PHOENIX – Beginning Feb. 7, 2022, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) will require new commercial driver license (CDL) applicants and those seeking to upgrade their CDL to receive training from a certified organization on the national registry of Entry-Level Driver Training (ELDT) providers.

ELDT training includes curriculum in three areas: theory, range and road. To process and issue a CDL, the Arizona Department of Transportation Motor Vehicle Division will need to validate that an applicant has completed these training requirements.

This requirement impacts drivers attempting to:

• Obtain a Class A or Class B commercial driver’s license (CDL) for the first time.
• Upgrade an existing Class B CDL to a Class A CDL.
• Obtain a school bus (S), passenger (P), or hazardous materials (H) endorsement for the first time.

The ELDT regulations are not retroactive and do not apply to individuals holding a valid CDL or an S, P, or H endorsement issued prior to Feb. 7, 2022.

If an organization or business currently trains its drivers and is interested in becoming a certified training provider on the national registry, visit tpr.fmcas.dot.gov to learn how to register as a provider.

For more information, visit azdot.gov/CDL.

GLOBE  – US 60 will close between Superior and Miami between 9 a.m. and 1 p.m. Monday, Oct. 25, while crews continue work to remove the old Pinto Creek Bridge.

During the closure, US 60 traffic will be detoured to SR 177 in Superior and SR 77 in Globe. The detour includes a 10% grade and will significantly increase travel time. Traffic will not be allowed to queue at the closure locations.

Motorists on US 60 with a destination between SR 177 and Top-of-the-World west of Pinto Creek or between Miami and Pinto Valley Mine Road east of Pinto Creek will be allowed to pass. However, no vehicles will be allowed between Top-of-the-World and Pinto Valley Mine Road.

Traffic shifted to the newly constructed bridge over Pinto Creek on Sept. 17. The old bridge, opened in 1949 with an estimated lifespan of 50 years, remained safe for traffic but had reached the end of its useful life.

Drivers should expect periodic lane restrictions and delays in the area through the rest of 2021 as crews continue to remove the bridge and restore the project site to its natural state.

For more information, please visit azdot.gov/PintoCreekBridge.

TUCSON  – The Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT) invites the public to join a virtual information meeting to learn about the design for widening the section of Interstate 10 between the Ina Road Traffic Interchange and the Ruthrauff Road Traffic Interchange in Pima County.

The bilingual virtual public meeting will be held Thursday, Oct. 21, from 5:30 to 7 p.m. The meeting will include a presentation and provide an opportunity for the public to ask questions of the ADOT team and offer comments.

ADOT is designing improvements to the nearly four-mile section of Interstate 10 between Ina and Ruthrauff roads, reconstructing and widening the highway to four lanes in each direction, including the traffic interchanges at Orange Grove Road and Sunset Road. Improvements also include adding additional lanes at exit and entrance ramps in the project area and creating new travel lanes using the inside shoulder near Ina Road.

Those interested can join the virtual public meeting in any of the following ways:

• Online: https://tinyurl.com/i10i2r
• Meeting ID: 893 9945 8336
• Phone: 669.900.6833 (English) 
• Phone: 866.730.7514, pin de participante 984619# (español)

Public input will be considered during the final design of the project. Comments provided by Nov. 21, 2021, will be included in the summary of this meeting; however, comments are welcome at any time. 

Anyone who is unable to attend the meeting or would like to comment further, may provide comments or ask questions in these ways: 

• Phone: 855.712.8530 (English and Spanish) 
• Email: [email protected] 
• Mail: ADOT Community Relations, 1221 S. Second Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85713 

For more information, visit azdot.gov/i10ina2ruthrauff.

PHOENIX – Is there a teen driver in your household? Maybe your teen plans to take the road test soon or is studying for the written test?

Across the country, traffic safety stakeholders, including the Arizona Department of Transportation, are marking National Teen Driver Safety Week (Oct. 17-23) and encouraging teens to make safe choices when driving. Nationally, car crashes are among the leading causes of death for teens. In 2020 in Arizona, 35 teen drivers died in vehicle collisions and 2,324 others suffered injuries, according to statewide crash reports.

