Drivers urged to avoid local streets as detours during I-17 closure
Busy stretch of northbound freeway in north Phoenix closed
INDEPENDENT NEWSMEDIA
Posted 5/16/24
State transportation officials said drives should avoid a “recipe for longer delays” by staying off local streets as detours around this weekend’s northbound I-17 closure north of …
You must be a member to read this story.
Join our family of readers for as little as $5 per month and support local, unbiased journalism.
Current print subscribers can create a free account by clicking here
Otherwise, follow the link below to join.
To Our Valued Readers –
Visitors to our website will be limited to five stories per month unless they opt to subscribe. The five stories do not include our exclusive content written by our journalists.
For $6.99, less than 20 cents a day, digital subscribers will receive unlimited access to YourValley.net, including exclusive content from our newsroom and access to our Daily Independent e-edition.
Our commitment to balanced, fair reporting and local coverage provides insight and perspective not found anywhere else.
Your financial commitment will help to preserve the kind of honest journalism produced by our reporters and editors. We trust you agree that independent journalism is an essential component of our democracy. Please click here to subscribe.
Need to set up your free e-Newspaper all-access account? click here.
Non-subscribers
Click here to see your options for becoming a subscriber.
Register to comment
Click here create a free account for posting comments.
Note that free accounts do not include access to premium content on this site.
I am anchor
WEEKEND TRAVEL
Drivers urged to avoid local streets as detours during I-17 closure
Busy stretch of northbound freeway in north Phoenix closed
(ADOT)
Posted
INDEPENDENT NEWSMEDIA
State transportation officials said drives should avoid a “recipe for longer delays” by staying off local streets as detours around this weekend’s northbound I-17 closure north of Loop 303.
A busy stretch of northbound Interstate 17 in north Phoenix is scheduled to be closed this weekend for pavement improvement work, according to the Arizona Department of Transportation.
Drivers should allow extra travel time and stay on the designated detour route, which uses the frontage road, while northbound I-17 is closed between Loop 303 and State Route 74 from 10 p.m. Friday to 5 a.m. Monday.
All traffic on eastbound Loop 303 will be directed to southbound I-17 to allow northbound detour traffic to freely flow through the intersection.
ADOT is advising drivers to not use local streets – including Sonoran Desert Drive and North Valley Parkway – as alternate routes, “which is a recipe for longer delays and inconvenience for all,” officials stated in a release.
“Using the frontage road, which offers two travel lanes, is safer for you and for those living nearby as well as being the most efficient route through the area.”
Law enforcement officers will work throughout the area to assist with local-only closures at neighborhood entrances, officials said.
ADOT also is taking steps to reduce the chances that navigation apps will direct drivers to local roads.
“Staying on the detour route regardless of what a navigation app may suggest is the best way to reduce delays for yourself and others,” the release stated.
Crews this weekend will be removing a top layer of older, worn asphalt pavement before smooting the remaining concrete surface.
“Lengthy traffic backups are unavoidable during these closures, so drivers should plan ahead. Those with weekend plans to use northbound I-17 from Phoenix may want to consider avoiding delays by traveling before Friday night’s closure begins,” transportation officials said in the release.
Traffic on the northbound freeway also will be lighter during the early morning hours or later at night, they said.
We’d like to invite our readers to submit their civil comments on this issue. Email AZOpinions@iniusa.org.
