed to provide consistency for those relying on US 60.

Crews have removed about 105,000 cubic yards of rocks and dirt since the $8.8 million project began in August. Another 25,000 cubic yards of earth must be removed for the project between Devil’s Canyon and Oak Flat.

Working in a tight passage carrying US 60 uphill from Superior has made the work more time-consuming than originally expected. With no room at the worksite to store rocks and dirt after blasting, crews must truck the materials out and clear the roadway before reopening to traffic.

During blasting, eastbound traffic is stopped at milepost 227 east of Superior and westbound traffic at Top of the World, (milepost 235 west of Miami) until the debris is cleared.

Drivers should use caution, watch for construction equipment and personnel, and allow extra time.

Once the blasting work is complete, ADOT will pave the widened roadway before opening the additional travel lane to traffic. The project also includes widening the shoulder in Devil’s Canyon (mileposts 233-234), bridge work at Waterfall Canyon (milepost 229) and drainage improvements (milepost 242) west of Miami.

During the closures, drivers should consider taking state routes 77 and 177 between Superior and Globe, a route of about 68 miles. Motorists headed to the White Mountains region, including Show Low and Springerville, can take State Route 87 through Payson and travel east on State Route 260.

ADOT works to inform the public about planned highway restrictions, but there is a possibility that unscheduled closures or restrictions may occur. Weather can also affect a project schedule. To stay up to date with the latest highway conditions around the state, visit the ADOT Traveler Information System at az511.gov or call 511.

How ADOT and the community created a Bell/Grand project that benefits all

How ADOT and the community created a Bell/Grand project that benefits all

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How ADOT and the community created a Bell/Grand project that benefits all

How ADOT and the community created a Bell/Grand project that benefits all

May 3, 2016

By Steve Elliott / ADOT Communications

We hope you're following our progress on a $41.9 million interchange that will dramatically improve traffic at Bell Road and Grand Avenue (US 60) in Surprise.

Previous posts have alerted you to the need to plan your route during a full closure of Bell at Grand that will allow us to reopen the roadway by November, shown you a nifty animation of how the interchange will work and shared the city of Surprise's awe-inspiring drone video of the work zone.

Today we're sharing an ADOT video taking you deeper into this project, including the benefits and how we worked with businesses and others in the community to plan an overpass and interchange as well as a project schedule that benefit everyone.

Please give the video a look. Something great is coming at Bell and Grand, and we're making steady progress toward completing it.

Bell/Grand project update: With columns rising for overpass, crews start preparing to connect them

Bell/Grand project update: With columns rising for overpass, crews start preparing to connect them

I-17 101 traffic interchange

Bell/Grand project update: With columns rising for overpass, crews start preparing to connect them

Bell/Grand project update: With columns rising for overpass, crews start preparing to connect them

April 29, 2016

SURPRISE ‒ With columns rising on both sides of Grand Avenue (US 60) and Bell Road for a $41.9 million overpass and interchange, crews have started adding scaffolding known as falsework connecting columns to help workers get ready to add girders.

That’s one of the most visual changes at the project site in the past week. While continuing to install columns on both sides of Grand Avenue in the coming week, crews will grade the east side of Grand in preparation for paving and forming a curb and gutters.

Bell Road closed April 1 between 134th Drive and West Point Parkway to allow faster completion of a bridge that will carry traffic over Grand Avenue and the BNSF Railway tracks and provide ramps to and from Grand. The closure will end by November.

The primary detour route is along Dysart, Greenway and Litchfield roads. Please obey all traffic signs and posted speed limits, and also note that additional law enforcement is on patrol.

Access to businesses next to the project area will be maintained throughout the project.

The US 60 (Grand Avenue) and Bell Road Interchange project is part of the Maricopa Association of Governments’ Regional Transportation Plan approved by county voters in 2004. Funding sources include a county half-cent sales tax for transportation projects and the MAG region’s share of federal highway funds.

