Interstate 11

[triplemultiplex]

And my snark setting was too high.

[DenverBrian]

After driving US-95 northwest of Las Vegas, it seems like it would be relatively cheap to extend I-11 to just past the Clark/Nye county line. There are precious few intersections; it's already four lane divided with interstate-standard shoulders and grades; I'd guess fewer than 10 interchanges to be built.

If this were in Texas, they'd already have it done, and if they had to start today, they'd have it finished in six months.

[Max Rockatansky]

A lot of that expressway was purpose built to facilitate the military installation at Mercury and the wider Nevada Test Site.  Traffic drops considerably north NV 157 and usually can be fairly well timed to the typical 7 AM-4 PM military admin day. 

[Sub-Urbanite]

A lot of that expressway was purpose built to facilitate the military installation at Mercury and the wider Nevada Test Site.  Traffic drops considerably north NV 157 and usually can be fairly well timed to the typical 7 AM-4 PM military admin day.

Yep. Back then, most civilian workers at the test site – and there were a lot of them – commuted from Las Vegas.

[Max Rockatansky]

A lot of that expressway was purpose built to facilitate the military installation at Mercury and the wider Nevada Test Site.  Traffic drops considerably north NV 157 and usually can be fairly well timed to the typical 7 AM-4 PM military admin day.

Yep. Back then, most civilian workers at the test site – and there were a lot of them – commuted from Las Vegas.

It is also a common pattern to see expressway and freeway segments built to facilitate commutes to bases.  That was the large driver for a freeway and expressway alignment of CA 198 being built to NAS Lemoore from Hanford.  Likewise there is a four lane expressway segment of US 1 from Key West to Boca Chica Key where the flight line for NAS Key West is.

[ClassicHasClass]

Or Air Base Parkway in Fairfield for Travis AFB.

[kernals12]

Interstate 11 now runs along what was once Interstate 515 and up US 95 to Kyle Canyon Road.

[The Ghostbuster]

Now if they could renumber the exits to correspond with Interstate 11's mileage instead of US 95's mileage, then we'd really be in business. Is there a timeline for renumbering the exits yet?

[roadfro]

Interstate 11 now runs along what was once Interstate 515 and up US 95 to Kyle Canyon Road.

Note that none of that is actually signed yet. We're still at least a month away from signs going up. Monitor the I-11 thread on the Pacific Southwest board for more info on developments with I-11 on the Nevada side.

Now if they could renumber the exits to correspond with Interstate 11's mileage instead of US 95's mileage, then we'd really be in business. Is there a timeline for renumbering the exits yet?

No. A resigning project is out to bid that will include a lot of overhead sign replacements.  But as discussed in the other thread, that project is (confusingly) not addressing exit numbering according to I-11 mileposts.

[DenverBrian]

Actually, some I-11 signage HAS been posted at kind of random interchanges along I-515's route. It's spotty and has no logical progression - it's a "where's Waldo" kind of situation.

[Roadwarriors79]

So it looks like Pima County doesn't want to see I-11 built:

https://www.12news.com/article/news/local/arizona/elected-officials-ask-katie-hobbs-to-squash-interstate-11-route-pima-county/75-3aa2566b-b446-4c27-873f-07d0eb704b11

[Great Lakes Roads]

So it looks like Pima County doesn't want to see I-11 built:

https://www.12news.com/article/news/local/arizona/elected-officials-ask-katie-hobbs-to-squash-interstate-11-route-pima-county/75-3aa2566b-b446-4c27-873f-07d0eb704b11

Good for them... just end I-11 at I-8 in Gila Bend!

[sprjus4]

So it looks like Pima County doesn't want to see I-11 built:

https://www.12news.com/article/news/local/arizona/elected-officials-ask-katie-hobbs-to-squash-interstate-11-route-pima-county/75-3aa2566b-b446-4c27-873f-07d0eb704b11

I believe there had been pushback and opposition from that area before... If they really want to keep I-11 going down to the border, just overlap I-10 and replace the I-19 designation - not that hard.

