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Arizona

Started by Alps, March 04, 2015, 08:28:34 AM

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Bobby5280

I don't think anyone knows what alignment I-11 will take thru or around Wickenburg. Any guess could be way off by hundreds of millions of dollars depending on that variable. My spitball attempt at a guess: $500 million.


KeithE4Phx

Quote from: Bobby5280 on March 30, 2023, 12:04:34 AM
I don't think anyone knows what alignment I-11 will take thru or around Wickenburg. Any guess could be way off by hundreds of millions of dollars depending on that variable. My spitball attempt at a guess: $500 million.

This, AFAIK, is the final alignment, with two options between Eloy and Sahuarita.  It goes around Wickenburg, veering south just NW of the current US 93/AZ 89 exit.  Not that anything south of I-10, or maybe even south of I-40, will ever be built anyway.

http://i11study.com/arizona/map.asp
"Oh, so you hate your job? Well, why didn't you say so? There's a support group for that. It's called "EVERYBODY!" They meet at the bar." -- Drew Carey

Plutonic Panda

Right after posting about potholes in SoCal I came across this article about the situation in Arizona and the plans ADOT has to deal with it. At least they're acknowledging the issue lol

https://www.azfamily.com/2023/04/12/adot-announces-new-plan-fix-potholes-across-state/

roadman65

https://www.aaroads.com/az/095/us-095-s-at-main-st-3.jpg
I know the US 95 TO banner is erroneous as this particular route is US 95 along historical US 60/70 in Quartsite, but what I find more interesting is the fact that it needs to be concurrent here with BL I-10.

It should have a direct interchange with I-10 at nearby Central Blvd giving the city a better access to its business district.  If I didn't know better this city copied PennDOT and PTC with I-70 in infamous Breezewood to attract customers to old US 60/70 businesses.
Every day is a winding road, you just got to get used to it.

Sheryl Crowe

Max Rockatansky

Traffic is generally lite enough in Quartzsite that having to exit onto Main Street isn't that big of a deal.  More fun is the US 95 and AZ 95 signage at the west Main off ramp:

https://flic.kr/p/RVs5Vx


The Ghostbuster

Are people often confused when US 95 becomes AZ 95 in Quartzsite, after the US Highway turns west along Business 10 (Historic US 60/70)? Maybe AZ 95 could have been renumbered Alternate US 95 instead, when the US Highway was extended from Blythe, CA to the Mexican border at St. Luis, AZ in 1960.

Max Rockatansky

In my observation they didn't.  The locals at the Quartzsite store I managed security for knew the different between "US 95"  and "Arizona 95."   I'd venture a guess that not many of the long term seasonal RV crowd was very mixed up either considering how little of them went south on US 95.

Rothman

#182
Quote from: Max Rockatansky on April 26, 2023, 04:31:59 PM
In my observation they didn't.  The locals at the Quartzsite store I managed security for knew the different between "US 95"  and "Arizona 95."   I'd venture a guess that not many of the long term seasonal RV crowd was very mixed up either considering how little of them went south on US 95.

I spent some time with my grandparents in Quartzsite.  Back in the early 1990s, tens of thousands of snowbirders descended upon the town.  Some claimed 100,000 at once, which seems dubious.  Anyway, a lot of them would head south to Mexico for cheap medicine.
Please note: All comments here represent my own personal opinion and do not reflect the official position(s) of NYSDOT.

Max Rockatansky

The eyeball test didn't even come close to 50,000 in the years I was working out there (2010-2013).  Notably the store in question did 75% of its business the three big months of Snow Bird season.  Truthfully I never got the appeal of Quartzsite or Parker/Bluewater to the north.  Bluewater was at least on the Colorado River, I guess that's worth something.  Those RVers on AZ 95 between Quartzsite and Parker were hellacious to pass during the winter months.  I recall detouring through Poston quite often if I had to visit both locations on the same day. 

