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[roadwaywiz95]

A new home for general talk surrounding I-17. Here's our first big announcement:

Our next installment in the "Virtual Tour" series is scheduled to take place next Saturday (3/21) at 5 PM ET. Come join me and members of the AARoads community as we profile Interstate 17 through central Arizona and discuss the history and features of this highway, all while enjoying a real-time video trip along the length of the freeway between Phoenix and Flagstaff.

A link to the event location can be found below:

[SSR_317]

Thank you, RoadwayWiz, for your virtual tour of I-17. In spite of the technical glitches, it was a thoroughly enjoyable experience and brought back many pleasant memories of my numerous visits to the Grand Canyon State. If you get a chance to return to that region, definitely do Sedona and Oak Creek Canyon. The mountain town of Jerome, on the way to Prescott just past Sedona, is also noteworthy (reminded me a lot of Virginia City, NV), in that it literally "hangs" on the side of a mountain. It's too bad the skies weren't clearer the day of your trip, as you didn't get the full effect of Humphrey's Peak suddenly "appearing" straight ahead on I-17 as you climb out of the Verde Valley while ascending the Mogollon Rim.

Keep up the excellent work!

[Plutonic Panda]

Update on the flex lanes project:

https://www.azfamily.com/news/adot-to-install-flex-lanes-on-i-17/article_f9c079ea-15b5-11ec-92c2-3f482c61900c.html

[74/171FAN]

FYI, the I-17 virtual tour is still on the roadwaywiz channel.  (Link is here: 

)

[Plutonic Panda]

The widening of I-17 north of Phoenix to include additional GP lanes and new flex lanes for about 23 miles begins in 2022.

https://apnews.com/article/business-arizona-phoenix-canyons-arizona-department-of-transportation-3eaa9e3ec6ddbe0c70ebc2a27d6ba594

[Sonic99]

The widening of I-17 north of Phoenix to include additional GP lanes and new flex lanes for about 23 miles begins in 2022.

https://apnews.com/article/business-arizona-phoenix-canyons-arizona-department-of-transportation-3eaa9e3ec6ddbe0c70ebc2a27d6ba594

Cannot happen soon enough, but the construction is going to be absolutely effing awful while it's underway. You think traffic is bad going up and down the hill now? Ugh...

[kernals12]

I encountered congestion on 17 when I was travelling from Phoenix to Sedona over Labor Day. I hope this helps.

[Max Rockatansky]

I encountered congestion on 17 when I was travelling from Phoenix to Sedona over Labor Day. I hope this helps.

That’s the so called “Sedona 500” phenomenon.  The better bet on days like that is taking AZ 89 or AZ 87 back to Phoenix.

[edwaleni]

Does anyone know if AZ DOT is planning to add any lanes to I-17 in the near future. I know about the capacity increases north of Phoenix for the Sedona 500, but I am talking about the "Great Flagstaff Exit".

When snow comes to the area around Flagstaff, Sunday night returns to the PHX metro area are downright terrible. Backups for miles and miles sometimes all the way to Flower Pot.

[The Ghostbuster]

I have a hard time believing that there was once a proposal 30 years ago to extend Interstate 17 northward to Interstate 15 in Utah: https://www.deseret.com/1993/1/2/19024583/arizona-officials-seek-extension-of-i-17-into-utah. Does anyone else remember that?

[Henry]

I have a hard time believing that there was once a proposal 30 years ago to extend Interstate 17 northward to Interstate 15 in Utah: https://www.deseret.com/1993/1/2/19024583/arizona-officials-seek-extension-of-i-17-into-utah. Does anyone else remember that?

I remember hearing about it. Not surprisingly, the Navajos shot it down, as did the environmentalists protecting the Grand Canyon. But I could see I-17 tie into either I-15 or I-70 in the Cove Fort area had it been successful. And that would've made a better all-freeway routing from Phoenix to Salt Lake City than I-11 could ever be (just one man's opinion).

