North Phoenix residents and drivers experienced a weekend of gridlock as southbound lanes of Interstate 17 shut down for pavement work, finally reopening Sunday night ahead of schedule. The closure, primarily impacting travelers returning from Northern Arizona University's graduation and weekend travelers, snarled traffic and turned streets into parking lots, according to FOX 10 Phoenix.
The Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT) initiated the closure from SR 74/Carefree Highway to Loop 303 for a pavement improvement project, this led to bumper-to-bumper conditions and detours that had residents up in arms as neighborhood roads were clogged with traffic, Winnie Gutierrez, an NAU graduate, reportedly took three hours to drive home from Flagstaff, a trip that typically takes two, she said in a statement obtained by FOX 10 Phoenix.
Local communities like New River, Anthem, Black Canyon City, and Carefree faced an onslaught of vehicles as a result of the detours, with residents like Mike Huang, living off Cloud Road, calling the situation "unacceptable". Neighbors reported continuous heavy traffic, and John Scoggins, another local resident they were upset over the closure as expressed in his quote, "It’s been highway traffic all day long. ADOT should be ashamed of themselves," as per AZFamily.
Despite outcry from residents, the project is aimed at improving a critical 6-mile stretch of I-17, removing older asphalt and grinding concrete pavement, Steve Elliott, Assistant Communications Director for Public Information at ADOT, acknowledged the disruption, promising changes like adding law enforcement and adjusting signal timings to ease the flow of detoured traffic and he also mentioned that while Mother's Day is not a state holiday, they did consider events such as NAU's graduation when planning the closure.
