Want the latest information on highway construction projects but don't feel like reading through our Weekend Travel Advisory or the Roadwork Roundup we provide through our social media channels? ADOT still has you covered!

Audio versions of these notices are available every week through links on ADOT"s Twitter and Facebook accounts, usually on Fridays and Sundays. The clips are posted at SoundCloud, an audio website that allows you to listen to them for free. For all of our audio posts, you can follow our SoundCloud channel. 

These audio reports are no more than three and a half minutes long and cover current weekend closures and restrictions in the Phoenix metro area (Weekend Travel Advisory) or ongoing projects statewide (Roadwork Roundup). And they always have links back to our website in case you missed something. Here's a recent edition of our Weekend Travel Advisory:

This new format for sharing construction information came from public feedback. People said the written reports are great, but they didn't always have time to read them. A brief audio report from one of our public information officers was just the thing to fill this need.

Always looking for ways to serve you better, we welcome suggestions on how to improve these reports. We'd love to hear from you through comments or replies to our social posts with these audio updates. 

Chances are if you don't work in highway construction you haven't spent that much time thinking about what goes into pouring a concrete deck for new bridges.

But if you've ever been curious at all, our video team recently put together this look at everything that goes into creating a new bridge deck, using footage mostly shot during recent work on an expanded Interstate 10 bridge over Jimmie Kerr Boulevard in Casa Grande.

Tidbits included in this video include the temperature that concrete needs to be kept at before being poured and exactly how much concrete can go into such a large project. There's a lot of logistics and planning that goes into these sorts of projects, so take a few moments to see what exactly goes into this type of work.

This project, which will expand I-10 to three lanes in each direction between Early Road and Interstate 8 in Casa Grande, along with similar work near Eloy, is expected to wrap up later this summer.

Peek with us into the cabin of a crane as an operator removes the forms for new bridge piers on Interstate 17 at Pinnacle Peak Road.

It's a snapshot (literally) of a snapshot (metaphorically) of the work going into the massive project to improve this north Valley interchange by widening I-17 and constructing news interchanges at Pinnacle Peak and Happy Valley Road. You can learn more by visiting our website.

You can also check out more photos of recent construction in the photo gallery below.

By David Rookhuyzen / ADOT Communications

How do you start rebuilding two interchanges on a busy metropolitan interstate? From the ground up, of course.

Drivers on Interstate 17 north of the Loop 101 can't have failed to notice the work being done in the median and the shoulder at Pinnacle Peak and Happy Valley roads. Crews have been hard at work since November on this project, but it's only in the past month and a half, following utility, underground pipe and box culvert work, that they've started getting the project vertical.

As you can see in the video above and the photo slideshow below, both featuring work at Pinnacle Peak Road, we are making progress erecting bridge abutments and piers to eventually hold the girders for bridge decks at these new interchanges.

Once the piers are ready, we'll schedule closures of I-17 to put the new girders into place. But before all that happens, take a look at how the project is going so far.

You can learn more about the project at its page on our website.

EDITOR'S NOTE: During Infrastructure Week 2019, we're highlighting aspects of construction, improvement and maintenance that are part of Arizona's $22.4 billion investment in state highways. Today's Throwback Thursday post takes you back to some of the many ADOT projects in recent years that have improved the quality of life around Greater Arizona.

By Steve Elliott / ADOT Communications

Here at the ADOT Blog, there's just nothing better than video to illustrate how transportation investments benefit communities around the state. Case in point: the video above from a 2017 project that used an innovative technique to create a bridge in just 96 hours in northwestern Arizona.

So without my words getting in the way, at least too much, let's continue Infrastructure Week 2019 with a Throwback Thursday exploration of some projects completed in recent years around Greater Arizona, as featured in ADOT videos.

It's no secret that we're awfully excited to now have drones, funded by a federal grant, to help tell ADOT's story. That led to this aerial view from February explaining a project improving traffic flow and safety on State Route 347 in Maricopa. The work, finishing later this year, includes creating a bridge carrying traffic over the Union Pacific Railroad tracks.

