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A different sight greeted the staff at the Grand Canyon National Park Airport on Dec. 3 when instead of tourist helicopters, two U.S. Marine Corps CH-46E Sea Knight helicopters landed to engage in their annual mission to deliver toys and food to members of the Havasupai Tribe who live at the bottom of the canyon ...

As you can see in the video above, applying for and receiving a Class C permit from ADOT isn’t just a formality – it’s a critical step that helps ensure safety on the state’s roads.

Public involvement truly helps shape ADOT projects … just ask residents living near the San Pedro River Bridge

To say that ADOT crews were busy Tuesday would be a bit of an understatement. Heavy overnight and morning rains across the state started the day off with extremely slow commutes throughout the metro areas … but nothing like the messes that would happen later in the day …

Construction had only recently started back when we first checked in on the SR 64 highway improvement project… That was about a year ago. Since then, well, just take a look at the video above and see for yourself how much this project has transformed the area’s landscape!

Here we are, past the halfway point on the I-17/Cordes Junction interchange project and it’s clear that work is really moving along! At least, it’s clear if you drive the area frequently, or if you watched this video back in February. Crews have been busy since then, as you can see above.

ADOT installed the 160-ton, 600-foot long bridge over two nights in June next to the Central Arizona Project (CAP) canal.

According to one dictionary’s definition, engineering is “the art or science of making practical application of the knowledge of pure sciences, as physics or chemistry, as in the construction of engines, bridges, buildings, mines, ships and chemical plants.” Sure, it’s an accurate description, but do you get any real sense of what an engineer does from reading that?

You probably don’t think much about drainage when you’re driving, but a well-designed drainage system can increase the lifespan of a highway and help keep the public safe. We’ll blog about how these systems are designed and maintained soon, but today we just want to give you a quick glimpse of the types of drainage solutions used on a project like the Loop 303/I-10 interchange.

Placing Portland Cement Concrete Pavement (PCCP) is one of the final steps involved when building a road, but it’s far from an afterthought…

We're headed into monsoon season (the official start is today) and those dusty, unpredictable storms are on their way...

At ADOT we always want to give drivers a warning of what’s coming up on the road ahead... Whether it’s an impending freeway closure or a new type of traffic signal, we try our very best to get the word out ahead of time so motorists know what to expect. But, sometimes something will impact our roads (and the ability to drive them) quickly and without much notice, making it all the more difficult to get the message out.

If you’ve ever driven between Arizona and Las Vegas, you’re probably pretty familiar with US 93. It’s the stretch of road traveled by countless motorists each day and it is in the midst of a major update.

Just last month we blogged about a project that’s under way on I-17 and SR 69 in Cordes Junction. So, maybe you’re wondering why we’re bringing it up again so soon … Well, we’re blogging about it today because we’ve got an awesome new video (see above) that details the entire project and shows footage from January when crews installed some precast girders – a milestone in the construction.

Remember this awesome time-lapse video showing the construction of a temporary bypass at Greenway Road and the Loop 303? Well, today we’ve got an even more in-depth look at how crews built the new intersection – complete with temporary barriers, fences and traffic signals – in just about 43 hours! (Take a look at the photos below for an amazing before and after aerial glimpse of the new bypass!)

We’re thankful for the approximately 1,570 volunteer groups who currently adopt an Arizona highway. It’s hard to believe, but roughly 335 of the groups have been volunteering for more than 10 years and of those, 50 have been with Adopt a Highway for more than 20 years!

Accommodating existing traffic is a key priority when ADOT builds a freeway … Depending on the project, that can mean working out a construction schedule that takes rush hours into account or hiring extra crews to flag and direct traffic through the site.

Before you can build a freeway, you’ve got to move a little dirt... Make that a LOT of dirt, especially in the case of the Loop 303 project under construction right now in the West Valley.

I-10 was closed most of the day and night last Wednesday after two tanker trucks collided near Chandler Boulevard south of downtown Phoenix. For hours, many drivers could see the resulting column of black smoke. Even more people saw footage and photos of the collision’s aftermath on the news and online.

Last month, as part of our Building a Freeway series, we told you about the massive underground support substructures that help give bridges strength. Next up in the series is an important -- but temporary -- structure that’s used as crews build a bridge, tunnel or even a box culvert.