The Arizona Department of Transportation advises drivers to plan for lane closures on northbound Interstate 17 near Camp Verde Tuesday, November 6, and Wednesday, November 7. All work is scheduled between 7 a.m. and 3:30 p.m.
The right lane of northbound I-17 will be closed for roadside maintenance.
Please proceed through the work zone with caution, slow down and watch for construction personnel and equipment.
Arizona Game and Fish commission building. – AZGF Photo
The following candidates will be interviewed: William N. Collins, James E. Goughnour, and Patrick W. Headington. They were chosen from a list of eight applicants considered by the board at its October 23 public meeting. After the interviews on November 13, the board will select at least two or possibly all three candidates to forward to Gov. Doug Ducey for consideration for the appointment.
Per Arizona Revised Statute 17-202, the Arizona Game and Fish Commission Appointment Recommendation Board shall assist the governor by interviewing, evaluating and recommending candidates for appointment to the Arizona Game and Fish Commission. The board shall recommend at least two, but no more than five, candidates to the governor. The governor must select and appoint a commissioner from the list submitted by the board.
For additional information about the Commission Appointment Recommendation Board, contact the Governor’s Office of Boards and Commissions at (602) 542-2449 or toll free at 1-800-253-0883 or on the web at www.azgovernor.gov.
For more information on the Arizona Game and Fish Commission, visit www.azgfd.gov/commission.
Phoenix-area freeway drivers may have noticed more construction and maintenance closures along interstates 10 and 17 last weekend. There’s some good news behind those restrictions.
A scheduled increase in freeway work and closures in October and November allows the Arizona Department of Transportation to make progress on important improvements before a decrease in restrictions sets in during the holiday travel season.
Crews have been busy in recent weeks on ADOT projects ranging from bridge construction at the Loop 202 South Mountain Freeway interchange at I-10 and 59th Avenue to I-17 pavement improvements south of downtown Phoenix.
ADOT is getting that work done now in order to limit weekend restrictions, including full freeway closures, during the holiday travel and shopping season between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day.
Scheduling weekend or overnight freeway restrictions in recent weeks in order to lighten the load during the holidays hasn’t been easy, especially with record-setting rainfall in the Phoenix area in October.
Project teams made substantial progress at the I-10/South Mountain Freeway interchange last weekend, including pouring the concrete deck for the elevated ramp that will provide a connection between northbound Loop 202 and westbound I-10 by late 2019.
Over the next few weeks and weekends, drivers in the Phoenix area can expect additional closures or lane restrictions along I-10 near 59th Avenue for work on the Loop 202 interchange. Bridge inspections also are planned at the I-10/I-17 “Stack” interchange near downtown. An ongoing I-10 project near Loop 303 in Goodyear is installing traffic-flow sensors in the pavement as well as electronic message signs above the interstate.
In addition to the holiday travel season, ADOT also will pull back from major freeway restrictions Nov. 8-11, during the NASCAR race weekend at ISM Raceway in the West Valley.
The Arizona Department of Transportation advises northern Arizona drivers that the southbound I-17 Schnebly Hill Road off-ramp (exit 320) is scheduled to close Monday, November 5, from 8 a.m. to noon while crews repair guardrail.
During the closure, motorists should continue southbound on I-17 for 3 miles to Woods Canyon/Fox Ranch Road (exit 317) to exit and re-enter northbound I-17 to Schnebly Hill Road.
Please proceed through the work zone with caution, slow down and watch for construction personnel and equipment.
AZGF Photo
To view the draw results for the spring turkey, javelina, bison and bear hunting seasons, online applicants should log in to their Arizona Game and Fish Department portal account. Don’t have a free account? Simply click on the “My Account” button in the upper right-hand corner of the www.azgfd.gov home page, then select the “Register” option and fill in the required fields.
Draw results also can be accessed by calling the department’s automated telephone system at (602) 942-3000 and pressing “2.” All hunt permit-tags will be mailed by Nov. 30. Refunds will be mailed by Nov. 16.
A total of 43,318 applicants – of which 42,784 applied online (98.8 percent) — vied for 34,030 total hunt permit-tags issued through the random draw. For those who were unsuccessful, a list of more than 8,200 leftover hunt permit-tags is expected to be posted online next week at https://www.azgfd.com/Hunting/Draw/.
