Category Archives: Phoenix

ADOT focuses on patching potholes in northern Arizona after winter storm

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PHOENIX – A late winter storm this week and more precipitation expected next week have Arizona Department of Transportation maintenance crews in patrol-and-patch mode as they address pavement-repair needs on Interstate 40 and Interstate 17 in the high country.

Potholes can pop up quickly when moisture seeps into and below asphalt, which in northern Arizona can be stressed by the combination of freezing overnight temperatures and daytime thawing. The Flagstaff area usually experiences more than 200 daily freeze-thaw cycles each year. Add heavy traffic, and this stressed pavement can break away.

After weeks of making permanent repairs, including laying asphalt over rough stretches of pavement, crews over the next week will be out patching any potholes that have formed as a result of the latest storms. Forecasted rain showers and snow in the high country will delay other work.

ADOT responds aggressively to the annual challenge of potholes from winter weather. Crews make temporary and then permanent repairs to potholes as soon as possible.

ADOT has two projects coming later this year along I-40 between Flagstaff and Williams that will add a new layer of pavement in both directions.

AZGFD Outdoor Expo next weekend

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PHOENIX — Arizona’s largest hands-on outdoor expo is next week and it’s FREE! The Arizona Game and Fish Department Outdoor Expo, presented by Shikar Safari Club International, will be held on Saturday, March 25, and Sunday, March 26, at the Ben Avery Shooting Facility in Phoenix. The event offers loads of activities, presentations and exhibits for everyone from novices to seasoned outdoor recreationists.

The Expo has come a long way since its 2004 inception that had only a handful of attractions and exhibitors. It is now one of the north Valley’s biggest and best-attended events of the year.

Some of the things attendees can do include:

  • View live wildlife exhibits (hawks, reptiles, small mammals, more).
  • Give kayaking a try at the “Lake Paddlemore” kayaking pond.
  • Hike a field course and learn cool camping tips.
  • Take the kids to two huge catch-and-release fishing tanks.
  • Learn target archery.
  • Try out different firearms in a safe, controlled environment on the range.
  • Learn specialty shooting disciplines – clay target, cowboy action, and more.
  • Learn from informative talks on wildlife and outdoor recreation.
  • Cowboy mounted shooting match at Royce W. Anderson Family Arena.
  • View OHV exhibits, rock crawler demos, learn about responsible riding.
  • View boating exhibits and learn about watercraft safety.
  • Visit with more than 150 exhibitors.

Admission and parking are free, but people might want to bring a little cash for the variety of food and beverage concessionaires and other vendors. ATMs will be on-site.

Hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday, March 25, and 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sunday, March 26. The Expo entrance is on Carefree Highway about a half-mile west of I-17. Just follow the signs.

The title sponsor of the Arizona Game and Fish Department Outdoor Expo is Shikar Safari Club International. Gold Sponsors are OneAZ Credit Union and Shooter’s World/Daniel Defense.

For more information, visit www.azgfd.gov/expo.

Crews continue pavement repairs on northern Arizona highways

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PHOENIX – Arizona Department of Transportation maintenance crews are continuing pavement repairs along northern Arizona highways after winter storms.

Next week, crews will lay asphalt over existing pavement to smooth sections of Interstate 40 at milepost 156 westbound and continue this work between mileposts 169 and 172 eastbound, about 10 miles east of Williams. Patch work and asphalt overlays also will continue on State Route 89A in Oak Creek Canyon.

Potholes can pop up quickly when moisture seeps into and below asphalt, which in northern Arizona can be stressed by the combination of freezing overnight temperatures and daytime thawing. The Flagstaff area usually experiences more than 200 daily freeze-thaw cycles each year. Add heavy traffic, and this stressed pavement can break away.

ADOT has two projects coming later this year along I-40 between Flagstaff and Williams that will add a new layer of pavement in both directions.

National Household Travel Survey continues in Arizona through April

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PHOENIX – Over the past year, thousands of Arizonans have helped inform how we’ll all get around in the future by accepting invitations to participate in the National Household Travel Survey. With the survey wrapping up at the end of April, some are still getting letters asking them to take part.

The Arizona Department of Transportation and Federal Highway Administration are sending these invitations, most of them to households outside of metropolitan Phoenix and Tucson. The survey, conducted every five to seven years, provides an essential snapshot of transportation behaviors and trends by asking how members of a household get around on one day.

It’s important that as many households as possible participate because the answers will help state, local and federal officials decide when, where and how to invest limited transportation funding to improve roads, public transportation, sidewalks, bike paths and more.

Participation is voluntary and involves just a few easy steps. The first requires filling out a brief survey that comes with the invitation letter and returning it in a prepaid envelope. That takes about 10 minutes. Participants receive travel logs to record where members of their household go on an assigned travel day. Then they provide the information online or by phone, a process that usually takes 20 to 25 minutes.

