I-17 'flex lane' improvement project advances with developer agreement

The Arizona Department of Transportation has signed an agreement with a developer to widen a stretch of I-17 between Phoenix and Flagstaff and install flex lanes. The nearly 450-million dollar project is set to begin in 2022 and take approximately three years. The project will focus on widening a 15 miles stretch of I-17 between Anthem and Black Canyon City, as well as eight miles of “flex lanes” from Black Canyon City to Sunset Point. ADOT says the “flex lanes” will operate as a separate two-lane road carrying one direction of traffic at a time depending on the greatest need for traffic flow, with heavy northbound traffic on Fridays and heavy southbound traffic on Sundays.