The department will begin accepting applications for leftover hunt permit-tags Monday, Nov. 19 – by mail only – at 5000 W. Carefree Highway, Phoenix, AZ 85086, Attn.: Draw/First Come. Leftover hunt permit-tags will be available for purchase on a “first come, first served” basis beginning Monday, Nov. 26, at all department offices.
For those who qualify, military hunts may be available at Camp Navajo. Visit https://dema.az.gov/army-national-guard/camp-navajo/garrison-operations/camp-navajo-hunting-information.
PHOENIX – Daylight Saving Time ends this weekend and when majority of the country turns their clocks back, the American Red Cross reminds them to also take these steps to make sure their household is prepared for emergencies. The State of Arizona, this is a reminder to check and install smoke detectors.
“It’s important for everyone to make sure their household is ready,” said Colin Williams, Regional Communications Officer with the Red Cross AZ, NM, El Paso,TX. “A disaster like a home fire can happen anywhere, at any time. We urge people to take these steps now and know what they should do if an emergency occurs.”
WHAT PEOPLE CAN DO: People can visit redcross.org/homefires to find out more about how to protect themselves and their loved homes from fire. They can also help by donating to Red Cross Disaster Relief by visiting redcross.org, calling 1-800-RED CROSS or texting the word REDCROSS to 90999 to make a $10 donation. Donations to Disaster Relief will be used to prepare for, respond to and help people recover from disasters big and small.
File Photo. AZGF Photo.
YUMA – Multiple incidents of domestic sheep escaping their enclosures in southwestern Arizona have put Arizona’s wild bighorn sheep population in peril. Starting as far back as late September, an estimated 300 domestic sheep escaped temporary grazing areas on private land. Some have been rounded up but an unknown number with contagious diseases known to kill bighorns are unaccounted for. The escaped domestic sheep dispersed into bighorn sheep habitat in Yuma County.
Because these domestic sheep were observed mixing with bighorn sheep that live in the area, the Arizona Game and Fish Department (AZGFD) has taken necessary steps to stop the transmission of disease. Domestic sheep have long been known to carry diseases for which bighorn sheep have limited defenses, and direct contact is not necessary to transmit disease. According to Mike Sumner, AZGFD regional supervisor, a small number of bighorns were euthanized to keep disease from spreading to other animals in the area.
“This is something no wildlife biologist wants to undertake, but to protect the 700-800 bighorn sheep that live in these mountains, we had to euthanize some individuals that had come in contact with domestic sheep,” said Sumner. “We value these individual animals, but must manage for the health of the whole bighorn population.”
On October 19, AZGFD personnel verified the presence of domestic sheep in bighorn habitat, and their owner gave the Department permission to remove them. Some of the domestics were found to be infected with contagious ecthyma, a painful disease which can prevent lambs from nursing and lead to mortality. The risk for disease transmission was considered high because of the length of time the domestic sheep were loose. Some domestic sheep as well as three bighorn sheep had to be euthanized.
In 2015, almost 40 percent of two bighorn herds in Montana north of Yellowstone National Park died after exposure to domestic ovine pneumonia. In the early to mid-1990s, domestic sheep and feral goats infected bighorns near Hells Canyon, Idaho, causing a catastrophic die off lasting almost a decade and killing 70 percent of the bighorn sheep populations spanning large areas of Idaho, Washington and Oregon.
AZGFD followed the guidelines of the Western Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies, which recommend euthanizing bighorns that have likely associated or had direct contact with domestic sheep or goats to reduce the spread of disease. Similar actions were taken in Utah (2010), Washington (2013) and Nevada (2016) to protect the larger bighorn populations.
According to AZGFD Veterinarian Anne Justice-Allen, quarantining bighorns for observation and treatment was not an option because it would take 4 to 6 weeks of repeated sample collection and testing to learn if these bighorn sheep were indeed infected.
“Holding wild bighorn sheep for that period would be stressful and likely would cause several animals to die,” said Justice-Allen. “In addition, the Department has no suitable holding facility. Relocating them to a zoo was not possible because of the risk of disease transmission.”
The escaped domestic sheep caused other problems for the Arizona Department of Agriculture, law enforcement and health officials. More than 50 domestic sheep were found dead in a canal in the Wellton-Mohawk Irrigation and Drainage District.
PHOENIX — Arizona Game and Fish Department (AZGFD) customers are advised that, effective Jan. 1, 2019, Arizona hunting and fishing license dealers will have the option to charge a convenience fee for license, tag and stamp sales at their locations. Licenses, tags and stamps purchased online from AZGFD or purchased at AZGFD offices are not subject to a convenience fee.