[KeithE4Phx]

I have a hard time believing that there was once a proposal 30 years ago to extend Interstate 17 northward to Interstate 15 in Utah: https://www.deseret.com/1993/1/2/19024583/arizona-officials-seek-extension-of-i-17-into-utah. Does anyone else remember that?

IIRC, it was the politicians in Arizona and Utah that were LDS that were trying to push this through.  They were the ones that wanted the direct route between Phoenix and SLC.  Unfortunately for them, the Navajo Nation had the final say (actually, the only say, since it's their land) and they shot it down.  I doubt it will ever be revived.

[edwaleni]

The TEA-21 and SAFETEA acts of Congress has restructured how the FHWA, the DOT and the state DOT's work with Tribal Authorities on highway planning.

The biggest issue to any large scale tax funded highway planning through tribal lands is that they are ultimately on the hook for maintenance unless they cut a deal with a state DOT (which is allowed) to keep the roads up to spec.

Since the tax base doesn't support large scale highway maintenance budgeting, the tribal authorities would be forced to form a toll authority to capture the needed revenue, which is not allowed for federal tax funded highways.

This is why many (but not all) tribal roads are gravel and the bridges are a mix of deficient to average in capability.

However, that doesn't stop the tribal authorities to create a toll authority themselves to bond finance a highway across their lands and hire a firm to operate it.

If the route was shown to have a significant enough volumes to warrant a tollway with an annual concession payment to the tribes IRR fund, I would imagine you might find more interest. If the tribe offers concessions to run casino/hospitality center at a prime locale along the way, it again could drive revenue into tribal hands.

So with the new SAFETEA and subsequent highway acts, I would like to think the tribal authorities have way more options in their pocket when large highway projects approach them on land use.

[Rothman]

Any threat that tribal nations would be responsible for maintenance has been a paper tiger in NY.  Seneca Nation and NY have notoriously not seen eye to eye for decades and the Thruway and I-86 suffered as a result of a lack of agreement between them. 

[Bobby5280]

I think the only choice of making a Northern extension of I-17 remotely feasible is phasing in improvements to the US-89 corridor. The various canyons and mountains across Northern Arizona and Southern Utah make any other choice impossible.

I think US-89 should be a divided four lane highway up to Page at least. Right now it's mostly 2 lanes with some stretches of divided or not-divided four lane as well as a few passing zones. It's possible to convert all of that to a divided four lane facility as safety improvements.

If an Interstate was ever built in the town of Page it would have to use the existing US-89 alignment. US-89 already sort of bypasses Page anyway. It's possible to upgrade US-89 from a 2-lane road to a standard 4-lane divided road without displacing any businesses. A freeway with frontage roads would force at least a few roadside businesses to relocate to new set-backs. And then a new, second bridge would have to be built across Glen Canyon.

The Navajo Nation might be more receptive of big improvements to the US-89 corridor if it translated into positive economic impact. There needs to be a greater variety of businesses on tribe lands. When most people think of businesses that operate on tribe lands it's always casinos and smoke shops. It feeds into negative stereotypes. Plus, I think there's room for only so many casinos in the marketplace. This particular area is probably a little too close to Las Vegas.

North of Page and going into Utah the US-89 corridor is forced to take a hard left turn, basically going more than 70 miles due West to reach a feasible opening to continue North. Even if a north extension of I-17 was on the table I'm pretty sure the new Interstate would be forced to follow the same route.

[Max Rockatansky]

Right now US 89 is very adequate to handle traffic loads between Flagstaff and Cameron.  The four lanes were almost always empty aside from times when traffic coming/going to the Grand Canyon was heavy.  North of Cameron to US 160 the situation on US 89 could be remedied plausibility by way of installing passing lanes.  From US 160 the traffic lessens considerably approaching US 89A and finally Page.  If four lane conversion or US 89 was going to happen it would have when BIA 20 was assigned as US 89T following the sink hole incident south of Page a couple years back.