Aerial video shows progress on Bell and Grand project

Aerial video shows progress on Bell and Grand project

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Aerial video shows progress on Bell and Grand project

Aerial video shows progress on Bell and Grand project

April 22, 2016

By Caroline Carpenter / ADOT Communications

Thanks to the city of Surprise for sharing this awe-inspiring drone footage of progress on the overpass and interchange ADOT is building at US 60 (Grand Avenue) and Bell Road. This project will increase safety and reduce congestion by allowing drivers to travel over US 60 and the BNSF Railway tracks and connect with US 60 via new ramps.

Those viewing the site over the next week will see:

  • Columns rising on both sides of Grand Avenue. The holes drilled for these columns are 66 feet deep, by the way.
  • A distinctive agave pattern on finished columns after concrete is poured into forms.
  • Final installation of drainage pipes that are 54 inches in diameter.

To speed construction and have Bell Road reopened by November, a section of Bell is closed.

Bell/Grand project update: Bridge’s agave pattern taking shape

Bell/Grand project update: Bridge’s agave pattern taking shape

I-17 101 traffic interchange

Bell/Grand project update: Bridge’s agave pattern taking shape

Bell/Grand project update: Bridge’s agave pattern taking shape

April 22, 2016

SURPRISE ‒ A distinctive agave pattern is taking shape as columns rise for a $41.9 million overpass and interchange under construction at Bell Road and Grand Avenue (US 60).

Those viewing the Arizona Department of Transportation’s construction site over the next week will see work on columns occurring on both sides of Grand Avenue. After crews drill 66-foot-deep shafts, steel cages rise and are surrounded by molds. Then concrete is poured to finish columns bearing the agave pattern.

Other current work includes finishing installation of drainage pipes and relocating utilities along Bell Road and Grand Avenue. The video below by the city of Surprise offers an aerial view of the project area.

Bell Road closed April 1 between 134th Drive and West Point Parkway to allow faster completion of a bridge that will carry traffic over Grand Avenue and the BNSF Railway tracks and provide ramps to and from Grand. The closure will end by November.

The primary detour route is along Dysart, Greenway and Litchfield roads. Please obey all traffic signs and posted speed limits, and also note that additional law enforcement is on patrol.

Access to businesses next to the project area will be maintained throughout the project.

The US 60 (Grand Avenue) and Bell Road Interchange project is part of the Maricopa Association of Governments’ Regional Transportation Plan approved by county voters in 2004. Funding sources include a county half-cent sales tax for transportation projects and the MAG region’s share of federal highway funds.

 

Bell/Grand update: Work on east bridge columns set to begin

Bell/Grand update: Work on east bridge columns set to begin

I-17 101 traffic interchange

Bell/Grand update: Work on east bridge columns set to begin

Bell/Grand update: Work on east bridge columns set to begin

April 15, 2016

SURPRISE ‒ Columns that will support a $41.9 million overpass and interchange at Bell Road and Grand Avenue (US 60) will begin rising on the east side of the project now that nine shafts have been drilled, according to the Arizona Department of Transportation.

Work has proceeded steadily since Bell Road closed April 1 between 134th Drive and West Point Parkway, with crews clearing the project area, relocating utilities and more. Among the latest progress, forms have been assembled to create bridge panels with an agave pattern.

The Bell Road closure, which will end by November, will allow faster construction of a bridge over Grand Avenue and the BNSF Railway tracks. In the meantime, the primary detour route is along Dysart, Greenway and Litchfield roads. Please obey all traffic signs and posted speed limits, and also note that additional law enforcement is on patrol.

Access to businesses next to the project area will be maintained throughout the project.

The US 60 (Grand Avenue) and Bell Road Interchange project is part of the Maricopa Association of Governments’ Regional Transportation Plan approved by county voters in 2004. Funding sources include a county half-cent sales tax for transportation projects and the MAG region’s share of federal highway funds.