Phoenix Area Highways

[Plutonic Panda]

What happened?

[Pink Jazz]

What happened?

Unfortunately, there is still no news on the ruling.  Hopefully sometime this week we hear something about it.

[Plutonic Panda]

Thanks for the response. I hope to see this freeway approved.

[Pink Jazz]

As of today, the City of Phoenix has turned over the ROW for the South Mountain Freeway to ADOT:
https://www.azdot.gov/media/News/news-release/2016/08/02/right-of-way-formalized-for-future-south-mountain-freeway

Pecos Road west of I-10, and 59th Avenue south of I-10 are now officially designated as part of Loop 202, even though the freeway isn't complete yet.

I hope a ruling comes soon and ADOT comes out victorious.  The ruling was supposed to be last month; I am not sure what is causing the delay.

[Sonic99]

Is it possible the ruling happened and because the groups fighting it lost there's just nobody talking about it anymore? Like everyone is just done and moved on? Also, it seems like all the fighting has kind of quieted since the homes have been demolished. Only thing left is the big church, and construction is already going on their new location. ADOT is working with them on getting them into their new place and letting them essentially be the "last one out" from the freeway corridor.

[Pink Jazz]

Is it possible the ruling happened and because the groups fighting it lost there's just nobody talking about it anymore? Like everyone is just done and moved on? Also, it seems like all the fighting has kind of quieted since the homes have been demolished. Only thing left is the big church, and construction is already going on their new location. ADOT is working with them on getting them into their new place and letting them essentially be the "last one out" from the freeway corridor.

Doubt it.  PARC has confirmed that they plan to take the case to the 9th Circuit of the U.S. Court of Appeals, and there would have been some publicity from them if the ruling has already happened.

[coatimundi]

Phoenicians are pretty ravenous about freeway news, so I doubt this would be ignored. PARC has said nothing about it either recently.

[compdude787]

I'm surprised we haven't heard anything about this ruling yet. But, the wheels of justice move very slowly....

[Pink Jazz]

One thing to wonder is when will ADOT complete the remaining HOV lanes on the Loop 202 (specifically from Gilbert Road to Broadway on the SanTan Freeway).  The portion of the SanTan Freeway between Gilbert Road and Val Vista is a major chokepoint in the afternoon rush.  It isn't mentioned in ADOT's 2017-2021 construction plans, so I don't see it happening for a while unfortunately.

[Sonic99]

Per ADOT, they are pouring the bridge deck and building the retaining walls for the approaches for the Bell Rd/Grand Ave project. Still shooting for it to be open by November (just 3 months away).

[Pink Jazz]

I just got a response from ADOT, and here are a few updates on SanTan Freeway projects:

• The Freeway Management System for the remaining portion of the SanTan Freeway between Ray Road and Broadway is scheduled for FY17.  Considering it is currently FY17 right now, I think it should probably start either this winter or the spring of 2017.
• HOV lanes for the remaining portion of the SanTan Freeway are currently programmed for FY21.

Also, ADOT has put out an RFP for a new DMS contract, which is supposed to begin next year after Skyline's contract expires.  In the pre-proposal conference, Daktronics, Adaptive, and SES America were present.  Interestingly, Skyline was absent from this conference.  However, I am not sure if attending the conference was mandatory or voluntary.  If the latter, perhaps Skyline felt like they didn't need to attend since they have the existing contract, thus they didn't have any questions to ask.

One thing that I noticed new with this RFP is the requirement to supply full size DMS with both walk-in and front access cabinets.  The existing contract with Skyline only specifies walk-in cabinets for full size DMS used on freeways.  Perhaps the addition of full size models with front access cabinets could be for divided rural expressways that aren't necessarily built to full freeway standards.  Another possibility could be to replace some existing FDS Sylvia DMS while retaining the existing support structures (which may not be able to handle the weight of a walk-in cabinet), however, considering that ADOT has been refurbishing many of their Sylvia DMS with SES America's LED retrofit package, I would be surprised if that is the case.

[kdk]

Haven't found any articles yet, but was just watching the local news and they just broke the news that all lawsuits were dismissed on the 202 and construction will start next month finally.  Must have just been announced, was on ABC 15.

