The Arizona Department of Transportation’s 4.5-mile State Route 24 extension designed to improve access in the southeast Valley has received a regional Best Projects Award from an engineering magazine.

Engineering News-Record magazine honored “SR 24: Gateway to the Southeast Valley” in the Highways/Bridges category among projects in Arizona, New Mexico and Nevada. 

ADOT’s project created a four-lane expressway that opened in August 2022 between Ellsworth Road and Ironwood Drive along the Maricopa/Pinal counties line.

The segment, according to ADOT, provides a new east-west route to help ease traffic in a growing area that includes parts of Mesa and Queen Creek.

Completed in two years, the expressway features intersections at Williams Field Road, Signal Butte Road, Meridian Road and Ironwood Drive, with on- and off-ramp connections at Ellsworth Road.

The winning project will be honored in Engineering News-Record’s Oct. 30 issue and at a luncheon in Phoenix on Oct. 31.