Extra lanes are coming to Interstate 17: With a new flex lane, you’ll have to keep your eyes open – Bill Williams

Photo: Heavy equipment poised near Sunset Point, Bill Williams photographer

When Arizona was a territory you could get a ride from Prescott to Phoenix on the Concord Stagecoach, replete with robberies by the highwaymen, right down the same path you take now. Interstate 17 was a stage coach trail before it was an Arizona federal highway; and the Black Canyon Freeway, started in 1956,  wasn’t finished in northern Arizona until 1978, when the final stretch near Montezuma Castle opened to traffic near Camp Verde.

Have you noticed the heavy equipment moving dirt as you speed southbound near Sunset Point Rest Area on I-17? Or have you only noticed the closed bathrooms at the rest area?

The Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT) is building some extra lanes. For decades, motorists have complained of ten-mile backups on the I-17 corridor following an auto wreck, especially during holidays and vacation season.

The new lanes are a $446 million project, which will “add capacity and reduce congestion” and is expected to take approximately three years to complete. It includes 15 miles of new lanes, one north and one south bound from Anthem Way to Black Canyon City and the construction of approximately eight miles of flex lanes from Black Canyon City to Sunset Point. The section of I-17 between Anthem Way and Sunset Point is one of the most heavily utilized roadways in Arizona, with more than 1 million travelers each year, according to ADOT.

It may be better to drive through Wickenburg on a Phoenix to Prescott junket for the next three years.

“I want all drivers to be aware that ADOT is adding lanes to improve safety and reduce driver frustration by relieving the congestion the current configuration causes,” said ADOT Director John Halikowski in a prepared statement.

ADOT partnered with the Maricopa Association of Governments and the Federal Highway Administration on the project. The developer team that is designing and building this project is Kiewit-Fann Joint Venture. Yep, that Fann. Karen’s brother Mike.

Flex lanes will be open to northbound or southbound traffic, depending on the peak traffic direction and the greatest need.

The I-17 flex lanes will operate as a separate roadway carrying one direction of traffic at a time along the steep, winding eight miles between Black Canyon City and Sunset Point. The change in elevation going from Phoenix to the Prescott exit is about  4,000 feet. You know – the place where motorists seem to turn into Formula One race car drivers on the chicane through black volcanic rock that Black Canyon derives its name from.

The flex lanes will be able to carry heavy northbound traffic on a Friday or heavy southbound traffic on a Sunday, says ADOT. Motorists undoubtedly hope it works when there is a wreck, regardless of high usage times. And to that, ADOT says they will open the flex lanes to accommodate traffic any time, if a crash or other incident causes long delays.

Why not add a third lane to both sides of I-17 between Black Canyon City and Sunset Point? As an ADOT engineer from Prescott once told me, “There’s a reason the railroads don’t come down that hill.” Which means it’s too steep and some in ADOT regret ever building a highway on that hill.

Access to the flex-lane entrances will be controlled by gates. Overhead message signs will alert drivers to the open direction of the flex lanes. The flex lanes will be operational seven days a week.

Construction adjacent to the existing I-17 travel lanes will occur primarily during weekdays, and controlled rock blasting will occur. Work that requires lane closures will be scheduled during weeknights. There will be no scheduled lane closures on weekends.

Why not continue construction on up to Flagstaff? It would require an environmental assessment, for one. But when this reporter sat through a planning meeting in ADOT headquarters on the project in 2008, he was told the main reason was “cost.” Millions had been spent on consultants to look into feasibility only to learn it would require a billion dollars in 2008 money to rebuild from New River to Flagstaff, and this reporter was told back then that the legislature would never have a billion for  Interstate 17.

At that same time, there were consultants giving ADOT presentations on how State Route 51 could be extended, from where it dies near Highway 101 in North Phoenix,  around the Agua Fria National Monument with a connection to Cordes Junction. That would relieve traffic from the problem area on I-17. But as they noted, they would have to blast through the black volcanic rock, and the highway proposal would be too expensive as well.

The official spokesmen quote on not making it wider now is, “Due to the very mountainous terrain, adding an additional lane on the northbound side of the highway would be very difficult – and costly.”

As for the closed bathrooms at Sunset Point Rest Area – it’s phase two of renovations which started years ago, and could take quite a while longer. As veteran spokesman for ADOT Doug Nintzel used to say, “Go before you go.”