The Arizona Department of Transportation will continue or begin several Phoenix-area projects in 2024, including two new widening contracts along separate sections of the busy Loop 101.
“We’ve been very busy in Arizona, even during the pandemic years (and) this year is no different,” says ADOT state engineer Greg Byres, noting “several major highway projects in the Phoenix area “.
The largest of these is the $776 million Interstate 10 Broadway Curve Improvement Project between the I-17 “split” and Loop 202 in Chandler. Representing ADOT’s largest highway reconstruction project to date, the project is being led by Broadway Curve Contractors, a joint venture of Pulice Construction, Scottsdale, Ariz., FNF Construction, Tempe, Ariz., and Flatiron Constructors, Broomfield, Colorado. in the fall of 2021 and is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2024.
Areas that work crews will focus on this year include the completion of elevated ramps that provide direct connections between I-10 and State Route 143, as well as new main lanes, and the completion of new outer “local lanes” which will carry outgoing or incoming traffic. freeway in the areas between Baseline Road and 40th Street. The project improves travel on 11 miles of one of the Phoenix area’s busiest stretches of freeway, which handles more than 300,000 vehicle trips per day.
“It’s been remarkable to see the new lanes and ramps take shape as the project team heads into the final stretch,” says ADOT spokesman Doug Nintzel. “The joint venture continues to meet the challenge of overhauling a freeway while keeping traffic moving.”
Byres adds, “Completing the massive widening of I-10 around the Broadway bend near Sky Harbor Airport will make a big difference for commuters. They haven’t yet experienced the full benefits the new lanes will provide and overpass ramps, but this year’s hard work will pay dividends in the rides soon.”
Loop 101 Improvement Project
Last month, FNF Construction, Tempe, began work on the $108 million, 4.5-mile project, located in Scottsdale between Shea Boulevard and Princess Drive/Pima Road, which will add general-use lanes on each direction. Upon completion, Loop 101 will have four regular lanes and the existing HOV lanes in each direction.
Crews will also convert the Loop 101 interchange at Frank Lloyd Wright Boulevard into a diamond configuration to improve traffic flow. The project is scheduled for completion in the first quarter of 2026.
“This will complete a series of projects to add much-needed traffic capacity to Loop 101 between Interstate 17 north of Phoenix and Loop 202 in Tempe,” says ADOT’s Nintzel. “This stretch is critical to providing space for the growing traffic needs of the surrounding residential and commercial areas.”
I-17 improvement project
ADOT’s $522 million, 23-mile I-17 improvement project, located between Anthem Way and Sunset Point in north Phoenix, is being led by the Kiewit-Fann Joint Venture, which began in work on the project in the fall of 2022. Delivered under a design-build-operate-maintenance contract, the project will add third lanes in each direction along I-17 between Anthem Way and Black Canyon City, as well as a system 8 miles of flexible lanes north of Black Canyon City. The project is expected to be completed by the end of 2025.
“It’s an incredible work zone that stretches over 20 miles,” says Byres with ADOT. “When crews finish all work in late 2025, the added capacity will improve the state’s ability to move people and goods between metro Phoenix and northern Arizona communities, including Prescott and Flagstaff.”
Other Projects
Additionally, ADOT expects to award a contract this summer for the Loop 101 improvement project between I-17 and 75th Avenue. Estimated to be built over a two-year period, the project will add one lane in each direction west of I-17, along with improvements to the 75th Avenue interchange.
Meanwhile, Pulice Construction, Scottsdale, is expected to begin construction this spring on the $51 million I-10 Gila River Bridge Project, which will rebuild the aging I-10 bridges that cross the Gila River. Completion is expected in the third quarter of 2026.
