Full Stop: I-17 to Close This Weekend
The end is in sight for the new overpass projects, but first…
If you’re headed downtown this weekend, prepare for a serious backup. Better yet: Don’t head downtown this weekend. Crews will be demolishing the Pinnacle Peak Road bridge over I-17 as part of the $49-million project to build new overpasses there and at Happy Valley Road. The demolition will force a full closure of I-17, in both directions between Happy Valley and Deer Valley roads, from 10 p.m., Friday Nov. 15 to 10 p.m., Sunday, Nov. 17, according to ADOT.
Southbound Detour Exit at Jomax Road, head east to 19th Avenue, south to westbound Deer Valley Road back to I-17.
Northbound Detour Exit I-17 at Deer Valley Road, head east to northbound 19th Avenue to westbound Happy Valley Road and back to I-17. Or, to avoid the roundabout, continue on 19th Avenue to westbound Jomax Road to re-access I-17.
Pinnacle Peak Road will be closed at I-17 this weekend, and these related closures are planned at the interchange:
- Southbound exit ramp will remain closed until 10 p.m. Sunday.
- Northbound on-ramp will remain closed until 10 p.m. Sunday.
- Southbound on-ramp will close from 10 p.m. Friday through Dec. 22.
- Northbound exit ramp will close from 10 p.m. Friday until Jan. 6.
“When Pinnacle Peak Road reopens the night of Sunday, Nov. 17, drivers will use the section of the new bridge over I-17 that has already been constructed,” said ADOT spokesperson Steve Elliott. “This is only half of the new interchange bridge, yet drivers will have the same capacity they have now (one lane in each direction) pending final completion of the interchange.”
Completion Dates Revealed
On the bright side, no other closures of I-17 are planned through the end of this year, Elliott told In&Out. And he provided completion dates that reveal the pain will all be over within a year.
The new Pinnacle Peak Road overpass is now scheduled for completion in late May, 2020. It will have two through lanes and two left-turn lanes in each direction.
The new Happy Valley Road overpass should be finished two months later. It will be a “diverging diamond traffic interchange,” or DDI, involving two parallel bridges, with three lanes in each direction, in a setup ADOT says will improve traffic flow and safety [See “The Roundabout is Out,” Aug. 10, 2017.]
As part of the project, I-17 will be widened between the two interchanges from four lanes (including the HOV lane) to five in each direction. Expect a few more delays at both interchanges, while those new lanes are paved, through the end of October 2020, Elliot said.