This September 2018 video used one of our new drones, along with some magic at the production end, to highlight improvements that are part of a project widening several miles of I-10 near Eloy. The work has advanced considerably since this video was made, and the project will be wrapping up later this summer.

Next up is a May 2018 video explaining how ADOT worked closely with businesses in Seligman on a project, now wrapping up, reconstructing the decks of three bridges along one of two routes between the Route 66 community and I-40. In addition to a project timed to affect just one summer, the community will have bridges ready for additional decades of use.

ADOT invests in preserving highways around the state, but sometimes a full rebuild is in order, as was the case with a project that replaced 5 miles of I-40 in each direction just west of Williams. The pavement in this area was stressed from years of freezes and thaws common to highways in Arizona's high country. This 2017 video, made a year before work wrapped up last fall, shows what went into the $34 million project.

Sometimes making an improvement, such as creating a modern State Route 89 bridge at Hell Canyon between Chino Valley and Ash Fork, requires removing what came before. This 2016 video shows the demolition of the previous Hell Canyon Bridge.

Infrastructure and jaw-dropping surroundings make for incredible video, as was the case with a $27 million project, completed in 2016, that rehabilitated Interstate 15's Bridge No. 6 in the Virgin River Gorge of far northwestern Arizona. Do note that another project to upgrade other bridges in that stretch is scheduled to begin after Memorial Day.

It's been several years now, but I'd be remiss to feature videos of improvements in Greater Arizona without showing ADOT's efforts to restore US 89 after a catastrophic landslide south of Page. This 2015 video provides two views of this project.

And these videos are just a start. To see more, please visit and subscribe to ADOT's YouTube channel at youtube.com/ArizonaDOT.

By David Rookhuyzen / ADOT Communications

We are in the home stretch now for projects widening Interstate 10 in Casa Grande and between Eloy and Picacho. When this work is done later this year, I-10 will be three lanes in each direction all the way between Casa Grande and Tucson, all thanks to improvements ADOT has made in recent years.

As we mentioned in a release this week about upcoming work, new eastbound lanes near the State Route 87 junction between Eloy and Picacho are expected to open in mid-June, with full completion of this project in the fall. Similar work between Early Road and Interstate 8 in Casa Grande is scheduled to wrap up by late summer.

We've been talking about these projects and what they mean for this busy corridor for a while now. So instead of repeating ourselves, we'll just show you where we are at. You can peruse all the ongoing bridge work happening on I-10 in Casa Grande (specifically, at Jimmie Kerr Drive and the Union Pacific Railroad tracks) in the top slideshow and then take a high-level peek at the new travel lanes and interchange near Eloy.

We hope you enjoy this look at both projects almost as much as you'll enjoy a wider I-10 in a few months.

By Kim Noetzel / ADOT Communications

If you live, work or drive in north Phoenix, get ready to see changes on Interstate 17 at Pinnacle Peak and Happy Valley roads. The Arizona Department of Transportation’s traffic interchange reconstruction project is taking shape from the ground up.

Work on the $50 million project began in November 2018 and has so far included roadway work, utility relocations, installation of underground pipes, building up the embankments and replacing the drainage culvert east of I-17 at Pinnacle Peak Road.

This month, crews began constructing the footings and abutment walls for the new bridge that will carry westbound traffic over I-17 at Pinnacle Peak Road. Pouring concrete for the 19-foot-tall pier columns that will support the new bridge are scheduled by month’s end. As these recent photos illustrate, cranes are moving forms into place as iron workers carefully assemble the rebar cages for the foundations, abutment walls and piers.

Once these vital bridge support structures are in place, the project team plans to place the westbound bridge girders in mid-May. The concrete girders are the horizontal support beams onto which the 258-foot bridge deck will be constructed.

