The Arizona Department of Transportation will perform routine maintenance on southbound Interstate 17 from Rock Springs to Table Mesa Road today, Sept. 14 through Thursday, Sept. 17 from 6 a.m. and 4 p.m.
Motorists should be prepared for alternating lane restrictions through the work zone between mileposts 236 and 241 to allow for a safe work zone for maintenance crews. Minimal delays are expected.
The speed limit through the work zones will be reduced to 45 mph during work hours.
STRAWBERRY — The Arizona Department of Transportation will remove dead trees from the right-of-way along a 16-mile segment of State Route 87 for the next two weeks in both directions (mileposts 274 to 290), approximately four miles north of Strawberry.
Work will begin on Monday, Sept. 14 and will continue through Thursday, Sept. 24 between 7:30 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. each day.
Drivers can expect delays of up to 15 minutes to allow a safe work zone for maintenance crews to remove fallen trees from the roadway. Flaggers will guide traffic through the work zone.
For safety reasons, motorists are urged to not to stop in the tree-cutting areas to pick up the wood.
ADOT advises drivers to proceed through the work zone with caution, slow down, and be alert for construction equipment and personnel.
ADOT works to inform the public about planned highway restrictions, but there is a possibility that unscheduled closures or restrictions may occur. Weather can also affect a project schedule. To stay up-to-date with the latest highway conditions around the state, visit the ADOT Traveler Information Center at www.az511.gov or call 511.
PAYSON — The Arizona Department of Transportation will repair a dip in the roadway on State Route 260 eastbound near Kohl’s Ranch, approximately 19 miles east of Payson starting tomorrow between mileposts 270 and 271. Crews will be working on the roadway through Oct. 17.
Work will require the roadway to be narrowed to one lane through the work zone and a 14-foot width restriction will be in place.
PAGE — An overnight closure of US 89 at Haul Road will be required from 9 p.m. to 9 a.m. on Tuesday (Sept. 8) and Wednesday (Sept. 9) to allow for paving at the roundabout.
During the overnight closure, travel along US 89 will be detoured using Coppermine Road and Lake Powell Boulevard. Flaggers and signs will direct drivers through the detour. ADOT advises drivers to proceed through the detour with caution and observe reduced speeds during travel.
The new roundabout intersection is anticipated to be completed in early fall.
PHOENIX — The Arizona Department of Transportation, in partnership with the Federal Railroad Administration, has released the Draft Tier 1 Environmental Impact Statement for ADOT’s Passenger Rail Corridor Study: Tucson to Phoenix. While the proposed passenger rail project has no identified funding, this environmental impact statement is a step closer to identifying the cost, impacts and benefits from a rail system serving passengers in Arizona.
The Draft Tier 1 Environmental Impact Statement is part of federally required review process, governed by the National Environmental Policy Act, which provides the public with an opportunity to review and comment on the document, along with the recommended alternative. ADOT’s Passenger Rail Corridor Study is part of the department’s long-range plan to determine which transportation options will best meet the demands for future growth and travel to complement Interstate 10, one of the busiest highways in Arizona.
The Draft Tier 1 Environmental Impact Statement is available for download at azdot.gov/passengerrail. Printed copies are also available for review at these locations through Oct. 30:
Central Arizona College, Signal Peak Campus Library; 8470 N. Overfield Road, Coolidge, 85128
ADOT has scheduled three public hearings for community members to attend and provide comments. A video summarizing the studies will be shown at all three public hearings and members of the rail study team will be available to answer questions. Public hearings will be held:
The deadline for all public comments is Oct. 30, 2015. Comments may be provided at one of the hearings, submitted via the ADOT website at www.azdot.gov/passengerrail, emailed to projects@azdot.gov, or mailed or faxed to:
ADOT Passenger Rail Study Team
24 W. Camelback Rd., Suite 479
Phoenix, AZ 85013
Fax: (602) 368-9645
The Draft Tier 1 Environmental Impact Statement considers two rail alternatives and a no-build option in order to identify the most appropriate corridor for a potential passenger rail line between Tucson and Phoenix.
