First interchange of South Mountain Freeway opens on schedule
Sep 8, 2019, 4:44 AM
(ADOT Photo)
(ADOT Photo)
PHOENIX — Right on schedule.
The first interchange of the South Mountain Freeway at 40th Street has opened on time, the Arizona Department of Transportation said in a release on Saturday.
The interchange opens four months after 40th Street was closed for construction at Cottonwood Lane.
“It is the very first interchange to open as part of the 22-mile South Mountain Freeeway,” ADOT spokesman Tom Hermann told KTAR News 92.3 FM on Friday.
“So we’re very excited to hit this milestone and push on toward completion.”
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The interchange is almost double the capacity of the previous intersection of 40th Street and Pecos Road, sitting at 92 feet wide. It consists of two southbound lanes, two left-turn lanes to eastbound Loop 202 and a right-turn lane to westbound Loop 202. The interchange also has two northbound lanes and a northbound left-turn lane into the Park and Ride parking lot.
With construction ongoing, the speed limit for the future freeway lanes and remaining sections of Pecos Road sits at 40 mph.
The new design makes the Wild Horse Pass Hotel and Casino and the Phoenix Premium Outlets accessible either from Interstate 10 and Wild Horse Pass Boulevard or by taking 40th Street south to Willis Road. Bus riders will also have a new option for entering the Park and Ride area.
According to ADOT, the interchange marks an important step in Arizona’s “largest-ever freeway construction project.”
The full completion of the 22-mile freeway is scheduled for 2020, but traffic is expected to begin using the freeway earlier.
The freeway will provide a much-needed alternative to Interstate 10 through downtown Phoenix.
Sept. 16 will mark the third anniversary of the start of construction on the freeway.
For information, visit the project’s website.
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