Tucson Freeways

Started by andy3175, May 10, 2015, 11:54:29 PM

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Roadwarriors79

Quote from: KeithE4Phx on May 24, 2021, 03:44:32 PM
The sign for Milepost 35 was there as of June 2018, when this Google Street View photo was taken.  I'm not sure if ADOT maintains only the bridge or the entire road between the bridge and AZ 77.  In any case, it is not signed as AZ 989 anywhere.

https://www.google.com/maps/@32.42672,-110.9516145,3a,75y,259.15h,88.38t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s5n9BWqdReVRBFPtyTEotbw!2e0!7i13312!8i6656
As of today (5/24/21) there's a mile marker 35 in both directions.

SM-G975U



ztonyg

A key tell with AZ 989 is that the traffic signal at Innovation Park Dr. is an ADOT standard signal as opposed to the white painted Oro Valley signals.

Compare the signal at 1st Ave (Oro Valley) with the ones at Innovation Park Dr. and Oracle Rd. (ADOT).

DRMan

Quote from: ztonyg on May 25, 2021, 01:34:51 AM
A key tell with AZ 989 is that the traffic signal at Innovation Park Dr. is an ADOT standard signal as opposed to the white painted Oro Valley signals.

Compare the signal at 1st Ave (Oro Valley) with the ones at Innovation Park Dr. and Oracle Rd. (ADOT).
Another indication is that when Oro Valley recently resealed their part of Tangerine, they stopped just west of La Canada Dr. Mile marker 34 is just east of La Canada, so that matches up pretty well. It's interesting that there's an OV signal at Rancho Vistoso/First and Tangerine because the road is ADOT-owned.

https://apps.azdot.gov/WebTeam/ROW/Plans/SR_989/SR_989_Index.pdf

Roadwarriors79

As of last week, Ruthrauff Rd is open to traffic over I-10. The ramp connections are still closed till later this year.

https://azdot.gov/adot-news/ruthrauff-road-opens-over-i-10-project-nears-completion

machias

The Houghton Rd interchange with I-10 is now functioning as a DDI, albeit with the temporary lights and a lot of cones.

kernals12


DJStephens

They picked one of the "L" shaped corridors.  Two giant Dog Legs.   

KeithE4Phx

Quote from: kernals12 on November 06, 2021, 05:07:00 PM
ADOT has picked a route for the Sonoran Corridor to connect I-10 and I-19
https://azdot.gov/adot-news/adot-selects-final-sonoran-corridor-route-pima-county

I'll be shocked if The City of Tucson and/or the Pima County Board of Supervisors ever approves this.  Tucson is almost violently anti-freeway, and has been at least since the I-710 debacle of the mid-'70s.
"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

Quote from: KeithE4Phx on November 07, 2021, 09:46:34 PM
Quote from: kernals12 on November 06, 2021, 05:07:00 PM
ADOT has picked a route for the Sonoran Corridor to connect I-10 and I-19
https://azdot.gov/adot-news/adot-selects-final-sonoran-corridor-route-pima-county

I'll be shocked if The City of Tucson and/or the Pima County Board of Supervisors ever approves this.  Tucson is almost violently anti-freeway, and has been at least since the I-710 debacle of the mid-'70s.
I bet they change their tune. This is pretty far south I don't see why Tucson would have a problem and would likely welcome it. More growth and tax dollars.

kernals12

Quote from: KeithE4Phx on November 07, 2021, 09:46:34 PM
Quote from: kernals12 on November 06, 2021, 05:07:00 PM
ADOT has picked a route for the Sonoran Corridor to connect I-10 and I-19
https://azdot.gov/adot-news/adot-selects-final-sonoran-corridor-route-pima-county

I'll be shocked if The City of Tucson and/or the Pima County Board of Supervisors ever approves this.  Tucson is almost violently anti-freeway, and has been at least since the I-710 debacle of the mid-'70s.