The Yellow Alternative would serve East Valley communities and central Pinal County, and could share right of way with Union Pacific Railroad north of Eloy, where appropriate. The Orange Alternative would serve East Valley population centers and share part of its alignment with the planned North-South Freeway Corridor in Pinal County. The two alternatives would run primarily within the I-10 corridor between Eloy and Tucson.
Under the No-Build Alternative, no passenger rail system would be constructed between Tucson and Phoenix. The No-Build Alternative assumes that all proposed highway projects currently funded within the study corridor would be built to provide enhanced capacity for Interstate 10 and the surrounding region.
Along with the alternatives, ADOT has identified general locations for stations along the passenger rail line. The route between Tucson and Phoenix is recommended as a blended service to include an express intercity service that would have few stops between the two metropolitan areas and a local commuter service that would potentially stop at all stations within the corridor. The corridors include system hubs located near downtown Phoenix and downtown Tucson. Both include extensions beyond the system hubs: to the west Phoenix metropolitan area and to Tucson International Airport. However, these extensions are not part of the Draft Tier 1 Environmental Impact Statement, but are compatible with the recommendations. The passenger rail line also proposes to serve Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport and Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport.
By the end of this study, a Final Tier 1 Environmental Impact Statement will be published and one rail corridor or the No-Build Alternative will be selected. Once the public comment period concludes on Oct. 30, the rail study team will compile and review all comments and work with our federal partners to develop a Final Tier 1 Environmental Impact Statement and Record of Decision. This document will contain a preferred alternative and is expected to be complete by the end of this year, along with a Service Development Plan. The Service Development Plan will include infrastructure and operation plans, an implementation plan, demand and revenue forecasts, capital programming, and operation and maintenance costs of a potential passenger rail system.
Additional future environmental work and site-specific studies would be required before a rail system could be constructed. There is currently no construction schedule and there is no funding identified for future rail studies or to build and maintain a rail system. It will be up to the public, stakeholders and policymakers to decide how the project should move forward and how to generate the funding to pay for it.
CHINO VALLEY — Paving is complete at the new roundabout on State Route 89 at Road 4 North in Chino Valley. However, drivers can expect intermittent lane restrictions approaching the roundabout as miscellaneous work is completed over the next four weeks.
Drivers are encouraged to be alert for construction equipment and personnel through the work zone.
This $2.1 million project consists of a new roundabout at the intersection of SR 89 and Road 4 North near milepost 331. Additional work includes removal and replacement of existing pavement, drainage improvements, new pavement markings and lighting.
PHOENIX — Motor vehicles are sold in Arizona primarily through dealers licensed by the state, by private parties and unfortunately illegally by unlicensed dealers. The Arizona Department of Transportation Office of the Inspector General investigates the illegal sale of vehicles and has conducted more than 250 investigations this year into the fraudulent activities. Approximately 15 percent of those cases involved investigations into vehicles sold by unlicensed dealers.
Vehicle purchases from unlicensed dealers don’t have the same protections of state law should problems occur with the sale. Problems may range from the seller not providing the vehicle title, the vehicle has a rolled-back odometer, or the seller is not the owner or not legally able to sell the vehicle. Additionally, the vehicle may be recorded as stolen or possess a fictitious vehicle identification number – both situations which will prevent the buyer from transferring ownership into their name. Also, the vehicle may be in need of expensive repair work not disclosed at the time of sale.
An unlicensed dealer is someone who ADOT has reasonable cause to believe is engaged in the business of selling motor vehicles without being licensed as required by state statute. According to Arizona law, an individual may sell only up to six vehicles in a continuous 12-month time period without a dealer’s license.
A licensed new, used or public consignment auction motor vehicle dealer is authorized by Arizona law to buy, sell or auction motor vehicles as its regular business. There are some protections by law for buyers who purchase vehicles sold by licensed dealers. Individuals can check the Dealer Licensing Services section of the ADOT website, azdot.gov, to learn if a business or individual is a licensed dealer.