Four simple actions can help teen drivers – and drivers of any age – be safer on the roads:

• Always wear a seat belt.
• Don’t speed or drive recklessly.
• Don’t drive distracted – put down the phone.
• Don’t drive impaired or let impaired people get behind the wheel.

Teens preparing to apply for their instruction permit and the written test can study by reviewing the Arizona Driver License Manual and find practice tests on ADOT’s website. Pro tip: Save a trip and take your instruction permit test online via Permit Test @ Home. ADOT makes available the study materials for free.

For those teens further along in their quest for their driver license, information about driving schools and road test tips are also available online.

The accolades keep rolling in for Arizona Highways. The magazine published by the Arizona Department of Transportation has earned more recognition for its excellence in design, visuals, outstanding writing and production.

In its annual awards program, the International Regional Magazine Association (IRMA) awarded Arizona Highways a total of 22 honors in categories including excellence in feature writing, photography, art direction, Writer of the Year, Photographer of the Year, among others. 

This is the seventh straight year that Arizona Highways has received at least 16 IRMA awards. 

“Arizona is known for its unique beauty, robust and diverse mixture of colorful personalities and incredible stories that we are privileged to bring to the world every month,” said Kelly Mero, Publisher of Arizona Highways. 

“The real stars are the state and its people, and they make it possible for us to receive awards like these. They deserve this recognition as do the talented people inside and outside of ADOT who collaborate to make Arizona Highways come alive every month.”

IRMA is a nonprofit association of 25 regional magazines from across North America. This is the 41st annual awards competition, and entries are judged by a panel of magazine industry experts from outside of IRMA. 

Arizona Highways received the following awards:

Gold award winners:

Profiles: Meet the Master | September 2020 | Kelly Vaughn

Column: August 2020, December 2020, March 2021 | Robert Stieve

Single Photo: Navajo Dancer | May 2020 | Mylo Fowler

Portrait Photo: Greg Wildman | January 2021 | Joel Grimes

Portrait Series: I Just Want to Go Home | May 2020 | David Zickl

Magazine Photographer of the Year: Jack Dykinga

Silver award winners: 

Public Issues: At the End of Their Ropes | January 2021 | Noah Austin

Historic Feature: The Exodus Trail | May 2020 | Annette McGivney

Nature and Environment Feature: Ho, Ho, Ho … Green Giants | March 2021 | Tyler Williams

Essay: Breathing Space | July 2020 | Craig Childs

Photo Series: The Evolution of Landscape Photography | April  2020 | Edited by Jess Kida 

Illustration: The Exodus Trail | May 2020 | Davide Bonazzi

Special Focus: The Great Escapes | July 2020

Cover: May 2020

Bronze award winners: 

Travel Feature: A Trip to Remember | August  2020 | Willis Peterson

General Feature: Salvage Operation | March 2021 | Annette McGivney

Headline and Dek: Beadlemania | November  2020 | Robert Stieve

Art Direction SIngle Story: There’s Gold in Them Thar Hills | October 2020 | Keith Whitney

Magazine Writer of the Year: Kelly Vaughn

Travel Package: The Great Escapes | July 2020 | Edited by Robert Stieve

Award of Merit:

Art and Culture Feature: The Fruits of Her Labor | May 2020  | Kelly Vaughn

Recreation: In for a Bumpy Ride | June 2020 | Chel Knorr

Founded in 1925, Arizona Highways is dedicated to promoting travel to and through the state of Arizona. In addition to the world-renowned magazine known for spectacular landscape photography, Arizona Highways publishes travel guide books, calendars and other products to promote travel in Arizona. The magazine has subscribers in all 50 states and more than 100 countries.

Learn more at arizonahighways.com and irmamagazines.com

PHOENIX – “Move Over,” Arizona, and help create a safer work environment on the state’s highways for incident responders assisting motorists in need.