Rothman

It was the RV community that was the appeal.  They provided their own entertainment, especially music and the like.
Please note: All comments here represent my own personal opinion and do not reflect the official position(s) of NYSDOT.

roadman65

What's up with Arizona's lack of three digit interstates? Considering Phoenix is a large city and has a freeway network there would be either x10 or x17 destinations instead of AZ Loop designations.
Every day is a winding road, you just got to get used to it.

Sheryl Crowe

Pink Jazz

Quote from: roadman65 on May 01, 2023, 02:12:01 PM
What's up with Arizona's lack of three digit interstates? Considering Phoenix is a large city and has a freeway network there would be either x10 or x17 destinations instead of AZ Loop designations.


This is what I thought the freeways should be numbered:


       
  • Loop 101 - I-410 (I-210 I think would be reserved for SR 210 in Tucson if it ever becomes a full freeway)
  • Loop 202 - I-610
  • Loop 303 - I-217
  • US 60 Superstition - I-317 (it would be a spur of I-17 that would start from its southern terminus and would go east to Gold Canyon, with the westernmost portion concurrent with I-10)
  • SR 51 - I-510
  • SR 143 - I-110
  • SR 24 - I-710
  • SR 30 - I-810
  • Pinal North-South Freeway - I-310

The Ghostbuster

There once was an Interstate 410 and an Interstate 510 in Phoenix (both are now part of Interstate 10). There was a proposed Interstate 710 in Tucson. It was to have followed the South Kino Parkway from Interstate 10 to E. Broadway Ave., but it was canceled in 1982. Except for an interchange at E. 22nd St. built in the 2010s, the South Kino Parkway is no freeway. If any of the existing freeways with state highway designations were to have been proposed as Interstates, I think it would have greatly delayed their construction.

brad2971

Quote from: Max Rockatansky on April 26, 2023, 05:07:17 PM
The eyeball test didn't even come close to 50,000 in the years I was working out there (2010-2013).  Notably the store in question did 75% of its business the three big months of Snow Bird season.  Truthfully I never got the appeal of Quartzsite or Parker/Bluewater to the north.  Bluewater was at least on the Colorado River, I guess that's worth something.  Those RVers on AZ 95 between Quartzsite and Parker were hellacious to pass during the winter months.  I recall detouring through Poston quite often if I had to visit both locations on the same day. 

Sounds like the locals who park their RVs in and around Quartzsite are losing their taste for the place as well. Percentage-wise, La Paz County, which contains Quartzsite, lost nearly 20% of its population in the 2010s: https://www.12news.com/article/news/community/where-have-la-paz-countys-residents-all-gone/75-dbc04b66-7420-4ffc-afa7-b3a9f713a612

Max Rockatansky

Quartzsite was certainly quiet today when I passed through on Main Street.  Granted it's a little past the of traditional snowbird season, even still there was usually a decent crowd around usually during early May.

So, what's up with the super high gas prices in Maricopa County?  Every other county I went to had gas prices in the high $3/low $4 range per gallon.  Most of Maricopa County was selling 87 Octane at $4.99 or higher.

Rothman

Quote from: brad2971 on May 01, 2023, 11:46:15 PM
Quote from: Max Rockatansky on April 26, 2023, 05:07:17 PM
The eyeball test didn't even come close to 50,000 in the years I was working out there (2010-2013).  Notably the store in question did 75% of its business the three big months of Snow Bird season.  Truthfully I never got the appeal of Quartzsite or Parker/Bluewater to the north.  Bluewater was at least on the Colorado River, I guess that's worth something.  Those RVers on AZ 95 between Quartzsite and Parker were hellacious to pass during the winter months.  I recall detouring through Poston quite often if I had to visit both locations on the same day. 