The ADOT Office of the Inspector General recently completed some major investigations involving unlicensed dealers. Those cases have been sent forward to the ADOT Executive Hearing Office requesting enforcement action and civil penalties against the unlicensed dealers. The cases involved approximately two months of investigation which uncovered 23 motor vehicles that were illegally sold. The suspects in these cases were assessed administrative civil penalties by the ADOT Executive Hearing Office in the amount of $12,000. According to state statute, a civil penalty of at least $1,000 but not more than $3,000 may be imposed per violation and the violator shall be required to pay all transaction privilege taxes on all illegal motor vehicle sales.
Detectives with the ADOT Office of the Inspector General conduct criminal and administrative investigations relating to criminal forgery; identity theft; fraudulent activities involving state-issued motor vehicle title/registration documents and driver licenses; stolen vehicles; and transactions conducted by licensed and unlicensed car dealers. Additionally, detectives provide a multitude of investigative support services to law enforcement agencies statewide, nationally and internationally.
The ADOT Executive Hearing Office is a branch of the ADOT Office of the Director, and conducts independent administrative hearings regarding activities outlined in the Arizona Administrative Code Title 17 and the Arizona Revised Statutes. One of those functions is to rule on civil actions against alleged unlicensed vehicle sales.
TOMBSTONE — Brian Tellez took a brief walk around a stark landscape surrounded by tall mounds of dirt and rock at the Tombstone Silver and Gold Mine in Cochise County, deciding it was the perfect place to start replicating 19th-century adobe bricks.
“Somebody has been here recently making adobes,” explained the third-generation adobe-maker and owner of Tellez Masonry in Oro Valley. “There are forms over there and somebody started making the foundation for a building, but it stopped there.”
Confident that the proper materials were available, Tellez and his three-man crew got busy beneath the high-desert sun on a hot August afternoon. They set wooden forms, mixed sand, silt, clay and grass, and made adobe bricks in the same way as the prospectors who found riches or ruin in the southeastern hills of the Arizona Territory in the late 1870s.
These adobe bricks are the foundation of an Arizona Department of Transportation project designed to increase pedestrian safety on State Route 80, while improving the appearance of the highway through the heart of the popular tourist town of Tombstone.
As part of the $1 million improvement project, ADOT crews will replace sidewalk in a three-block area in front of the historic Schieffelin Hall, the former theater and ballroom built in 1881, and along both sides of Fremont Street, which is the local name of SR 80 where it passes through Tombstone. To make the street more pedestrian-friendly, ADOT will narrow the width of the street and add lighting within the project area.
The adobe bricks that were made, set and sun-dried in the still-active mine by Tellez’s crew will be used to replace water-damaged adobe at the base of nearby Schieffelin Hall, one of the most significant historic buildings in “The Town Too Tough to Die.”
Schieffelin Hall, located on SR 80 where the highway cuts through Tombstone with the local name of Fremont Street, is among the largest standing Anglo-American-built adobe structures in the Southwest. It is named for prospector Ed Schieffelin, whose quest for silver from the local landscape gave birth to the Old West town’s fabled name.
“The only rock you will find out there will be your own tombstone,” cautioned a fellow Army scout, according to one popular retelling.
When Schieffelin staked his claim of silver ore in what is now part of Cochise County, he called it “Tombstone.”
But silver won’t be one of the materials used to fortify the two-story structure for future generations.
Due to the frontier significance of Schieffelin Hall, strict guidelines for historic preservation dictate the manner in which the 134-year-old building will be repaired.
At the core of those guidelines is the need to replicate the materials and process that were used to create the original adobe bricks. If the new bricks don’t match the old, they won’t properly meld together to create the solid adobe wall that gives the structure stability.
“We’re going to do it the way the old-timers did, matching materials so it will be stable,” said historical architect Don Ryden, president of Ryden Architects in Phoenix and the author of the guidelines for the project. “We are working right on the cutting edge of low technology.”
