News

PHOENIX – Expertise and facial-recognition technology employed by Arizona Department of Transportation detectives safeguard the personal information of not only Arizonans but those in other states who are targeted by identity thieves here.

Two cases brought by ADOT’s Office of Inspector General highlight these efforts:

PHOENIX ‒ State Route 67 leading to the North Rim of Grand Canyon National Park will close for the winter on Thursday, Dec. 1.

The highway will be blocked to traffic about a half mile from its junction with US 89A at Jacob Lake. With park facilities closed for the winter, the Arizona Department of Transportation doesn’t clear snow from the highway, which leads 43 miles south from US 89A.

The North Rim averages more than 9 feet of snow annually, according to the National Weather Service.

PHOENIX – Pilot projects using technology to make highway work zones safer and commercial vehicle inspections at the border more efficient will begin in early 2017 thanks to federal grants recently awarded to the Arizona Department of Transportation.

The Commercial Vehicle Information Systems and Networks grants, totaling $581,000, are from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.

PHOENIX – With graffiti an ongoing threat to interstate freeway signs mounted on overpasses, an Arizona Department of Transportation employee invented an inexpensive metal shield that helps keep vandals and their spray paint at bay.

In ADOT’s culture of continuous improvement, this innovation by Interstate Signing Supervisor Dudley Heller is referred to as kaizen, something enhancing productivity, safety, efficiency and more.

PHOENIX – The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has denied a request by Loop 202 South Mountain Freeway opponents for an emergency injunction pending appeal, a ruling that keeps the Arizona Department of Transportation project on track to begin construction of the mainline freeway early next year.

It’s the fourth time courts have rejected attempts to halt construction of this long-planned link between the East Valley and West Valley.

SURPRISE ‒ A bridge carrying Bell Road over Grand Avenue (US 60) opened Tuesday after seven-plus months of work to create a $41.9 million traffic interchange.

Opening the bridge in time for the holiday shopping season is the first reward of an accelerated construction timeline made possible by closing Bell Road on April 1. The rest of the Arizona Department of Transportation project, including completing ramps connecting Bell Road and Grand Avenue, is on track to finish before the start of spring training baseball.

PHOENIX – As the Arizona Department of Transportation seeks to identify and fund projects that will increase capacity on Interstate 17 north of Phoenix, drivers need to do their part by avoiding the poor decisions and inattention behind so many of the crashes that result in closures and backups – and worse, injuries and fatalities.

The steep, winding stretch of I-17 between Black Canyon City and Sunset Point is one of ADOT’s priorities for improvements.

PHOENIX – In the late 1920s, modern architect Frank Lloyd Wright arrived in Arizona to design a desert resort planned for the foothills of South Mountain, in what is now Ahwatukee.

To produce drawings for the project, Wright and his colleagues built a temporary settlement, called “Ocatillo,” near what is now 32nd Street and two-thirds of a mile north of what will be the Loop 202 South Mountain Freeway. The name intentionally misspelled ocotillo, the desert plant that grew in abundance there.

PHOENIX – If you’re involved in a freeway fender bender, the misconception that it’s best to stay put can leave you in danger, create hazardous slowing and lane changes for all drivers, and increase risks for emergency responders.

That’s why the Arizona Department of Transportation and Arizona Department of Public Safety need you to know about the practice of Quick Clearance, in which drivers involved in minor crashes that don’t involve injuries get their vehicles out of travel lanes as soon as it’s safe to do so. 

PHOENIX – One of the great things about Arizona winters is being able to savor a refreshingly mild morning in our desert communities and then play in the snow that same afternoon.

PHOENIX ‒ The upper, unpaved portion of State Route 366, which ascends Mount Graham in the Pinaleño Mountains southwest of Safford, closed Monday, Nov. 14, for the winter, according to the Arizona Department of Transportation.

The closure is in effect through April 15.

SR 366, also known as the Swift Trail, begins about five miles south of Safford off US 191.

The highway is blocked about one-half mile past the Coronado National Forest’s Shannon Campground, at the end of the pavement.

SURPRISE ‒ An overpass carrying Bell Road across Grand Avenue is set to open Tuesday, Nov. 22, after seven-plus months of construction on a $41.9 million traffic interchange.

Reopening Bell Road is the first reward of an accelerated timeline designed to have most of the Arizona Department of Transportation project finished before the holiday shopping season and all work done by the start of spring training baseball.

Work will begin Monday, Nov. 14, on a nine-month project to widen and improve US 95 and Avenue 3E on Yuma’s east side, according to the Arizona Department of Transportation.

The $3.2 million project will increase Avenue 3E from two lanes to five lanes with a turn lane, and increase US 95 from four to five lanes, also with a turn lane:

SURPRISE – The next week of work on a new traffic interchange at Bell Road and Grand Avenue (US 60) includes several finishing touches as the Arizona Department of Transportation prepares to reopen Bell Road to traffic on Tuesday, Nov. 22.

Those include laying pavers in medians, striping lanes and completing sidewalks on Bell Road and the bridge carrying it over Grand Avenue.

PHOENIX – Control yourself. Control your vehicle. Save lives.

That’s the message the Arizona Department of Transportation is sending to motorists this weekend, urging drivers to make roads safer for everyone by resisting dangerous driving behaviors of speeding, aggressive driving, impaired driving, distracted driving and not wearing a seat belt.

PHOENIX – The eastbound lanes of Loop 202 (Red Mountain Freeway) will be closed between Interstate 10 and 44th Street in Phoenix from Friday night until late Saturday night (Nov. 12) for resurfacing work.

Drivers should plan ahead and use alternate routes while eastbound Loop 202 is closed, according to the Arizona Department of Transportation.

The weekend closure is scheduled as follows:

PHOENIX – Plans to study a proposed highway in Pinal County are moving forward under a new environmental review process that can proceed while funding has yet to be identified.

The North-South Corridor, spanning 40 miles between US 60 and I-10, would improve regional connectivity, provide an additional way of getting around a growing area of the Sun Corridor, and address current and future transportation needs.

PHOENIX – The northbound McGuireville Rest Area along Interstate 17 will be closed to travelers the morning of Tuesday, Nov. 8, to allow Copper Canyon Fire and Medical Authority to conduct a mass-casualty incident drill, according to the Arizona Department of Transportation.

The northbound facility, located at milepost 297, will close at 8:30 a.m. for approximately an hour and a half. The southbound rest area will remain open.

Drivers headed toward the high country can use the Sunset Point Rest Area at milepost 262 or services in Camp Verde and other communities.

DOUGLAS – Before trucks hauling Mexican products into the United States can leave the port of entry at the border, officers from the Arizona Department of Transportation’s Enforcement and Compliance Division make sure those commercial vehicles are safe to travel on Arizona roads.

Inspectors check drivers’ credentials and look for obvious safety issues. Some of the trucks are weighed and undergo 37-point safety inspections.

Before that, agents with U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration conduct their own inspections.

PHOENIX ‒ Crash data the Arizona Department of Transportation compiles from agencies around the state is invaluable for law enforcement, researchers and others examining trends behind fatalities and injuries on all state roadways.

A $354,000 grant from the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety will enable ADOT to get more agencies using an online system for submitting crash data, and help ADOT staff keep the data and its systems for collecting it up to date.