Sounds like the locals who park their RVs in and around Quartzsite are losing their taste for the place as well. Percentage-wise, La Paz County, which contains Quartzsite, lost nearly 20% of its population in the 2010s: https://www.12news.com/article/news/community/where-have-la-paz-countys-residents-all-gone/75-dbc04b66-7420-4ffc-afa7-b3a9f713a612

I'd imagine this is due to the Silent Generation dying off.
Please note: All comments here represent my own personal opinion and do not reflect the official position(s) of NYSDOT.

roadman65

What are those gratings on the I-40 entrances and exits called that keep animals off the freeway? Yes, I know how it works as the animal can't stick its paws on it without falling between the pipes, but does it have a name in the DOT world?
Every day is a winding road, you just got to get used to it.

Sheryl Crowe

J N Winkler

Quote from: roadman65 on May 09, 2023, 12:46:29 PMWhat are those gratings on the I-40 entrances and exits called that keep animals off the freeway? Yes, I know how it works as the animal can't stick its paws on it without falling between the pipes, but does it have a name in the DOT world?

In the US they are called cattle guardsCattle grids is the British English term.  Other, more colorful phrases include Texas gate (in Alberta, Canada) and paso canadiense ("Canadian passage") in a proposed 2022 revision of the traffic manual for Colombia.
"It is necessary to spend a hundred lire now to save a thousand lire later."--Piero Puricelli, explaining the need for a first-class road system to Benito Mussolini

roadman65

Why is the milemarker at the North ( East) end of AZ 181 state the mileage is 64 miles from its other end when in fact the route is only 24 miles long?
Every day is a winding road, you just got to get used to it.

Sheryl Crowe

AzNate

The mile markers on 181 start at 38 because it intersects US 191 around mile 38, so the markers end at 64. ADOT has a lot of state highways that begin their mile markers around the same mile where it intersects the other highway. (see also SR 177, 92, 75, 78, 261, 273, 373, 180A, 61, 97, 67, among several other routes that do the same thing)

amroad17

^ This is the reason I-17's exits are numbered the way they are.  Originally, AZ 69 began its northern journey at or near that point.  Because AZ 69 started at US 89's mile marker 200, the mm's on AZ 69 started at 200.  The Black Canyon Freeway was, at first, a relocation of AZ 69, then designated as I-17—which kept the original exit numbers starting at 200.  It was sometime later, I believe after the routing of I-10 was finalized, that I-17 was extended to its current southern terminus with the exit numbers decreasing from 200.
I don't need a GPS.  I AM the GPS! (for family and friends)

kernals12


brad2971

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/01/climate/arizona-phoenix-permits-housing-water.html

If the NYT thinks that metro Phoenix is going to have the brakes put on growth due to this action, they need to think again. All the Arizona Dept. of Water Resources is doing in Maricopa County is putting a halt to well water permits for projects that rely solely on groundwater. Which means one cannot be a desert rat outside of, say, Tonopah, unless the property they purchased has both a dwelling and an existing water well. It's safe to say very few people younger than the age of Baby Boomer are still doing that sort of thing in Maricopa County. The subdivisons the NYT pictured very likely are supplied by either a municipal or private water company with existing ties to the Salt River Project or Central Arizona Project water sources.

kernals12

Quote from: brad2971 on June 03, 2023, 10:10:24 AM
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/01/climate/arizona-phoenix-permits-housing-water.html

If the NYT thinks that metro Phoenix is going to have the brakes put on growth due to this action, they need to think again. All the Arizona Dept. of Water Resources is doing in Maricopa County is putting a halt to well water permits for projects that rely solely on groundwater. Which means one cannot be a desert rat outside of, say, Tonopah, unless the property they purchased has both a dwelling and an existing water well. It's safe to say very few people younger than the age of Baby Boomer are still doing that sort of thing in Maricopa County. The subdivisons the NYT pictured very likely are supplied by either a municipal or private water company with existing ties to the Salt River Project or Central Arizona Project water sources.

Good to hear.

Zonie

I suspect the Rio Verde water mess is the catalyst for this policy change. 



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