News

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.

PHOENIX – When stormwater from Valley rains, including monsoon thunderstorms, makes its way through freeway drainage systems, that runoff carries a lot of trash into the Arizona Department of Transportation’s pump stations.

It takes some powerful vacuums to remove litter, debris and sludge from the 59 pump stations along Phoenix-area freeways. And ADOT has a big machine for the job.

PHOENIX – Are you ready, Arizona? Monsoon season is back.

While the exact moment of when the first massive wall of dust will rise up from the desert floor isn’t known, we do know this: It’s coming.

With June 9-14 officially proclaimed Monsoon Awareness Week by Governor Doug Ducey, now is the perfect time to brush up on the actions drivers can take to stay safest when confronted with blowing dust.

The No. 1 thing motorists can do to stay out of harm’s way? Do. Not. Drive. Into. A. Dust. Storm.

PHOENIX – With all bridge girders in place, frontage road construction underway and an overpass built over railroad tracks, among other milestones, Loop 202 South Mountain Freeway construction continues advancing along the 59th Avenue alignment south of Interstate 10 (Papago Freeway) in west Phoenix.

In the first half of 2019, crews working on this Arizona Department of Transportation project have made significant progress along the Papago segment between Interstate 10 and Lower Buckeye Road, including:

PHOENIX – The Arizona Department of Transportation Motor Vehicle Division is urging MVD customers to be careful when looking up websites for motor vehicle services. Copycat websites not operated by the MVD may charge for services people can otherwise get for free.

“We frequently get contacted from people who used a website such as DMV.org or Drivers-Licenses.org, and were charged improper or exorbitant fees for something that’s free, and we never want to see that happen,” said MVD Deputy Director Chad Campbell.

With planned Interstate 17 flex lanes between Black Canyon City and Sunset Point set for construction starting by 2021, the state budget approved by state lawmakers and signed by Governor Doug Ducey provides the additional funding needed to also complete widening I-17 south of where the flex system will be built.

Area customers who use the local Arizona Department of Transportation Motor Vehicle Division office should plan for new operating hours on the second Wednesday of each month. Starting on June 12, the MVD office will open at noon each second Wednesday only to allow Customer Service Representatives to use this time for ongoing training.

A project to resurface the Grand Avenue (US 60) intersections at Meeker as well as R.H. Johnson boulevards in Surprise will require weekend lane closures in early June.

Work to finish in June.

Opened May 24

PHOENIX – If you’re planning a road trip in the state over the Memorial Day weekend, the Arizona Department of Transportation has good news about construction-related closures.

ADOT has made changes in recent years that today save 40,000 gallons of water every day across its 28 rest area sites.

Construction is scheduled to start May 31 on the Arizona Department of Transportation’s project to improve traffic flow along a 6.4-mile stretch of Loop 101 (Price Freeway) by adding one lane in each direction between Baseline Road and Loop 202 (Santan Freeway) in the Tempe, Mesa and Chandler areas.

The Painted Cliffs Rest Area on Interstate 40 near the New Mexico state line in northeastern Arizona has closed for a $2.7 million renovation that’s expected to be completed by early next year.