News

PHOENIX – When it comes to renewing a commercial driver license, having the right documents can save applicants time and trouble.

Commercial driver licenses, which are valid for five years, must be renewed at one of 13 Arizona Department of Transportation Motor Vehicle Division commercial driver license offices around the state. When a commercial driver comes in without the proper documentation, he or she will have to come back and risk the license expiring before it can be renewed.

PHOENIX – Have you captured Pikachu? Nabbed Rattata or the elusive Charizard? Leveled-up and trained your monsters at a Gym?

Of course, we’re talking about Pokémon Go, the week-old smartphone app soaring in popularity. The video game phenomenon is sending Pokémon Trainers to landmarks and into parks, neighborhoods and cities, hunting for rare monsters.

TUCSON – At most urban Arizona Department of Transportation Motor Vehicle Division offices, customers begin lining up around 7:30 a.m. in anticipation of an 8 o’clock opening, aiming to avoid a wait. Those who don’t often try to squeeze in MVD visits during lunch breaks, creating a rush that can lead to longer waits throughout the afternoon.

SURPRISE ‒ The Arizona Department of Transportation’s project to construct an overpass and interchange at Bell Road and Grand Avenue (US 60) has reached another milestone with a new 134th Avenue connection at Bell open just west of Dysart Road.

This segment connects with businesses north of Bell Road. Fresh pavement markings are in place, and the last of the barricades have been pulled away.

The new 134th Avenue curves north of Bell Road to provide an east-west connection to 134th Drive, the road that previously served as the connection to area businesses.

PHOENIX – When crews completed Interstate 15 through the rugged Virgin River Gorge in 1973, the 29-mile stretch in northwest Arizona was one of the most challenging projects to date in the U.S. interstate system.

Among other projects along this stretch in the past two years, the Arizona Department of Transportation’s $27 million rehabilitation of Virgin River Bridge No. 6 has been challenging as well, not just for those doing the work but for motorists facing lane restrictions.

An Arizona Department of Transportation project to make the interchange of Interstate 10 and Ina Road in Marana safer and easier to navigate kicks off next week, although significant roadway restrictions are still six months or more away.

Beginning Monday, July 11, drivers on Ina Road and I-10 should expect occasional delays as crews improve frontage roads and make other changes to prepare for work that includes building a bridge and interchange carrying Ina over the Union Pacific railroad tracks as well as widening I-10 and Ina, northwest of Tucson.

PHOENIX – Arizona is on track to receive a $54 million federal grant helping fund two key widening projects, and adding traffic-management technology that includes a dust storm detection and warning system, along Interstate 10 between Phoenix and Tucson.

SURPRISE – Work to install girders for a Bell Road overpass at Grand Avenue (US 60) resumed Tuesday.

The installation had been on hold since June 9, when a large, steel-reinforced concrete girder fell moments after it had been lifted into place by cranes. An employee of a contractor working on the project was seriously injured but is recovering.

PHOENIX ‒ With the Texas Canyon Rest Area along Interstate 10 reopening Thursday after a six-month renovation, the Arizona Department of Transportation is moving past the halfway point in a decade-long effort to improve rest areas statewide.

Texas Canyon, between Benson and Willcox in southeastern Arizona, will be the ninth of ADOT’s 17 rest areas to be improved since 2013. The San Simon Rest Area near the New Mexico line on I-10 reopened in May.

PHOENIX – Arizona’s interstate highways are key commerce corridors serving not only as the backbone of our transportation system but providing businesses and their customers with food, fuel and other essentials.

With the U.S. marking the 60th anniversary of the national interstate highway system that President Dwight D. Eisenhower launched in 1956, John Halikowski, director of the Arizona Department of Transportation, said this essential infrastructure requires adequate and sustained investment.

PHOENIX ‒ The new State Route 89 bridge at Hell Canyon is longer, wider and better able to accommodate commercial traffic between Prescott and Interstate 40 than the 62-year-old span it replaces.

The Arizona Department of Transportation opened the $14.4 million bridge to traffic Thursday, June 23, after 13 months of work.

PHOENIX ‒ The State Transportation Board’s approval of funding for State Route 189 in Nogales reflects the Arizona Department of Transportation’s strong commitment to improving the flow of commercial traffic between the Mariposa Port of Entry and Interstate 19.

PHOENIX – US 60 has reopened between Show Low and State Route 73 on the White Mountain Apache Reservation, according to the Arizona Department of Transportation.

The highway had been closed between mileposts 318 and 337 because of the Cedar Creek Fire. Drivers should use extra caution in the area because of ongoing firefighting operations.

SURPRISE – As work proceeds on the Arizona Department of Transportation’s $41.9 million project to build a new interchange connecting Bell Road and Grand Avenue (US 60), an overnight lane restriction has been scheduled on Monday, June 27.

Eastbound Grand Avenue will be narrowed to one lane between Towne Center and Bell Grande drives from 8 p.m. Monday to 5 a.m. Tuesday, June 28, for concrete work near Bell Road. Westbound Bell Road traffic will not be affected.

PHOENIX – After beginning work along the southern alignment of the future Loop 202 South Mountain Freeway, crews next week will start assessing soil conditions and the depth of groundwater along the western alignment.

On Monday, June 27, workers using drills will start on the embankment slope along eastbound Interstate 10 from the 59th Avenue on-ramp to the 51st Avenue off-ramp.

PHOENIX – Drivers in the northwest Valley are using a wider stretch of freeway this morning after the Arizona Department of Transportation on Thursday opened new lanes along Loop 303 between Grand Avenue in Surprise and Happy Valley Parkway in Peoria.

In less than two years, this seven-mile stretch of Loop 303 has been improved from a four-lane highway to a safer freeway, with three travel lanes in each direction. The wider freeway is part of $96 million in projects that also added new Loop 303 interchanges at Grand Avenue and El Mirage Road.

PHOENIX – The Arizona Department of Transportation is holding three public meetings this week in southern Arizona as part of a three-year environmental study for the proposed Interstate 11.

The meetings in Nogales, Tucson and Marana are part of the public scoping process for a corridor stretching from Nogales to Wickenburg.

Participants will be able to meet and talk with members of the study team to ask questions, provide comments and stay involved. They’ll also be able to view maps of the corridor study area and mark up those maps with their ideas and comments.

SURPRISE – Work is proceeding on the Arizona Department of Transportation’s $41.9 million project to build a new interchange connecting Bell Road and Grand Avenue (US 60) and reopen Bell Road to traffic by November.

Crews are focusing on paving the widened westbound portion of Grand Avenue near Bell Road. The work to pave the roadway and add temporary lane markings along that section of US 60 is scheduled for completion by July. Grand Avenue traffic currently is shifted to the eastbound section of the roadway between Bell Grande and Towne Center drives.

PHOENIX ‒ Steep, rugged terrain and high winds have added challenges for crews working to create room for an additional lane on US 60 between Globe and Superior. Because of that, the project will continue through the summer, including twice-weekly closures for blasting work.

PHOENIX – The Arizona Department of Transportation’s five-year construction program for state highways promotes commerce through investments in major freight and travel corridors, supports Greater Arizona through key projects and highlights the agency’s commitment to not only maintaining but improving the quality of pavement, bridges and other infrastructure.