Using a federal grant, ADOT has commissioned extra survey responses from beyond the Phoenix and Tucson areas to learn more about travel behaviors and trends in Greater Arizona. The goal is for about 80 percent of all participants to live beyond the Sun Corridor.

By law, all information provided is kept confidential, will be used only for research and cannot be sold. Names and other identifying information aren’t linked with the survey data used to create statistical summaries.

For those who aren’t invited to participate in the National Household Travel Survey, ADOT has created an online travel survey available at azdot.gov/NHTS. Information gathered through this survey will also help create a more valuable transportation system for all.

Create your own luck: Drive sober on St. Patrick’s Day

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Don’t rely on luck or four-leaf clovers to stay safe on St. Patrick’s Day.

If your plans include an evening out, have fun, but make smart decisions before getting in a vehicle. Designate a driver or call a taxi or rideshare service.

Did you know that alcohol-related crashes in Arizona historically spike on St. Patrick’s Day?

To promote smart driving decisions, ADOT will display this St. Patrick’s Day-themed safety message on Dynamic Message Signs statewide.

While leprechauns might be difficult to find, state and local law enforcement will be easy to spot. The Arizona Department of Public Safety will have an enhanced presence on highways, targeting impairment and other dangerous driving behavior, and the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety is working with State Troopers, police officers and deputy sheriffs on a statewide DUI enforcement campaign.

New virtual tour of South Mountain Freeway is online now

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PHOENIX – As the Loop South Mountain Freeway moves toward completion in late 2019, a new flyover animation reflects updated plans for the 22-mile-long corridor.

The six-and-a-half minute virtual tour of the South Mountain Freeway, the largest single freeway project in state history, is available at SouthMountainFreeway.com.

It updates a 2013 video completed in conjunction with the publication of the Draft Environmental Impact Statement by the Arizona Department of Transportation and Federal Highway Administration, and before much of the final design work had been completed.

Some of the key design modifications and additions highlighted in the latest video include:

  • Aesthetic and landscaping treatments reflecting neighboring communities
  • Direct HOV lane access near 59th Avenue from the South Mountain Freeway to and from downtown Phoenix
  • A six-mile-long shared-used path in Ahwatukee, located south of the freeway between 40th Street and 17th Avenue
  • Changes to the alignment that reduce the amount of right-of-way required
  • Interchange reconfigurations, including diverging diamond interchanges at Desert Foothills Parkway and 17th Avenue, moving the interchange at 51st Avenue to Estrella Drive, and realigning the freeway at 59th Avenue south of Elliot Road
  • Locations of sound walls to mitigate freeway noise
  • A city of Phoenix pedestrian bridge north of Broadway Road to connect the Rio del Rey neighborhoods in Phoenix.

The updated video doesn’t reflect design changes made after January. As a design-build project, construction can start in some areas of the project while design is still being finalized elsewhere. This innovative contracting method pairs the design and construction teams to deliver a project from beginning to end. This approach is intended to save time and money by overlapping the design and construction phases.

With the launch of the new video, the project webpage at SouthMountainFreeway.com has other new content, including aesthetic renderings and construction photos.

The South Mountain Freeway will provide a long-planned direct link between the East Valley and West Valley and a much-needed alternative to Interstate 10 through downtown Phoenix as it runs east and west along Pecos Road and then north and south between 55th and 63rd avenues, connecting with I-10 on each end.

Approved by Maricopa County voters in 1985 and again in 2004 as part of a comprehensive regional transportation plan, the South Mountain Freeway will complete the Loop 202 and Loop 101 freeway system in the Valley.

Report: Arizonans drove almost 67 billion miles in 2016

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PHOENIX – Drivers covered nearly 67 billion miles on Arizona roads in 2016, the state’s fifth consecutive annual increase, according to a Federal Highway Administration estimate.

Part of a Traffic Volume Trends report estimating a record 3.2 trillion miles driven on U.S. public roads last year, the Arizona figure demonstrates the importance of maintaining and improving the state’s transportation system, said John Halikowski, director of the Arizona Department of Transportation.

“Highways are Key Commerce Corridors that drive economic growth and jobs,” Halikowski said. “A well-built and well-maintained transportation system positions this growing state to capitalize on its proximity to major markets in California and Texas as well as south of the border.”

ADOT maintains all state and federal routes in Arizona, including six interstate highways.

The estimated number of vehicle miles traveled in Arizona in 2016 – 66.86 billion – represented an increase of more than 1.8 billion miles from 2015, or 2.8 percent. Since 2011, the number of miles navigated by Arizona drivers has increased by 7.28 billion, or 12 percent.

The 13-state West, including Arizona, had the greatest increase in travel compared with 2015, according to the Federal Highway Administration’s report.

ADOT reports vehicle miles traveled for the previous year each June. The agency’s figures also show a steady increase in recent years.

