Arizona installing thermal cameras to combat wrong-way drivers

PHOENIX — Thermal cameras will soon be keeping an eye out for wrong-way drivers along a stretch of a Phoenix freeway, the Arizona Department of Transportation said Friday.

The cameras and wiring — which have already been purchased — will be installed as soon as next month by a Mesa company.

“We know that wrong-way incidents are happening out there on the freeways,” ADOT spokesman Doug Nintzel said. “Gov. (Doug) Ducey has directed us to speed this along as quickly as possible.”

The cameras should be in place by November at the latest.

The cameras will be put into place along a stretch of Interstate 17, “between [Interstate] 10 at the stack exchange up to Loop 101 in North Phoenix,” Nintzel said.

“That’s a stretch of 15 miles.”

Nintzel said the cameras are designed to detect a vehicle driving the wrong way. The cameras could send an alert to law enforcement and flash a warning on the state’s freeway message boards.

“We’re hopeful that we’re going to get some good results,” he said.

The cameras will cost about $1.9 million to be installed, well below the state’s budget of $3.7 million.

If the cameras work, there was a chance they could be rolled out for wider use.

“We’ll take it from there, see where else, potentially, it could be used,” Nintzel said.

Department of Public Safety officials said there have been 956 reported incidents involving wrong-way drivers so far in 2017. More than 80 percent of the drivers are impaired, they said.

Wrong-way drivers have killed at least eight deaths in Arizona this year.

In early June, metro Phoenix saw three wrong-way wrecks over the course of about two weeks. The two resulting fatalities prompted Ducey to urge state agencies to accelerate and broaden the thermal camera detection program.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.