UPDATE: Project to replace traffic interchange at I-19 and Ajo Way to begin next week

UPDATE: Project to replace traffic interchange at I-19 and Ajo Way to begin next week

The Arizona Department of Transportation will begin work to replace the traffic interchange at Interstate 19 and State Route 86 (Ajo Way) in Tucson on Monday (March 7).

There will be minimal traffic impacts for sign installation and vegetation removal next week.

The $40 million project to replace the existing “partial cloverleaf” traffic interchange on Tucson’s southwest side with a modern Single Point Urban Interchange has been on hold since January because of unexpected utility issues.

The new interchange will provide increased traffic capacity and improve safety by using traffic signals at a single location on top of the Ajo Way bridge over I-19.

The new bridge over I-19 will be 218 feet long and will replace the structure built in 1965.

The two-year project, the first of two related to the traffic interchange and adjacent highways, will include construction of sound walls on the southwest, southeast and northeast quadrants of the interchange to buffer adjacent neighborhoods and businesses from construction and highway noise as well as construction of retaining walls and drainage culverts.

The project also will include:

• Widening Ajo Way from two to three lanes in each direction between 16^th Avenue, which is east of I-19 and the Santa Cruz River Bridge west of the interstate

• Widening the first 500 feet of the southbound I-19 off-ramp at Irvington Road to provide an additional turn lane and increased capacity to prevent traffic from backing up onto the interstate

• Reconstructing Lamar Avenue west of I-19

• Repaving Elizabeth Drive and closing access to Elizabeth Drive off of 16^th Avenue south of Ajo Way

Crews will work weekdays from sunrise to sunset and work at night and on weekends will be common for tasks that are disruptive to traffic. ADOT will maintain the current number of travel lanes on both I-19 and Ajo Way during most of the work, with restrictions and detours occurring at night when needed.

Access to residential and commercial properties will be maintained during the project.

ADOT will provide information in advance of work that requires detour routes or lane restrictions.

The project is scheduled to be complete in early 2018, followed by the second project, which will include further improvements to I-19 and Ajo Way in the project area.

For more information about this project, please call C.T. Revere, ADOT Senior Community Relations Officer, at 1.520.705.3574 or email at crevere@azdot.gov.