For those of you who don’t live in Tucson and even for those of who do live here the construction situation with I-10 is nearly in full swing. The Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT) recently began a nearly three year re-development of I-10 from the Ruthrauff exit to the 29th Street exit.
What is Being Done?
The current 3-lane freeway will be expanded to 4 lanes in each direction and the Prince Road interchange will also be modified to allow Prince Road to pass over the railroad tracks and I-10 (the interchange solution is still being debated and may be left as is). ADOT is claiming an 18 month timeline for the Ruthrauff – Prince construction with Prince Road being completely closed under I-10 for ~6 months.
The construction with the most immediate impact will be the stretch of I-10 between Prince and 29th Street. Beginning in June 2007 and continuing through the Spring of 2010 ALL freeway ramps will be closed between these two points with I-10 serving as a thoroughfare as ADOT implements a 4th lane in each direction. Two freeway lanes in each direction will remain open for the duration of construction and on the frontage roads a third lane will be open each way to accommodate the increased traffic. To be clear, anyone who wants to get off of the freeway between Prince and 29th Street will NOT be able to during construction.
Please advise clients (especially out-of-state) of the current construction situation; driving cross-town will definitely be more of a hassle with the increased surface street traffic. Driving on I-10 from the NW side to the SE side may be slower or faster; although they are closing down one lane on the freeway there will be no one merging onto or getting off the freeway.
For up-to-date information visit ADOT’s website.
Michael Krotchie