A change in the law (A.R.S. §17-338) allows dealers to “collect and retain a reasonable fee as determined by the license dealer in addition to the fee charged to issue the license or permit.” The law also eliminates the 5 percent commission that dealers currently deduct and keep from sales of licenses, tags or stamps. That means after January 1, the dealers will transmit to AZGFD the full value of the license for each sale and the dealers will retain the convenience fee, if any.
“The price that Arizona Game and Fish charges for hunting and fishing licenses, tags and stamps will remain the same as before,” said Doug Cummings, assistant director for support services. “Dealers will have the ability to charge a convenience fee, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they will. It will be up to each dealer whether or not they charge a fee.”
Cummings pointed out that receiving the full monetary value of each license will benefit department programs, allowing more money to be put into wildlife conservation.
Game and Fish is stipulating that dealers who charge a convenience fee must post the amount in an area clearly visible to customers.
To buy a license online, visit https://www.azgfd.com/license/.
PHOENIX – Buying a vehicle that needs a new license plate, or upgrading to a specialty or personalized plate? The Arizona Department of Transportation Motor Vehicle Division is reminding motorists that you don’t need to return an old license plate to the MVD.
“We’re working very hard to get Arizonans out of line and safely on the road, and part of that is letting people know it’s okay to keep an old license plate instead of taking time out of a busy day to go to an MVD office,” said MVD Stakeholder Relations Manager Jennifer Bowser-Richards. “The only exception occurs if a plate is mutilated or illegible. In that case, the law requires a vehicle owner to get a new plate,” she noted.
She added, “Customers do have the option of transferring their current plate when they buy a different vehicle, but quite often if it involves merely a standard plate, people will just want to get rid of it. We want to make sure they know an office visit isn’t needed to do that. We also urge people who may not want to keep a plate to put it in their recycling bin as opposed to simply throwing it in the trash.”
For more information on plates and placards, visit azdot.gov/mvd
PHOENIX – The Arizona Department of Transportation’s original plan for improving the Interstate 17 bridges at Willard Springs Road south of Flagstaff called for replacing the decks in both directions over two summers, ending well into 2019. The project that’s underway, however, is replacing the bridges in their entirety by the end of November – at no additional cost.
The difference is thanks to a process called value engineering.
Once a project has been awarded, ADOT and contractors can use value engineering to systematically analyze the plans and identify ways to deliver improvements safely, reliably and efficiently for the lowest overall cost possible, looking for ways to improve quality and value while reducing time needed to complete the work. For ADOT to approve a contractor’s value engineering proposal, the change must either reduce cost or delivery time or both while adding value.
As an alternative to removing and replacing just the bridge decks at I-17 and Willard Springs Road, the contractor, Fisher Industries, proposed creating new bridge abutments as well by using giant steel plates attached to construction vehicles as molds around rebar cages. Once the concrete sets, the steel plates can be moved quickly, allowing crews to pour concrete for another part of the abutment.
Building abutments normally takes weeks. With this technique, being used for the first time on an ADOT project, it took only days for crews to create abutments for the I-17 bridges at Willard Springs Road.
“Once the abutments are built, the bridge work is the same that we’ve always done,” said Steve Monroe, senior resident engineer for ADOT’s North Central District. “It’s nice to have the contractor get in, get the job done in a much more efficient way and get out.”
The new bridges are expected to be ready prior to the long Thanksgiving weekend. For now, drivers are moving by the work zone along I-17 using two lanes. Willard Springs Road is closed under I-17 while work is occurring, but drivers who need to access Willard Springs can still do so use using the southbound lanes of I-17.
In addition to improving delivery time and value, having both bridges done in one season rather than two reduces the length of time drivers must deal with restrictions at Willard Springs Road.
The bridge improvements are part of a larger project to improve northbound I-17 from milepost 312 north to the Flagstaff area. Several miles of the interstate have been repaved along with new guardrail. Both the right and left lanes from milepost 312 to 315 have been completely rebuilt and are already being used by traffic.
In the final weeks before the weather turns too cold for paving, crews will focus on completing paving of both lanes between mileposts 312 and 316 and the right lane up to milepost 331 at Kelly Canyon Road. After a winter hiatus, crews will return when the weather warms to finish the project.
For more information, please visit azdot.gov/I17Paving.