Phoenix Area Highways

[Pink Jazz]

An update on the DMS on the Loop 202 SanTan Freeway; two additional DMS have been installed on the portion between Gilbert Road and Ray in the eastbound direction last weekend.  Interestingly though there are no plans for a closure this weekend to install them in the westbound direction.

[Sonic99]

Thanks, I was just expecting it to be done as a bridge and not as basically a walled-in dirt embankment. Doing it that way, yeah that fits the timeline much better.

Anytime! I was expecting it to be a bridge too.

Bell Road and Grand Ave (US 60) September 27, 2016 by Arizona Department of Transportation, on Flickr

You can see the embankment getting started in this picture.. It'll be interesting to see them finish it all in less than a month. I have my doubts to be honest.

To be fair, that picture is a month old. If all they're doing is stacking dirt, it would go a lot faster.

Anything more recent than that?

[Pink Jazz]

Going to the ProcureAZ website, it looks like Daktronics has won back ADOT's DMS contract after losing it to Skyline in 2012. Still no word on the bid tabulations, although I do know that Adaptive had also submitted a bid.

[Pink Jazz]

Note that ADOT's new contract with Daktronics appears to actually be an open market purchase order, rather than a long term blanket agreement, with the contract lasting for one year.  I presume this order should be to cover the Loop 202 SanTan Freeway between Ray and Broadway, I-10 between Perryville and Bullard, I-17 north of Anthem, and Rural DMS Phase 11, all of which have completed design.

[kdk]

I saw that Bell/Grand is expected to be complete next week, or at least complete enough to be open.  Didn't look possible when I was there two weeks ago, but that's what they said today-
http://www.bizjournals.com/phoenix/news/2016/11/15/adot-readies-bell-grand-interchange-for-opening.html

[pumpkineater2]

In other news, I-10 is set to be expanded in the west valley:http://www.westvalleyview.com/articles/2016/11/09/mag-oks-i-10-expansion-between-verrado-way-sr85

[Sonic99]

With all the other work happening around the Valley, it's becoming very strange and obvious that there's no plans to build new bridges over I-17 at Happy Valley and Pinnacle Peak. Everything around those two has been rebuilt, expanded, etc but those two bridges never got addressed.

[AsphaltPlanet]

A video of a loop through several Downtown Freeways that I shot back in April of this year.  Phoenix has awesome freeways.

[Pink Jazz]

A video of a loop through several Downtown Freeways that I shot back in April of this year.  Phoenix has awesome freeways.

Cool video.  Note that about a month after you took this video, ADOT actually added a few logo signs on the portions of I-10 and I-17 you were on.  When ADOT expanded the state's logo sign program to urban areas, they focused first on the more suburban freeways before installing them in the inner city, which is why they were present in your video on US 60, Loop 101, and Loop 202, but not on I-10 or I-17 (I-17 didn't have any south of Dunlap at the time, and on I-10 they were installed west of 35th Avenue and east of Baseline).

[Pink Jazz]

FYI, according to AZ511.gov, the last two DMS in the current FMS phase for the Loop 202 SanTan Freeway are planned to go up on the weekend from December 9 to 11.  These should probably be the last Skyline full matrix DMS installed in the Phoenix area and possibly the last statewide other than the South Mountain Freeway (not sure if Rural DMS Phase 11 installation will begin before of after Skyline's contract expires, plus there is one more additional DMS installation for the Tucson FMS near the new Ina Road interchange).  Starting next year future installations will be Daktronics full matrix models (which has the contract up to 2021), except on the South Mountain Freeway which explicitly specifies that Connect 202 Partners installs Skyline DMS per the design-build-maintain P3 agreement.

[JKRhodes]

With all the other work happening around the Valley, it's becoming very strange and obvious that there's no plans to build new bridges over I-17 at Happy Valley and Pinnacle Peak. Everything around those two has been rebuilt, expanded, etc but those two bridges never got addressed.

Pinnacle Peak,  I can somewhat understand as it serves a fairly short and narrow corridor, with topography, airport, and the juvenile center somewhat limiting future development.

Happy Valley, OTOH needs an update in the worst way. It's ridiculous to see a two-lane bridge serving what has become such a major corridor, especially when the interchange is flanked by six-lane boulevards on either side.

[Sonic99]

It also limits the widening ability of I-17 as well, as the lanes are pushed right up against the bridge supports for the overpasses. Coming south, literally as soon as you get past Pinnacle Peak you gain literally double the lanes (3+HOV to 6+HOV). North of Happy Valley, the entire thing is basically ready for a 5+HOV configuration with only minimal work. With a future full interchange with the 303 at some point down the road, a 5+HOV configuration to the 303 would be stupendous for the flow of traffic. But with the overpasses still at Pinnacle Peak and Happy Valley in their current configuration, everything else is pointless unless they intentionally want to create a choke point at those two roads.

With all the other work happening around the Valley, it's becoming very strange and obvious that there's no plans to build new bridges over I-17 at Happy Valley and Pinnacle Peak. Everything around those two has been rebuilt, expanded, etc but those two bridges never got addressed.

Pinnacle Peak,  I can somewhat understand as it serves a fairly short and narrow corridor, with topography, airport, and the juvenile center somewhat limiting future development.

Happy Valley, OTOH needs an update in the worst way. It's ridiculous to see a two-lane bridge serving what has become such a major corridor, especially when the interchange is flanked by six-lane boulevards on either side.

[Pink Jazz]

This morning I saw one of the new Skyline DMS on the Loop 202 SanTan Freeway displaying a test message after being dark for several months now.  This tells me that they are almost ready to be fully operational.

