Heads up, Phoenix-area drivers—this weekend's slate of freeway improvement projects is going to stir up your travel plans. The Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT) has announced that there will be closures and lane restrictions galore from October 17 to 20, and it's going to mean some detours for anyone hitting the road. According to ADOT, pavement sealing work is going to shut down the southbound Loop 101 (Agua Fria Freeway) between 75th Avenue and Thunderbird Road from 9 p.m. Friday through to noon on Saturday. They're also going to be closing westbound Loop 101 on-ramps at both 59th and 67th avenues.
If you're driving westbound on Loop 101, think about peeling off at southbound 59th Avenue and linking up with westbound Thunderbird Road to get back onto Loop 101—unless you fancy sitting in traffic, consider these alternate routes, because these closures are going to throw a wrench in your usual path. The northbound side of the same freeway will get its turn too, from Thunderbird Road to 75th Avenue, it will be closed starting 9 p.m. Saturday until noon Sunday, with on-ramps at Peoria Avenue and Cactus Road/91st Avenue also off-limits, so maybe mark that in your mental GPS.
But that's not all, bargain hunters of travel lanes, because there's more. Eastbound Loop 101 (Agua Fria Freeway) is also taking a hit, squeezed down to only two lanes between 75th and 67th avenues and then again between 43rd and 27th avenues, from Friday night right up until 6 p.m. Saturday. Over on Loop 202 (Santan Freeway), it's a similar story—constricted to just two lanes between Cooper and Lindsay Roads from early morning until the evening hours on Saturday for a widening project ADOT hopes will eventually make all this trouble worth it.
Keep in mind, all these perfectly laid plans might get tossed out the window if the weather decides it's not playing ball or some other unpredictable factor rears its head schedules are, as they say, subject to change. These ongoing freeway dances are funded partly by Proposition 400, which Maricopa County voters gave the thumbs up to back in 2004, and the more recent Proposition 479 from last November, which extends that same half-cent tax and secures funding for future transportation razzle-dazzle in the Phoenix region.
For those of you who go by the motto 'forewarned is forearmed', real-time highway conditions are up for grabs at ADOT's Arizona Traveler Information site, or you can dial into the magic of modern tech with the az511 app on your Apple or Android device. Just remember, when you're out and about this weekend, those traffic cones aren't an obstacle course—they're a sign to slow down and take it easy through the work zones. Good luck out there, and may the traffic gods be ever in your favor.