Or, and in my opinion the better option, just truncate I-11 at I-10 or I-8.

[DenverBrian]

The article talks about one option to build I-11 "adjacent" to I-10. Not concurrent...adjacent.

What are these people smoking?

[kwellada]

So it looks like Pima County doesn't want to see I-11 built:

https://www.12news.com/article/news/local/arizona/elected-officials-ask-katie-hobbs-to-squash-interstate-11-route-pima-county/75-3aa2566b-b446-4c27-873f-07d0eb704b11

I live in Pima County and absolutely do not want any freeway built near Saguaro National Park. Nor do I want to see folks who bought their rural desert properties displaced. Thankfully I doubt I-11 will ever progress to the point where they're actually breaking ground on freeway south of Phoenix

[vdeane]

Thankfully I doubt I-11 will ever progress to the point where they're actually breaking ground on freeway south of Phoenix

And yet for some reason that's practically all Arizona talks about when it comes to I-11.  I'm almost afraid that they're going to move forward to build the parts that are duplicative of existing interstates before they put serious effort into the core Phoenix-Las Vegas part.

[Sonic99]

Thankfully I doubt I-11 will ever progress to the point where they're actually breaking ground on freeway south of Phoenix

And yet for some reason that's practically all Arizona talks about when it comes to I-11.  I'm almost afraid that they're going to move forward to build the parts that are duplicative of existing interstates before they put serious effort into the core Phoenix-Las Vegas part.

It's almost baffling that they are completely ignoring doing much of anything about 93. Sure, they'll point to the interchange in Kingman and say "look, we're doing something!" and yet it feels like weekly, if not daily, there's horrific accidents, many fatal, on the section of 93 north of Wickenburg that has absolutely NOTHING planned for upgrades on the horizon. I know on their Facebook posts people get mega upset at ADOT and say "you only care about Phoenix and Tucson" and it's tiring, but there's definitely a lot of things where even I am like "guys...can you do something about this?".

[splashflash]

It's almost baffling that they are completely ignoring doing much of anything about 93. Sure, they'll point to the interchange in Kingman and say "look, we're doing something!" and yet it feels like weekly, if not daily, there's horrific accidents, many fatal, on the section of 93 north of Wickenburg that has absolutely NOTHING

There is a second interchange in Kingman on I-40 just east of the new US93 intwrchange being planned for construction.  ADOT will cost-share for that one, so quite a bit is going on in Kingman. https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/arizona/2023/08/02/kingman-receives-20-million-for-rancho-santa-fe-interchange-project/70509571007/

[kwellada]

there's horrific accidents, many fatal, on the section of 93 north of Wickenburg that has absolutely NOTHING planned for upgrades on the horizon.

Yeah, that section is always a tad worrisome to drive (and I'm doing it this coming Friday). Most of 93 is fine where they expanded it to four lanes, but those sections of 2 lanes mean impatient drivers take chances passing big rigs. How that has still not been dealt with in 2024 is absolutely baffling to me.

[rte66man]

there's horrific accidents, many fatal, on the section of 93 north of Wickenburg that has absolutely NOTHING planned for upgrades on the horizon.

Yeah, that section is always a tad worrisome to drive (and I'm doing it this coming Friday). Most of 93 is fine where they expanded it to four lanes, but those sections of 2 lanes mean impatient drivers take chances passing big rigs. How that has still not been dealt with in 2024 is absolutely baffling to me.

AzDOT has projects lined up:
https://azdot.gov/projects/northwest-district-projects/us-93-cane-springs-improvement-project
https://azdot.gov/projects/northwest-district-projects/us-93-vista-royale-improvements

[Bobby5280]

And yet for some reason that's practically all Arizona talks about when it comes to I-11.  I'm almost afraid that they're going to move forward to build the parts that are duplicative of existing interstates before they put serious effort into the core Phoenix-Las Vegas part.