They are building Downtown Links

DRMan

But Downtown Links isn't a freeway.

The Sonoran Corridor would be a nice connection between the airport, the Port of Tucson (rail), and the freeway system. It makes a lot of sense, and it is well away from the main population areas. But I'm not sure it will ever happen in my lifetime, given this area's history with freeways.

kernals12

Quote from: DRMan on November 08, 2021, 11:09:30 AM
But Downtown Links isn't a freeway.

The Sonoran Corridor would be a nice connection between the airport, the Port of Tucson (rail), and the freeway system. It makes a lot of sense, and it is well away from the main population areas. But I'm not sure it will ever happen in my lifetime, given this area's history with freeways.

It's a wide urban boulevard being sliced through downtown requiring major eminent domain. And it may not be a freeway now, but I think they could elevate some of the lanes in the future.

Plutonic Panda

Pardon me but what road is this?

DRMan

Quote from: Plutonic Panda on November 08, 2021, 02:25:55 PM
Pardon me but what road is this?

I'm pretty new to the Tucson area, but my understanding is that Downtown Links is a project that will connect I-10 to SR 210, as well as improve drainage and grade crossings with the Union Pacific tracks. It's been the works since the 1980s, when ADOT proposed a freeway extension to SR 210 that would have directly connected it to I-10. The city of Tucson took the project over in 1989.

The project that's under construction is a 30 mph, 4-lane urban street.

More information here: downtownlinks.info

DJStephens

Quote from: KeithE4Phx on November 07, 2021, 09:46:34 PM
Quote from: kernals12 on November 06, 2021, 05:07:00 PM
ADOT has picked a route for the Sonoran Corridor to connect I-10 and I-19
https://azdot.gov/adot-news/adot-selects-final-sonoran-corridor-route-pima-county

I'll be shocked if The City of Tucson and/or the Pima County Board of Supervisors ever approves this.  Tucson is almost violently anti-freeway, and has been at least since the I-710 debacle of the mid-'70s.

Am guessing? the dog legs are to swing it closer to the Airport.   Not sure if I would refer to 710 as a "debacle" it was a spur that should have been built.  The Kino Pkwy grade separation at 22nd St partially fulfilled the long dead spur.   The complex arrangement at I-10 where Irvington goes under  and Kino goes over, is a funky arrangement.  Have to wonder how 710 would have connected to 10 there.   

Roadwarriors79

Quote from: DJStephens on November 12, 2021, 09:18:18 PM
Quote from: KeithE4Phx on November 07, 2021, 09:46:34 PM
Quote from: kernals12 on November 06, 2021, 05:07:00 PM
ADOT has picked a route for the Sonoran Corridor to connect I-10 and I-19
https://azdot.gov/adot-news/adot-selects-final-sonoran-corridor-route-pima-county

I'll be shocked if The City of Tucson and/or the Pima County Board of Supervisors ever approves this.  Tucson is almost violently anti-freeway, and has been at least since the I-710 debacle of the mid-'70s.

Am guessing? the dog legs are to swing it closer to the Airport.   Not sure if I would refer to 710 as a "debacle" it was a spur that should have been built.  The Kino Pkwy grade separation at 22nd St partially fulfilled the long dead spur.   The complex arrangement at I-10 where Irvington goes under  and Kino goes over, is a funky arrangement.  Have to wonder how 710 would have connected to 10 there.

I think you meant Ajo Way where it meets Kino Pkwy and I-10.

Speaking of which, there's some plans to improve I-10 east of I-19, including extending SR 210 to reach I-10 around Alvernon Way. Some plans of improvements are below:

https://azdot.gov/sites/default/files/media/2021/05/H7825plot_I-10_WestEnd.pdf

https://azdot.gov/planning/transportation-studies/interstate-10-and-state-route-210-study

JKRhodes

DDI project at Houghton and I-10 is reported complete according to this article:

https://www.thetrucker.com/trucking-news/the-nation/arizona-completes-rebuild-of-i-10-houghton-road-interchange

On our last trip through the area in November, the on-ramps and bridge were completed. Finishing touches were being made and traffic was coned down to two lanes over the new bridge with temporary signals in operation.

