ADOT Photo

PHOENIX — The Arizona Department of Transportation is ready to open the first of four ramps at the freeway-to-freeway traffic interchange that will connect Interstate 10 and Loop 303 in Goodyear.

The elevated ramp from eastbound I-10 to northbound Loop 303, which rises more than 70 feet above ground at its highest point, will open to traffic this weekend while crews continue their work to complete the remainder of the $145 million interchange project on schedule in September.

ADOT’s project team has been planning to open the first ramp at the interchange as soon as possible to reduce the amount of eastbound I-10 traffic, including commercial trucks, using the current Cotton Lane connection to northbound Loop 303 at Thomas Road.

When the new ramp opens, eastbound I-10 drivers will have a direct connection to northbound Loop 303, and will not have to exit at Citrus Road and use local streets, including Cotton Lane north of McDowell Road.

To allow crews to finish adding lane markings for the new ramp, eastbound I-10 will be narrowed to one lane overnight between Perryville and Citrus roads from 11:30 p.m. Friday to 8 a.m. Saturday (July 12). The eastbound I-10 exit ramp at Citrus Road also will be closed. Eastbound I-10 drivers should allow extra travel time while the overnight restriction is in place.

The new ramp from eastbound I-10 to northbound Loop 303 is expected to open to traffic by Saturday afternoon.

Completion of the I-10/Loop 303 interchange project by this fall will conclude ADOT’s series of five major projects that began in 2011 to improve Loop 303 into a six-lane freeway between I-10 in Goodyear and Grand Avenue (US 60) in Surprise.

The I-10 and Loop 303 improvement projects in the West Valley are funded as part of the Maricopa Association of Governments’ Regional Transportation Plan approved by county voters in 2004. Projects are paid for with a countywide half-cent sales tax for transportation as well as the MAG region’s share of federal funds.