News

PHOENIX – Two years after launching a first-of-its-kind truck safety training program for drivers and companies in Mexico, the Arizona Department of Transportation has added refresher instruction for those who have been through the program.

PHOENIX – Drivers heading along I-40 between Flagstaff and Winslow should slow down and expect delays while work is taking place. The ramp detour will remain in place 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The speed limit is reduced to 45 mph.

In addition to replacing the bridges, crews will also reconstruct the roadway approach to the bridges.

The current detour will last through mid-August while the project is anticipated to wrap up sometime in the fall.

PHOENIX – The Governor’s Office and the Arizona Department of Transportation today announced Arizona has won a highly competitive $90 million federal highway grant to help expand and improve Interstate 17 north of Phoenix, including a flex lanes system between Black Canyon City and the Sunset Point Rest Area.

PHOENIX – The Haviland Rest Area along Interstate 40 west of Kingman has reopened after $3.6 million in improvements, according to the Arizona Department of Transportation.

The popular rest stop, which is located at milepost 23 about 30 miles west of Kingman, has upgraded restrooms, ramadas, vendor kiosks and utility infrastructure. New well equipment and a water transmission line were also part of the upgrades. Septic tanks and sewer lines were also replaced. 

PHOENIX – As an Arizona Department of Transportation project moves toward completion along State Route 347 in the heart of the fast-growing city of Maricopa, motorists are now benefiting from the centerpiece of this work: a 500-foot-long bridge carrying traffic over the Union Pacific Railroad tracks.

On Monday, about 2 miles of SR 347 shifted to a new alignment between Hathaway Avenue on the north and Desert Cedars Drive on the south, with motorists and pedestrians using an overpass that replaces an at-grade crossing where dozens of trains stopped traffic each day.

PHOENIX – Specialty license plates each have a unique look, but one thing they all have in common is the ability to raise a record amount of money for Arizona charitable causes.

In Fiscal Year 2019, which concluded June 30, a total of just over $11.2 million were raised for endeavors ranging from support of Arizona veterans programs, Special Olympics, organ donation, hunger relief, university scholarships and many other causes.

PHOENIX – With merciless temperatures forecast over the coming days, be sure you and your vehicle are prepared before traveling on highways in the Arizona desert.

Motorists should always be ready for the possibility of becoming stranded, but that need is even more critical in extreme heat.

The Arizona Department of Transportation’s safety tips, available at azdot.gov/ExtremeHeat, including the following:

PHOENIX ‒ The Arizona Department of Transportation has won an award for using cutting-edge data collection and modeling for a US 160 bridge project that created a sustainable, resilient solution to erosion from a meandering creek on the Navajo Nation.

PHOENIX – The 15th Avenue bridge over Loop 101 (Pima Freeway) in north Phoenix will be closed until late next year starting Monday night, July 8, for improvements that are part of the Arizona Department of Transportation’s ongoing freeway widening project.

Crews will be making changes to the bridge to allow room for new freeway lanes under the structure. Drivers should plan on using alternate routes while the following closures are scheduled:

PHOENIX – An Arizona Department of Transportation project beginning Monday, July 8, will improve the bridge deck and pavement and widen on- and off-ramps at the Interstate 40 Bellemont/Transwestern Road interchange 13 miles west of Flagstaff.

Drivers on I-40 can expect lane closures and a reduced speed limit overnights during this work, which is scheduled to be complete by year’s end.

PHOENIX – After construction on 40 bridges over more than two years, workers have placed the final girder for the Loop 202 South Mountain Freeway, the Arizona Department of Transportation’s single largest-ever freeway construction project.

Crews with Connect 202 Partners, the freeway developer, lowered the 91-foot, 77,000-pound girder into place recently at the interchange under construction at Desert Foothills Parkway in Ahwatukee. This work will be followed by pouring the concrete deck for the overpass later this month.

PHOENIX – Community outreach and growth are among the reasons Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport is the Arizona Department of Transportation’s Airport of the Year for 2019.

The airport has won the title twice before, and its last win, in 2012, underscores how rapidly it has grown. It was the nation’s 65th-busiest at the time; it’s now 32nd, with 288,000 takeoffs and departures a year.

PHOENIX – Two additional Loop 101 (Pima Freeway) ramps at Scottsdale and Hayden roads in north Scottsdale will be closed for approximately 60 days starting Monday night, June 24, for an ongoing freeway widening project.

The eastbound Loop 101 on-ramp at Scottsdale Road and eastbound off-ramp at Hayden Road are scheduled to close at 9 p.m. Monday and remain closed until late-August for work related to the Arizona Department of Transportation’s $185 million project to add lanes and make other improvements along the freeway.

PHOENIX – A tunnel built to keep pedestrians safe near the Arizona Department of Transportation’s commercial port of entry in Nogales is now open around the clock.

ADOT’s Enforcement and Compliance Division conducts truck safety inspections near where pedestrians emerge from the federal portion of the Mariposa Port of Entry. The 150-yard underground walkway keeps pedestrians out of the way of trucks that have cleared ADOT inspections and are accelerating to merge onto State Route 189.

PHOENIX – Arizona Department of Transportation engineers are exploring another option for smoothing out the ride along Phoenix-area freeways where the asphalt pavement showed its age and was wearing down, especially after last winter’s heavier wet weather.

PHOENIX – Firefighters need regular training to be ready for emergencies, and that goes for the seven firefighters assigned to the Arizona Department of Transportation’s Grand Canyon National Park Airport in Tusayan.

Recently, ADOT’s firefighters traveled to the San Bernardino Regional Emergency Training Center, where trainees benefit from life-size models that simulate hazards ranging from a plane with overheated brakes to a fire in the passenger cabin.

PHOENIX – Arizona saw fewer crashes, fewer fatal crashes, fewer injury crashes and fewer crash-caused injuries on its roadways in 2018 compared to 2017, according to the 2018 Motor Vehicle Crash Facts report that was released today.

However, despite reductions in those key areas, the number of total traffic fatalities increased by 1%. In 2018, 1,010 people killed in vehicle collisions on all of Arizona’s roads compared to 998 in 2017.

PHOENIX – Man’s best friend and a clever play on words were the big winners in the Arizona Department of Transportation’s Safety Message Contest.

After tallying more than 5,000 votes for the 15 safety message finalists, the winning messages are:

PHOENIX – A pair of Loop 101 (Pima Freeway) ramps at Scottsdale and Hayden roads in north Scottsdale will be closed for approximately 60 days starting Monday night, June 17, for an ongoing freeway widening project.

The westbound Loop 101 on-ramp at Hayden Road and westbound off-ramp at Scottsdale Road are scheduled to close at 9 p.m. Monday and remain closed until mid-August for work related to the Arizona Department of Transportation’s $185 million project to add lanes and make other improvements along the freeway.

PHOENIX – West Route 66 in Flagstaff is going to be narrowed to one lane in each direction overnight for the next five weeks starting Monday, June 17, while the Arizona Department of Transportation installs a pedestrian hybrid beacon at the intersection with Blackbird Roost Street.

Work along Route 66 will occur overnight between 7 p.m. and 6 a.m. Mondays through Fridays. No work will be scheduled on weekends or holidays. Drivers should expect delays.

Information about how the beacon works is available at azdot.gov/phb.