Ramps along Interstate 17 in Phoenix to be closed overnight this week
Oct 16, 2017, 4:08 AM
PHOENIX — Several ramps along the Interstate 17 in Phoenix will be closed overnight this week to allow crews the ability to install a wrong-way vehicle detection program.
According to the Arizona Department of Transportation, the following freeway ramps will be closed during the week of Oct. 16:
• Southbound I-17 ramp to the westbound Interstate 10 will be closed from 9 p.m. on Monday to 5 a.m. on Tuesday and again from 9 p.m. on Tuesday to 5 a.m. on Wednesday. The southbound I-17 off-ramp at McDowell Road will also be closed at this time.
• Northbound I-17 off-ramp at McDowell Road will be closed from 9 p.m. on Monday to 5 a.m. on Tuesday.
• Northbound I-17 ramp to westbound Loop 101 will be closed from 9 p.m. on Monday to 5 a.m. on Tuesday.
• North- and southbound I-17 off-ramps at Greenway Road will be closed from 9 p.m. on Tuesday to 5 a.m. on Wednesday and again from 9 p.m. on Wednesday to 5 a.m. on Thursday.
• Southbound I-17 off-ramp at Cactus Road will be closed from 9 p.m. on Tuesday to 5 a.m. on Wednesday.
• North- and southbound I-17 off-ramps at Greenway Road will be closed from 9 p.m. on Wednesday to 5 a.m. on Thursday. The northbound I-17 off-ramp at Union Hills Drive and southbound on-ramp at Yorkshire Drive will also be closed at this time.
• North- and southbound I-17 off-ramps at Bell Road and northbound off-ramp at Dunlap Avenue will be closed from 9 p.m. on Thursday to 5 a.m. on Friday. The southbound I-17 frontage road will also closed between the Peoria Avenue on-ramp and Dunlap Avenue.
Transportation officials kicked off the installation of a wrong-way vehicle detection system on the Phoenix freeway in August. Several other ramps along the freeway have been closed since it began.
The project will cost $3.7 million and will stretch 15 miles down the I-17.
Wrong-way driving in Arizona has been a big problem this year, with nearly 1,000 incidents of wrong-way drivers on Arizona freeways, the Department of Public Safety reported in June.
In June, Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey called for action to limit these types of incidents. State officials believe about 70 percent of wrong-way crashes on state highways are caused by impaired drivers.