With the bridge deck in place by late summer, crews plan to switch traffic onto the new structure, demolish the existing Pinnacle Peak Road bridge, and then build the eastbound Pinnacle Peak Road bridge over I-17.

At the same time, construction activity will ramp up at Happy Valley Road, where a new diverging diamond interchange will replace the two-lane bridge and roundabouts on the east and west ends.

In the coming weeks, drivers should expect continued lane restrictions in the project area. Beginning in May and continuing through November, at least 14 full closures of north and southbound I-17 in the project area are scheduled to occur on weekends. Crews also will work week nights on the cross street bridges. ADOT will provide specific information about upcoming restrictions and closures as it is finalized.

To learn more, and to subscribe for project updates and traffic alerts by email, visit the project webpage.

By David Rookhuyzen / ADOT Communications

What has more than 9,000 photos, 6 million views and the best shots of highway projects in the state?

The answer is the ADOT Flickr page, which our photographers have been populating with shots of everything from public hearings to bridge demolitions for more than six years.

Just in the past year, we've added nearly 400 photos of our work to widen Interstate 10 and improve the State Route 87 interchange, more than 300 on the construction of the South Mountain Freeway, 73 on widening I-10 in Casa Grande and building new bridges over Jimmie Kerr Boulevard, not to mention shots from the work on Ina Road at I-10 in Tucson or the new overpass on SR 347 in Maricopa going over the rail road tracks.

Collectively we have 9,321 photos on our Flickr page with 6.052 million total views to date. In case you are wondering, our most viewed album on Flickr was from the landslide that shut down a portion of US 89 south of Page in 2013. One photo from that album has 7,111 views alone.

You can read about the work our photographers do in this blog post from a few years back and view some of our more popular photos in the slideshow above.

By David Rookhuyzen / ADOT Communications

It’s a common question we get on social media: Why isn’t all construction done at night?

Night work does have the advantage of happening when it will impact the least amount of traffic. Around the Phoenix area especially, ADOT tries to schedule work on major freeways for nighttime or the weekend to limit the impact on drivers commuting to and from work.

Jesse Gutierrez, deputy state engineer for operations, said ADOT schedules all the work it can to happen during overnight hours, but there are certain factors that can require roadwork during the day. Those include:

Type of work: Some construction such as bridge-forming and abutments, which Gutierrez said involves intricate carpentry work, needs adequate light to be done well.

Temperature: Colder overnight temperatures can preclude certain work. For example, national standards for paving say it can’t be done below a certain temperature because the asphalt sets before it can be properly compacted. So overnight paving during fall, winter and spring months isn't possible. Winter paving in northern AZ is not even possible during the day.

Noise: Whether it’s urban or rural work, if it will be done near housing developments ADOT has to consider daytime work to minimize the nighttime noise for nearby residents.

Logistics: Practical concerns, such as the extra cost of running lights or having a paving plant open in the middle of the night, have to be taken into account.

Scheduling: Often, working during the day will get the project finished sooner. If a contractor says work can be finished after 100 days of night work or half that during the day, ADOT likely will opt to get a project over sooner to reduce the time that drivers will have to go through a construction zone, Gutierrez said.

Safety: The safety of construction workers is paramount. While there are fewer drivers at night, reduced visibility for drivers and workers must be considered.

Before a project starts, ADOT and contractors will go over all these factors to decide what work can be completed at night and what will need to happen during the day.

“We try to get the biggest value with the least impact to the public,” Gutierrez said.

By David Rookhuyzen / ADOT Communications

We've been telling you for some time about our projects to widen Interstate 10 and reconfigure the State Route 87 near Eloy and widen I-10 in Casa Grande and reconstruct the bridge over Jimmie Kerr Boulevard. But why describe more work in short blog post when a picture is worth a thousand words?

And today we have more than a thousand words to share with you.

The slideshows below allow you to browse photos of work that will make I-10 three lanes in each direction between Tucson and Casa Grande by late this summer.

I-10 at SR 87 in Eloy

I-10 between Earley Road and I-8 in Casa Grande