MVD improvements attract international attention

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Singapore delegation at MVD.

PHOENIX – Good news travels fast and it also travels far. The work being done by the Arizona Department of Transportation Motor Vehicle Division to lower office wait times, use employees more resourcefully and be more efficient overall is being noticed 9,000 miles away in Singapore.

A delegation from the Singapore Institute of Technology (SIT) and a representative from the Lean Enterprise Institute (LEI) visited MVD recently to learn about the continuous improvement transformation through the Arizona Management System championed by Governor Doug Ducey.

The delegation toured the MVD office located on 51st Avenue in Phoenix and got a firsthand look at how changes have helped contribute to an overall average reduction of 20 minutes in urban office wait times statewide. Other changes have contributed to an 80 percent reduction in overtime costs at some MVD locations, added more capacity by making road test appointments online and increased usage of online service options like kiosks and ServiceArizona.com.

MVD Director Eric Jorgensen said, “The Singapore government is very interested in studying efficiency, and what impressed them most was that Margarita, a customer service representative in the West Phoenix office, was able to walk them through the huddle board that measures our goals and describes our initiatives and explain not only how our processes work, but why. They were also very impressed with the level of engagement of all the leads, supervisors and office manager.”

He added, “I truly believe that this kind of engagement, with 854 MVD employees actively looking for how to make things just a little better, is the key to getting our customers out of the line and safely on the road.”

The Singapore government has put a large focus on increasing productivity and innovation in their country, and SIT is looking at different ways to bring lean transformation to their university and ultimately to the workforce through education and skills development.

AZGFD, Governor’s Office of Highway Safety to target impaired boat, OHV operators

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PHOENIX — The Arizona Game and Fish Department (AGFD) will enhance its efforts to target removal of impaired watercraft and off-highway vehicle (OHV) operators from Arizona’s recreation areas through a partnership with the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety.

AGFD was awarded nearly $46,000 in grant funding for officers to target DUI/OUI offenders on the state’s waterways and those riding OHVs. In addition to funding overtime for increased DUI/OUI patrols, officers will also target helmet, seat belt and child restraint compliance when required while riding in a UTV, an ATV or motorcycle.

“AZGFD has a strong relationship with the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety, which has always supported our efforts to keep our waterways and recreation areas safe for families to enjoy Arizona’s beautiful landscapes,” said Tim Baumgarten, AZGFD boating law administrator. “Safe recreation means taking care of your friends or family by designating a sober operator and wearing proper safety equipment, including a life jacket while on the water and a helmet when on trials.”

Drowning was the reported number-one cause of death in approximately 76 percent of 626 boating fatalities in 2015 and alcohol use was the leading known contributing factor in fatal boating accidents nationwide, according to the U.S. Coast Guard’s most-recent statistics. Additionally, approximately 85 percent of those who drowned were not wearing life jackets.

In Arizona, anyone under 12 years old must wear a life jacket while aboard and the vessel must have one life jacket available for every passenger. Those under 18 years old riding an ATV, UTV or motorcycle are required to wear a helmet.

In addition, under the grant funding, AZGFD will deploy its cadre of drug recognition experts to assist in the DUI/OUI checkpoints statewide. This will allow officers to perform additional enforcement without taking manpower and funding away from other AZGFD patrol responsibilities.

For more information on boating in Arizona, visit www.azgfd.gov/boating. For more information on OHVs in Arizona, visit www.azgfd.gov/ohv.

ADOT Blog: Spring forward? Not if you buckle up

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ADOT recently revealed the 20 finalists in our Safety Message Contest. We’ll announce the winners in April, but one contest entry will be displayed on our Dynamic Message Signs this weekend before voting wraps up on Wednesday, March 15.

Huh? Blame daylight saving time.

At 2 a.m. Sunday, March 12, billions of people worldwide will spring forward, setting their clocks ahead one hour. Meanwhile, Arizona doesn’t observe daylight saving time, and Phoenix resident Chris Ambiel conjured up a clever message that combined the twice-annual clock-changing event and seat belts.Instantly, we loved the message. Often, our safety messages are related to holidays or current events, like popular concerts, blockbuster movie premieres and sporting events. Ambiel’s message makes that connection too, tying something everyone is familiar with, like daylight saving time, with a safety element. Did you know that about 30 percent of all people killed on Arizona’s roads each year weren’t wearing seat belts? In 2015, that equaled 258 unnecessary fatalities.

“I came up with this message because I was trying to show some humor and the importance of wearing seat belts,” Ambiel said. “It just came to mind, being that we don’t turn back the clocks in Arizona or forward them for daylight saving time.”

Because contest winners will be displayed on overhead signs in April and daylight saving time occurs in March, we chose to run Ambiel’s message when it is most relevant. We’re looking forward to seeing what two finalists will be picked. Visit azdot.gov/signcontest before March 15 and vote for your favorite.