The process complies with guidelines from “The Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for Rehabilitation,” a technique required by the National Historic Preservation Act because Schieffelin Hall is a contributing property of the Tombstone National Historic Landmark.
Tellez and his team manufactured 300 bricks, each 16 inches long, eight inches wide and four inches deep. With the aid of the desert summer sun, they cure in about two weeks.
“They look good,” Tellez said a week into the curing process. “But we need to make sure they pass quality testing.”
The water damage to the adobe at the base of Schieffelin Hall’s walls facing Fremont and Third streets – across SR 80 from the infamous O.K. Corral – was caused in part by the absence of the front porch that adorned the building from 1881 until 1909. For more than a century since the porch came down, water has drained from the roof through downspouts that empty at the base of the building, where it pools at the foundation and seeps into wall joints.
“The water trapped between the sidewalk and the wall oozes through the stucco and melts the adobe,” explained Ryden. “Water is the enemy of adobe.”
A new porch that will be constructed on the front of the glass storefront as part of ADOT’s project will channel rainwater away from the base of the building, preventing future deterioration of the adobe walls.
Shoring up a historic building is unique work for a state transportation agency.
“Highway projects seldom include architectural work of this type, but it was absolutely appropriate for this location,” said ADOT Safford District Engineer Bill Harmon.
“Tombstone is a national treasure and authentic features like Schieffelin Hall are becoming extremely rare. Tombstone is much more than a premise for ‘Old West’ movies. It behooves us to preserve and safeguard Schieffelin Hall for future generations,” said Harmon.
The restoration work is funded through a special federal Transportation Enhancement Grant awarded to the city of Tombstone. The preservation work was combined with a highway safety project and both are being administered by ADOT.
“Schieffelin Hall is an institution,” said former Tombstone councilman Steve Troncale, who remains the city’s manager for the project. “It’s been the venue for all kinds of things – plays, city council meetings, you name it. Even though other buildings have more notoriety, this is kind of the queen of buildings in Tombstone.”
Having fallen into disrepair in the 1960s, the hall was purchased by O.K. Corral owner Harold Love, refurbished and returned to city ownership.
Efforts to improve Fremont Street and Schieffelin Hall have been in the works for years and are expected to be completed in mid-2016.
“I’ve been shepherding this thing for eight years,” Troncale said. “I’m a lot older now and I’m just glad it’s happening.”
Overnight work on Interstate 17 continues in both directions as part of a repaving project on a 12-mile segment between State Route 169 and the Middle Verde Road traffic interchange just south of Camp Verde (mileposts 279 to 291).
Crews are working this week on the barrier at the Middle Verde traffic interchange above I-17 and the roadway will be narrowed to one lane through the work zone between mileposts 289 and 290.
Intermittent shoulder closures are expected for miscellaneous work. Minimal delays are expected. Work hours are Monday through Thursday between 7 p.m. to 6 a.m. each night.
This $7.5 million project consists of the removal of a layer of the existing pavement, repaving the roadway, bridge work and shoulder improvements. Work is expected to be complete by the end of September.
The work zone will be clearly marked by temporary barricades and signage. ADOT advises drivers to allow additional time to reach their destinations and to proceed through the work zone with caution, comply with the reduced speed limit, and be alert for construction equipment and personnel.
FLAGSTAFF — The Arizona Department of Transportation continues work to install an overhead electronic message sign on westbound Interstate 40 (milepost 197), just east of the I-17 junction south of Flagstaff.
Electronic message signs span the width of the freeway and are used by ADOT to help keep drivers informed of traffic, road and weather conditions.
Monday (Aug. 31) through Wednesday (Sept. 2), westbound I-40 will be narrowed to one lane (milepost 197) while crews continue work on an overhead electronic message sign. Work will take place daily from 6 a.m. to noon. Please observe reduced speeds and exercise caution while traveling through the work zone.