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Summer Construction Season Underway in Northern Arizona Highways

Arizona Department of Transportation

If you look at a map of upcoming or ongoing construction projects around northern Arizona, it’s hard to find a major highway without some roadwork. 

The list includes a number of projects on I-40 from Holbrook westward, I-17 north of Camp Verde, and smaller highways in and out of the Verde Valley, the Prescott area and Payson.

KNAU’s Zac Ziegler spoke with Ryan Harding, a spokesperson for the Arizona Department of Transportation, about why so many projects are piled up in the coming months.

Zac Ziegler: “It’s peak tourism time for much of the area. Why tear up roads and close lanes on highways when they're at their busiest?”

 

Ryan Harding: “Summertime is really our time for a doing highway projects up in northern Arizona because of the temperatures needed in order for the pavement to cure properly and adhere to the road. The daytime and nighttime temperatures have to be above a certain level in order for pavement to cure properly. If it doesn't, then you put traffic on and it just breaks up.

We do work to phase and schedule these projects. We will try to minimize the impact of traffic as much as possible, especially on the weekends when we know they'll be even busier with people coming up.”

 

ZZ: “So it's quite a list of projects. Which ones are the most concerning for travelers, and where do people need to avoid or anticipate delays the most?”

 

RH: “Some of the bigger ones are a continuation from last summer, and those would be like along I-40 between Cataract Lake and Parks. That's about 17 miles, and there will be a lot of paving along that stretch there as they finish up that project this summer. Another area is I-17 northbound from the Coconino County line up to I-40, and the same kind of work is to be going along there. They're going to be repairing a lot of that long-term winter damage and making that road nice and smooth for travelers up north. So those are some of the bigger ones, and again those are continuations from last summer. Last summer they did a lot of actual rebuilding where they shut lanes down for a while and tore up the road and rebuilt it from the ground up. That work is all done. Now the rest of it’s just going to be milling and paving.”

 

ZZ: “It was a wet winter and spring. Does all the rain and snow mean more wear and tear on the roads?”

 

RH: “Yeah, the snow can help over time, over the years, breakdown the pavement. The water and moisture will seep into the asphalt, and then when the temperature drops and it snows, it freezes. Then it will thaw again the next day when the sun comes back up. And those kind of repeated freeze-thaw cycles over the years will break up the asphalt and break down the pavement. So it’s necessary for us to come in and mill out that hold pavement and lay fresh stuff down.

 

ZZ: “And lastly, we just heard word that the legislature is going to be giving ADOT some funds to help out with some trouble areas along I-17 north of the Phoenix area. What's the timeframe on those projects?”

 

RH: “Yeah, that money is supposed to last for the next three years. We already have money scheduled to address that area between Anthem and Black Canyon. That project has already been scheduled for 2021. And then these additional funds that we got from this latest budget will help extend some third lanes all the way down to Anthem Way. And those will take place sometime over the next three years.”

 

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