National Move Over Day is Saturday, Oct. 16, and the Arizona Department of Transportation is joining with incident response stakeholders statewide to increase awareness about Arizona’s “Move Over” law. These awareness efforts include placing “Move Over” messages on overhead message boards and the Arizona Professional Towing and Recovery Association has organized a number of events for Move Over Day, including a parade of more than 100 tow trucks and other incident response vehicles.

Arizona’s “Move Over” law requires motorists to move over one lane – or slow down if it isn’t safe to change lanes – when driving by any vehicle with flashing lights pulled to the side of a road or highway. This applies to any vehicle, even a regular passenger car, and also tow trucks, ambulances, fire trucks, police cars and maintenance vehicles, like ADOT’s red-and-white Incident Response Unit trucks.

The “Move Over” law has been on the books since 2005, but was amended in 2021. Among the changes made by the state legislature were increasing the fine for a first violation and the addition of increased fines for subsequent violations.

While drivers who don’t give space to responders working on road shoulders may face penalties, the drivers who do “move over” are engaging in the priceless act of giving responders a safe place to do their jobs so they can return home to their families at the end of the day.

“Responding to an incident and working in or near a travel lane already has an elevated level of risk,” said David Blue, ADOT Traffic Incident Management/Incident Response Unit Manager. “When drivers don’t ‘Move Over’ and give us space to do our jobs, which often is helping a stranded or injured motorist, they’re actively putting our lives at risk, as well as their own because of the potential for a secondary crash.”

For more information about “Move Over,” visit MoveOverAZ.org.

FLAGSTAFF – The Arizona Department of Transportation is starting a project to bring broadband internet access to more Arizonans by laying fiber-optic conduit along a 46-mile stretch of I-17 from Flagstaff to Sedona.

The project begins today as crews start laying fiber-optic conduit along southbound I-17 from milepost 340 in Flagstaff to milepost 296, just south of the junction with SR 179. During the project, drivers can expect right-lane restrictions along southbound I-17 where crews are working. Crews plan to install the fiber-optic conduit in 3-mile stretches at a time. 

No restrictions will be in place on weekends and holidays. The project is anticipated to be completed by summer of 2022.

In the state’s broadband initiative, championed by Governor Doug Ducey with legislation sponsored by Rep. Regina Cobb, ADOT is partnering with the Arizona Commerce Authority to create more affordable opportunities to provide more rural communities in Arizona with high-speed internet service. ADOT’s role will be to provide access to its right-of-way along the four main interstates in Arizona to place fiber-optic conduit for rural internet providers. 

In addition to the benefits to rural broadband connectivity, ADOT plans to use the fiber to provide “smart highway” technology, such as overhead message boards, traffic cameras, weather stations and wrong-way driving detection technology. The infrastructure also will help lay the groundwork for emerging technology like connected and automated vehicles. 

ADOT already has fiber-optic conduit along freeways in the Phoenix and Tucson areas, as well as a stretch of Interstate 10 near Eloy for the dust detection and warning system. 

PHOENIX – Sections of Interstate 10 will be closed in the downtown Phoenix area the next two weekends to allow for scheduled inspections at the Deck Park Tunnel.

The Arizona Department of Transportation recommends drivers plan ahead and use alternate routes, including Interstate 17 south of the downtown area, while the following I-10 closures are in place:

• Eastbound I-10 closed between the I-17 “Stack” interchange and Seventh Street from 9 p.m. Friday, Oct. 15, to 10 a.m. Sunday, Oct. 17. Both ramps from I-17 to eastbound I-10 at the Stack will be closed. Detour: Eastbound I-10 traffic can detour to southbound I-17 and reconnect with I-10 near Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport. Drivers also can consider exiting ahead of the closure and using local routes to access the downtown Phoenix area. Note: State Fair traffic from the West Valley can exit ahead of the closure (including 35th or 27th avenues) and travel north before using eastbound Thomas Road to approach the fairgrounds.
• Westbound I-10 closed between the State Route 51/Loop 202 “Mini Stack” interchange and Seventh Avenue from 9 p.m. Friday, Oct. 22, to 10 a.m. Sunday, Oct. 24. Southbound SR 51 and westbound Loop 202 ramps to westbound I-10 at the Mini Stack will be closed. Detour: Westbound I-10 traffic can detour to northbound I-17 starting near Sky Harbor Airport and reconnect with I-10 at the Stack interchange north of Van Buren Street. Westbound I-10 ramps to northbound SR 51 and eastbound Loop 202 will remain open. Traffic using the westbound Sky Harbor Boulevard ramp to westbound I-10 will be limited to access to northbound SR 51 or eastbound Loop 202. Note: State Fair traffic from the East Valley can use northbound I-17 starting near Sky Harbor Airport to reach northbound 19th Avenue or plan on exiting westbound Loop 202 (Red Mountain Freeway) ahead of the I-10 closure (32nd or 24th streets) and using westbound McDowell or Thomas roads to approach the fairgrounds.

Regularly scheduled inspections at the I-10 Deck Park Tunnel are conducted every two years. Engineers inspect the structure and other features, including ventilation, lighting, electrical and fire suppression systems. The tunnel opened to traffic in 1990 and allows I-10 traffic north of downtown to travel beneath the area that supports the city of Phoenix’s Hance Park.

Statewide highway conditions, including closures, are available via ADOT’s Traveler Information site at az511.gov or by calling 511. ADOT also provides updates on highway closures and other restrictions via its Twitter feed @ArizonaDOT. 

TUCSON – The Arizona Department of Transportation will begin a second round of pavement replacement work on the State Route 77/Oracle Road improvement project starting the week of Sunday, Oct. 3, with plans to pave four miles of the highway by late 2021.

The work will take place on the southern end of the project, with paving operations on Miracle Mile between Interstate 10 and Oracle Road, along with Oracle Road from Miracle Mile to River Road.

Most of the work will occur overnight to minimize construction impacts, with paving and lane restrictions scheduled Sundays through Thursdays between 7 p.m. and 6 a.m.

The first paving will begin along southbound Oracle Road at Miracle Mile, with work then taking place on Miracle Mile between I-10 and Oracle Road. Crews will pave turning lanes before working on travel lanes.

During the overnight work, motorists can expect large vehicles and equipment on the roadway to remove the existing pavement and then install new asphalt. Crews will work on one lane at a time.

During the overnight work, motorists can expect large vehicles and equipment on the roadway to remove the existing pavement and then install new asphalt. Motorists should also expect uneven pavement and reduced speed limits through December. One lane of travel will remain open during pavement operations.

The new pavement is one of many improvements planned as part of a two-year, $34 million project to improve the highway between Interstate 10 and Oracle Road, as well as on Oracle Road from Miracle Mile to Calle Concordia.

While the entire length of the project will involve replacing worn pavement, the section between Ina and Magee roads will see significant improvements. The upgrades include curb and gutter, sidewalks and LED lighting between River and Ina Roads, with curb and gutter between Ina and Magee roads.

This summer, ADOT completed the first pavement replacement work on 1.5 miles of Oracle Road between Calle Concordia and Magee Road at the northern end of the project. Additional pavement work will resume in 2022.

Drivers should expect some daytime lane restrictions and delays through the project. During all times, ADOT will maintain access to the roughly 1,100 businesses in the corridor.

For more information about the project, please visit azdot.gov/SR77.

FLAGSTAFF – The Meteor Crater Rest Area on Interstate 40 east of Flagstaff has reopened to commercial truck parking only after the Arizona Department of Transportation completed resurfacing the parking lot.

The rest area facilities remain closed as crews continue with upgrades to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act, improvements to the water/wastewater system, as well as architectural, electrical, mechanical rehabilitation and site work.

During the closure, the nearest traveler facilities will be in Flagstaff and Winslow. Commercial trucks are allowed to park at the Meteor Crater Rest Area. Message signs placed on I-40 in each direction approaching the rest area will advise drivers of this.

This work was part of a project that included the renovation of the Painted Cliffs Rest Area on I-40 near the New Mexico state line. That work was completed in September 2020.