JKRhodes

Quote from: kernals12 on November 08, 2021, 12:39:14 PM
Quote from: DRMan on November 08, 2021, 11:09:30 AM
But Downtown Links isn't a freeway.

The Sonoran Corridor would be a nice connection between the airport, the Port of Tucson (rail), and the freeway system. It makes a lot of sense, and it is well away from the main population areas. But I'm not sure it will ever happen in my lifetime, given this area's history with freeways.

It's a wide urban boulevard being sliced through downtown requiring major eminent domain. And it may not be a freeway now, but I think they could elevate some of the lanes in the future.

Links is certainly a shell of  the 210/I-10 connection once envisioned by ADOT, and the design looks like a complete charlie foxtrot as far as traffic signal spacing and sight lines are concerned. In due time the handful of crappy buildings the city has managed to save by shoehorning in the surface street may eventually lose their "historic value" and be torn down to make way for a beefier connection to the interstate. Frankly it's been needed since ever since Tucson put in the trolley and put Congress and Broadway downtown on road diets a while back.

Frankly any hope of a freeway in the city proper north of Golf Links road is probably a lost cause A loop freeway along houghton/ina/skyline would either involve tearing down a bunch of rich people's homes, or routing along the washes. Fat chance of either.

Suburbs, however, are a different story. I'll have to dig up the link but there's plans for 4-5 lanes each direction on I-10 between the eastern 210 link (It's supposed to tie in near the current Craycroft TI) and AZ 83. I can see Sahuarita, Vail, Corona De Tucson and other future growth corridors on the south and east end of the metro being very supportive of freeways as they tend to lean a little more right, politically.



JKRhodes

Drove through Tucson last Saturday and took the Houghton road exit specifically to check on the progress. Based on what I saw exiting west to go north, the  new DDI interchange is 100% complete and operational.

Roadwarriors79

The city of Tucson flew a drone over part of the Downtown Links project. Video from 9/21/22 is below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dr5Wg30MqiU

jakeroot

What are they doing at Broadway? The alignment doesn't seem to line up with the planning documents online, which also show a realigned Aviation Pkwy.

Sonic99

Obviously I'm assuming that they decided against an overpass using the existing terrain elements from the original AZ 210 ideas, but it would have been nice for 210 to have a more unobstructed path towards meeting I-10.
If you used to draw freeways on your homework and got reprimanded by your Senior English teacher for doing so, you might be a road geek!

jakeroot

The only thing I was noticing in the flyovers was that, on the south side of Broadway, it didn't seem like any work was occurring. As though they were going to leave that side of the intersection alone, and design the northern side so that through traffic had to make an odd curve. Since it was originally designed as a SPUI. But it could simply be that they haven't started work over there yet. The planning documents online from six ish years ago suggested the elimination of the SPUI design in favor of a regular arterial with a median being built in the median of the existing split part of Aviation Pkwy (where the SPUI would have gone).

JKRhodes

Drove down Broadway in Tucson last weekend and saw the completed widened stretch of Broadway between Country Club and Euclid. It appears the city went to great lengths to minimize the amount of homes and businesses they had to tear down, as the road weaves quite a bit. In some spots, the median is rather narrow.

Downtown Links is also well underway. From the looks of it they aren't going to redo the half SPUI ramps at Barraza-Aviation Parkway; the extension ties in to their current alignment and narrows down to a normal street width.

Roadwarriors79

Just saw a link to story regarding the possible partial opening of Downtown Links sometime in 2023:


https://www.kgun9.com/operation-safe-roads/downtown-tucson-bypass-almost-ready?_amp=true



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