[Sonic99]

Haven't found any articles yet, but was just watching the local news and they just broke the news that all lawsuits were dismissed on the 202 and construction will start next month finally.  Must have just been announced, was on ABC 15.

[swbrotha100]

Haven't found any articles yet, but was just watching the local news and they just broke the news that all lawsuits were dismissed on the 202 and construction will start next month finally.  Must have just been announced, was on ABC 15.

http://azdot.gov/media/News/news-release/2016/08/19/adot-federal-highway-administration-prevail-in-south-mountain-freeway-lawsuit

This is great news. Hopefully all the lawsuits will stop and we can start talking about actual construction of this section of Loop 202. From what I've been reading, planned construction will start on both ends of the project (I-10/59th Ave area and I-10/Loop 202 Santan area) and will eventually meet in the middle, somewhere in the area of South Mountain Park. Cross your fingers, the construction will pick up in September.

[swbrotha100]

Construction starts Monday, 9/12 on the Loop 202 South Mountain section. It may not be much, but it will be from the current I-10/Loop 202 Santan interchange and start working its way west.

http://azdot.gov/media/News/news-release/2016/09/06/public-input-essential-as-south-mountain-freeway-moves-toward-construction

[Pink Jazz]

ADOT's interactive ITS map has just been updated:

• All DMS and CCTV cameras for FMS Phases 3C (I-17 from Loop 101 to Anthem Way) and 11A (I-10 from Bullard Avenue to 83rd Avenue) are now marked as Operational.
• DMS and CCTV Cameras for FMS Phases 11B (I-10 from Perryville Road to Bullard Avenue) and 14C (Loop 202 SanTan from Higley Road to Broadway Road) are now marked as being in the Designed phase.
• Two more proposed DMS have been added to the Loop 202 SanTan Freeway (one westbound at Recker Road, and one northbound at Guadalupe Road).

[Sonic99]

Construction continues at Bell Rd and Grand. But there's still an odd gap in the girders and no work on the west side approach. It's supposed to be open to traffic sometime in the next 60 days. Something seems of and nobody is saying anything.

https://youtu.be/f__J3oPXdcY

[707]

Construction continues at Bell Rd and Grand. But there's still an odd gap in the girders and no work on the west side approach. It's supposed to be open to traffic sometime in the next 60 days. Something seems of and nobody is saying anything.

https://youtu.be/f__J3oPXdcY

That's the space where the entrance/exit ramps are supposed to go. I recently got a text update from ADOT stating they were starting the construction of said ramps.

[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.

[Pink Jazz]

According to ADOT's Weekend Freeway Travel Advisory, the Loop 202 SanTan Freeway Eastbound will be closed between Loop 101/Price and Cooper tonight from 10 PM to 6 PM tomorrow for DMS installation.  I presume next we could be seeing similar closures every weekend this month to install the DMS.  Perhaps next week it could be the same portion westbound, or eastbound between Cooper and Ray.

[707]

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.

[Pink Jazz]

I just noticed this morning two new Skyline full matrix DMS installed on the Loop 202 SanTan Freeway eastbound between Loop 101 and Cooper this morning. I presume there will be more installed this weekend.

Now FMS 14C (the remaining portion of the SanTan Freeway between Ray and Broadway) might use a different manufacturer of DMS, since Skyline's current contract expires July of next year the the construction contract is supposed to go out for bid in the fourth quarter of FY17. I know Daktronics and Adaptive have submitted bids for the new contract, not sure if Skyline did as well.

The South Mountain Freeway, on the other hand, will use Skyline per the P3 agreement with Connect 202 Partners.

[Pink Jazz]

Looks like this weekend there will be another closure of the Loop 202 SanTan Freeway for DMS installation, this time between Cooper and Price/101 in the Westbound direction.

EDIT: The new DMS are up.  This leaves only the portion between Cooper and Ray in both directions for the current phase.

[frozen]

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.

[Max Rockatansky]

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.

Geeze and I almost went down Grand to see this.  Looks like they fell way behind on the built.