Later this year we should see new Daktronics full matrix DMS be installed on the remaining portion of the Loop 202 SanTan Freeway between Ray and Broadway.

[Pink Jazz]

It looks like ADOT might be replacing the exit gore signs on the Loop 101 Price Freeway with the tall narrow type found on I-17 and the Loop 202 Red Mountain Freeway between Loop 101 and Gilbert Road.  I saw some tall posts on the exit gores on the Loop 101 Price Freeway southbound just right behind the existing exit gore signs.

[Pink Jazz]

The Loop 101 Price Freeway has been getting several new signs lately.  The new narrow exit gore signs have been installed in the southbound direction and will soon go up in the northbound direction (the posts are already installed; the signs should go up soon).  Also, the button copy city limits signs have been replaced as well in the southbound direction and will soon be replaced in the northbound direction as well.  These new signs are not in Clearview; they are in FHWA Series E (with the exit gore sign for Exit 61A in Series D).  Also, the FDS Sylvia fiber-optic DMS just south of US 60 in the southbound direction has been refurbished with SES America's LED retrofit package as of this week.

[Pink Jazz]

It looks like the button copy signs on the Loop 101 Price Freeway may be on their last legs.  They were all replaced with new retroreflective signs (in FHWA Series E) in the southbound direction this past weekend between the Loop 202 Red Mountain Freeway and US 60, and according to AZ511.gov, this weekend there will be a closure for sign installation southbound between US 60 and the Loop 202 SanTan Freeway.  Northbound shouldn't be too far behind.

[compdude787]

Oh, so they're no longer using Clearview, huh? That's good, I was never really a fan of Clearview. It wasn't like a horrible font, but I'm just more used to the Highway Gothic font and see that more as THE highway sign font.

[Pink Jazz]

Oh, so they're no longer using Clearview, huh? That's good, I was never really a fan of Clearview. It wasn't like a horrible font, but I'm just more used to the Highway Gothic font and see that more as THE highway sign font.

Yes, but instead of Series E Modified they are using plain Series E on freeways.  Regular roads are now using Series D, and street blades are now using Series C.  Width-constrained signs may use narrower versions of Highway Gothic.

[Zonie]

New flyover view of the South Mountain Freeway is up.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oGbgyeIEvRs

[DJStephens]

Oh, so they're no longer using Clearview, huh? That's good, I was never really a fan of Clearview. It wasn't like a horrible font, but I'm just more used to the Highway Gothic font and see that more as THE highway sign font.

Was on Interstate 10 between Tucson and Phoenix last week.  Some brand new signage had Clearview font, and some had traditional font.  So perhaps they are installing both at this time? 

[Pink Jazz]

I have noticed more signs today on the Loop 101 Price Freeway in FHWA Series E (non-Modified).  Some of them even replaced Clearview signs.

[Pink Jazz]

As for the new DMS on the Loop 202 SanTan Freeway, it looks like the acceptance test may be delayed but might now be advancing, since I saw one of them actually displaying a test message in lowercase letters. 

After all, ADOT's required acceptance test for new DMS installations are that they function without any issues for 30 calendar days.  If a minor failure occurs, the 30 day period is suspended until the issue is corrected, and then 24 hours are added to the period after the issue is corrected.  If a major failure occurs, the 30 day period resets to zero after the issue is corrected.

[Zonie]

As for the new DMS on the Loop 202 SanTan Freeway, it looks like the acceptance test may be delayed but might now be advancing, since I saw one of them actually displaying a test message in lowercase letters. 

After all, ADOT's required acceptance test for new DMS installations are that they function without any issues for 30 calendar days.  If a minor failure occurs, the 30 day period is suspended until the issue is corrected, and then 24 hours are added to the period after the issue is corrected.  If a major failure occurs, the 30 day period resets to zero after the issue is corrected.

I noticed that yesterday, on Santan WB not far from the 101 interchange. 

[Pink Jazz]

As for the new DMS on the Loop 202 SanTan Freeway, it looks like the acceptance test may be delayed but might now be advancing, since I saw one of them actually displaying a test message in lowercase letters. 

After all, ADOT's required acceptance test for new DMS installations are that they function without any issues for 30 calendar days.  If a minor failure occurs, the 30 day period is suspended until the issue is corrected, and then 24 hours are added to the period after the issue is corrected.  If a major failure occurs, the 30 day period resets to zero after the issue is corrected.

I noticed that yesterday, on Santan WB not far from the 101 interchange.

I wonder if once the full installation for the freeway management system for the Santan Freeway is complete we will start to see travel times displayed on the DMS.  There is still the remaining portion between Ray and Broadway, which will use Daktronics full matrix DMS. Construction on that phase of the freeway management system should begin later this year.

[kurumi]

Regarding the public-private partnership for the final segment of loop 202 (link) ... what's the benefit of this non-tolled road for the private developer?

This is the first highway public-private partnership in Arizona. While the South Mountain Freeway will not be a toll road, the public-private partnership will allow ADOT to construct the project at an accelerated pace and at a lower cost.

After an unsolicited public-private partnership proposal was submitted in 2013, ADOT sought proposals from qualified teams vying to develop the 22-mile-long freeway, which is the last piece of the Loop 202 system and a critical direct link between the West Valley and East Valley. From the five initial proposals submitted, three finalists were selected after a qualifications assessment to advance in the selection process.

...

All three teams participating as finalists in the process were encouraged to use innovation and develop alternative concepts to save time and money, while adhering to all environmental commitments. The goal is to create an innovative public-private partnership that will have a private developer design and construct the freeway, as well as maintain the new highway for 30 years.