News

PHOENIX – Halloween brings out more than ghosts and goblins. When the spooky celebration falls on a weekday – this year it’s on Monday – many commuters adjust their routines, leaving work early to get home for trick-or-treating and parties. The result is often a wicked commute.

Given the potential for a cursed commute, the Arizona Department of Transportation recommends the following:

PHOENIX – Major work is complete on the Arizona Department of Transportation’s $73 million Loop 101 widening project in the East Valley.

Although final work and some lane restrictions can be expected over the next month, the last scheduled full closure for the project occurred last weekend to allow crews to add permanent lane stripes and complete bridge deck-joint improvements along northbound Loop 101 north of Chaparral Road.

PHOENIX – In transportation, we are constantly looking ahead. What needs will emerge over the next 25 years? What new technologies will influence how our transportation system operates? How will we fund necessary improvements?

One of the ways the Arizona Department of Transportation looks to the future is “What Moves You Arizona,” the Long-Range Transportation Plan we update every five years. And we need your input to do that.

CAMP VERDE – A roundabout project on State Route 260 just east of Interstate 17 will enhance safety, and help visitors and residents better navigate a busy commercial area in Camp Verde.

The roundabout will be where SR 260 intersects with Industrial Drive, in an area where many travelers pull over for gasoline, a bite to eat or a cup of coffee.

SURPRISE – Work on an overpass and interchange at Bell Road and Grand Avenue (US 60) will require an overnight closure of Grand Avenue next week to paint the new bridge.

Grand Avenue will be closed in both directions from 9 p.m. Friday, Oct. 28, to 8 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 29, with traffic detouring at Dysart and Litchfield roads. During that time, crews will paint the bridge where it crosses Grand Avenue.

PHOENIX – Traffic fatalities on Arizona roads are rising and selfish drivers are too often to blame.

PHOENIX – The Arizona Department of Transportation Motor Vehicle Division is making two significant improvements to ease the process for testing drivers before they get on the road.

The first change is eliminating random MVD road tests for people who get driver education at private driving schools. The second means better road testing options for customers in the northern portions of metro Phoenix.

“These changes keep MVD ahead of the curve and help us with our vision of getting people out of line and safely on the road,” MVD Director Eric Jorgensen said.

PHOENIX – With winter and the promise of snow in the high country rapidly approaching, preparation throughout the year means the Arizona Department of Transportation is ready to keep highways open and travelers safe.

Through its certification and training programs, ADOT has 400 certified snowplow operators ready for winter storms.

Regular maintenance by ADOT Equipment Services has the agency’s 200 snowplows ready to go. Last winter, ADOT spent $2.2 million, an average of $11,000 per vehicle, to keep its snowplows in top condition.

SURPRISE – A bridge that will carry Bell Road over Grand Avenue (US 60) will accommodate pedestrians as well as vehicles, and that’s the focus of some of the latest work on this Arizona Department of Transportation project.

Crews have been pouring concrete to create sidewalks on the overpass and doing other work to get the bridge ready for foot traffic. As that work moves toward completion, crews will add a pedestrian fence to the bridge in the next few weeks.

PHOENIX – Nearly 800 people attended three public meetings on preliminary design plans for the Loop 202 South Mountain Freeway, providing input and asking questions that will guide final design of the 22-mile-long link between the West Valley and East Valley.

The meetings, held in Ahwatukee Foothills, Laveen and west Phoenix, provided an opportunity for residents to learn more about the freeway’s alignment, traffic interchanges, noise walls, landscaping and aesthetics.

On a stretch of Interstate 10 between Tucson and Phoenix, sensors placed along the highway set off an alert: Dust, whipped up by gusting wind, is creating dangerous driving conditions.

PHOENIX – A record 45,294 Arizonans registered Monday to vote in the general election through ServiceArizona.com, the customer website offered by the Arizona Department of Transportation’s Motor Vehicle Division.

Another 18,576 registered to vote on Sunday through ServiceArizona.com, with use beginning to spike during that evening’s presidential debate.

Demand was so great as Monday’s deadline to register loomed that ADOT worked with IBM, the provider behind ServiceArizona.com, to increase capacity.

PHOENIX - The Queen Creek Tunnel on US 60 east of Superior now has a light-emitting diode (LED) lighting system, making it Arizona’s first tunnel to have this innovative and energy-saving technology.

To clean the tunnel’s walls and ceilings after this installation, US 60 in the area will be closed in both directions for six hours every night beginning the evening of Monday, Oct. 10, and ending early Friday, Oct. 14. The closures, which are scheduled to begin at 10 p.m. and end at 4 a.m., will be in effect between Superior at milepost 226 and Oak Flat at milepost 231.

SURPRISE – The next week of construction on an overpass and interchange carrying Bell Road over Grand Avenue (US 60) includes adding concrete to the bridge deck on the west side of the project and continuing to get Bell Road ready for paving.

The $41.9 million Arizona Department of Transportation project remains on track to reopen Bell Road on Nov. 22, though unforeseen circumstances such as extreme weather can affect construction timelines.

PHOENIX ‒ Arizona’s network of highways requires transportation professionals specializing in areas as wide-ranging as planning routes, repairing bridges and creating beautiful landscaping along roadways.

To help ready the next generation of professionals to plan, operate and maintain a safe and efficient transportation system, the Arizona Department of Transportation employs nearly 40 interns whose work touches projects in every corner of the state.

PHOENIX ‒ Leave it to the new person to mess up the first time he tries applying reflective vinyl to make a road sign.

It seems so simple as he approaches the sign-making machine: Just slide a piece of polished aluminum under a roll of vinyl, press a pedal to start applying and …

Jam.

“What did I do?” he says as his understanding supervisor swoops in to free the metal, cut through the bunched-up vinyl and clear the machine for another try.

Rookie mistake. The new person tapped the pedal too early, and this particular sign is history.

TEMPE – The latest ideas and innovations for the future of transportation will be on display as transportation officials gather Tuesday, Oct. 4, for the 2016 Innovation Exchange Campaign, hosted by the Arizona Council for Transportation Innovation.

The annual event brings together the Arizona Department of Transportation and other professionals in the transportation industry to share and learn about the latest technology advancements and innovations in transportation.

SURPRISE – Crews building a $41.9 million overpass and interchange at Bell Road and Grand Avenue (US 60) are reconstructing a median on Bell Road while they continue adding ramps to and from Grand Avenue.

The median work, on the east side of the Arizona Department of Transportation project, is among steps crews are taking to get Bell Road ready to reopen. That’s expected to happen on Nov. 22, though extreme weather and other unforeseen circumstances can affect project timelines.

PHOENIX – A driver license verification program used by the Arizona Department of Transportation Motor Vehicle Division now makes it possible to request Social Security card replacements online through the Social Security website and simplifies the already-existing process of getting a person’s identifying information verified when making a major purchase or obtaining a loan.

PHOENIX – With a goal of improving the rush-hour traffic flow, the Arizona Department of Transportation will test changes in the timing of ramp-meter signals along one Phoenix-area freeway.

Starting the week of Oct. 3, afternoon rush-hour drivers using on-ramps along northbound State Route 51 (Piestewa Freeway) are likely to notice longer red lights at ramp meters as ADOT takes a look at how the signal adjustments affect freeway traffic.