They're totally obsessed with using I-11 projects as an attempt to seed real estate development out in the middle of nowhere. With the real estate market currently looking like a mezzo-scale Ponzi scheme and America facing long term problems in generational demographics it makes all these proposed housing developments West of Phoenix looking more like a ridiculous pipe dream.

In terms of travel connectivity the proposed path of I-11 doesn't make a damned bit of sense. The route path only looks idiotic. Most people driving from Las Vegas to the Phoenix region are driving to destinations inside the Phoenix metro. They are not driving down to look at tumbleweeds in the desert way out past Buckeye.

And then these notions of having I-11 run parallel to I-10 or even parallel to I-19 are even more wacky. Such proposals might get laughed at if they were posted in the Fictional Highways part of this forum. I-19 has plenty of space within its existing ROW to double its number of lanes from Nogales up to Tucson. There is zero need for a second Interstate highway running parallel to it. Just upgrade the existing one. The 2x2 sections of I-10 between Phoenix and Tucson can be easily upgraded to 3x3 or 4x4 configuration. Hell, in most places in there is enough room for 5x5 if they wanted to go that far with it. Within most parts of Tucson they could expand I-10 to 5x5 lanes.

[jmacswimmer]

there's horrific accidents, many fatal, on the section of 93 north of Wickenburg that has absolutely NOTHING planned for upgrades on the horizon.

Yeah, that section is always a tad worrisome to drive (and I'm doing it this coming Friday). Most of 93 is fine where they expanded it to four lanes, but those sections of 2 lanes mean impatient drivers take chances passing big rigs. How that has still not been dealt with in 2024 is absolutely baffling to me.

In the month & a half since I drove that part of US 93 I've read about 2 fatal wrecks north of Wickenburg - when I was there it seemed like most drivers were aware of the occasional passing lanes and waited for those instead of attempting a 2-lane pass, but easy to see how dangerous it is. Agreed that the 4-laned parts of US 93 are fine, so finishing off the 4-laning definitely seems like the biggest need regardless of the I-11 designation.

[Bobby5280]

I think it's an example of negligence they haven't 4-laned that highway already.

[The Ghostbuster]

Does anyone think the US 93 corridor between Interstate 40 and Wickenburg would be adequate if they just widened the remaining two-lane portions to four lanes and left it at that instead of converting the corridor into Interstate 11 (terminating 11 at Interstate 40 in Kingman)? I doubt that will actually happen, but the land US 93 passes through south of Interstate 40 is very vacant, so upgrading the corridor will not warrant significant relocation of homes and businesses (except around Wikieup where a small bypass will be needed, and within Wickenburg where a realignment would occur before reaching the city limits).

[KeithE4Phx]

Does anyone think the US 93 corridor between Interstate 40 and Wickenburg would be adequate if they just widened the remaining two-lane portions to four lanes and left it at that instead of converting the corridor into Interstate 11 (terminating 11 at Interstate 40 in Kingman)? I doubt that will actually happen, but the land US 93 passes through south of Interstate 40 is very vacant, so upgrading the corridor will not warrant significant relocation of homes and businesses (except around Wikieup where a small bypass will be needed, and within Wickenburg where a realignment would occur before reaching the city limits).

There is no need whatsoever for I-11 to be built/upgraded from US 93 south of I-40.  Most of the land is ranches, each of which would need its own access road/ramp.  They could do like I-40 in Texas and allow at-grade turnoffs, but that's supposed to be a no-no. 

There are only 3 state highways along that whole stretch:  AZ 97, AZ 71, and AZ 89, north to south. The latter two are already interchanges that could be upgraded, while 97 is merely an access highway to AZ 96, which goes from Bagdad to Hillside (and continues as a gravel county road from there to 89) and is also connected to a county road that is a back way to Prescott.  Not much traffic on it.

Completing the 4-lane segments of 93 with at-grade ranch turnoffs and no bypass at Wikieup will serve just fine. But we know it won't happen because of the I-8 to US 93 freeway segment (originally Loop 404, now part of proposed I-11) that is needed.  They'll sign the whole thing I-11.