FEBRUARY 1, 2012
Million Road Rehab Project
SUN CITIES – The Maricopa County Department of Transportation (MCDOT) has had a busy winter in the Sun Cities, and there is more roadwork ahead, according to MCDOT officials. Beginning as early as March, MCDOT will begin a $7 million roadway rehabilitation and maintenance project on 22 more miles of County roadways in areas of the north and west valley, announced Chairman Max Wilson, Maricopa County Board of Supervisors.
As part of this project, two more of the heaviest traveled streets in the Sun Cities are up for major pavement rehabilitation this spring – over seven miles of 99th Avenue between Olive Avenue and Beardsley Road and the two and one-half-mile stretch of Del Webb Boulevard between Grand Avenue and Bell Road, said Wilson.
Work will include the reconstruction of the top two-inches of pavement and the installation of an asphalt rubber overlay surface treatment using a “rubberized” asphalt overlay paving process which uses recycled pulverized tires from waste management and landfill sites throughout the southwest.
“This roadway rehab project will extend the service life of these roadways for decades, and, as an additional benefit to our environment, makes good use of thousands of old, discarded tires that would otherwise fill and pollute our landfills,” said Wilson. “Moreover, Maricopa County’s dedication to maintaining a strict maintenance schedule keeps our roadways safe and minds the bottom line,” he added.
In addition to protecting the roadway surface, field-testing indicates that rubberized asphalt achieves noise reductions from three to five decibels quieter than the more traditional asphalt concrete roadway pavement, according to MCDOT Materials Lab technicians.
Stretching the dollars even further, MCDOT added a pavement smoothness incentive program for the construction contractor based on the final “rideablilty” or smoothness of the roadway. Roadway surface smoothness not only decreases roadway noise it can also increase travel comfort, and reduce normal vehicle wear and tear.
Overall traffic safety on these roads will also be improved because recently developed thermoplastic roadway striping will replace the standard flat surface painting process for pavement markings and lane striping. This new process provides a brighter and longer lasting reflective image than regular paint, according to MCDOT Traffic Operations experts.
The following County streets are scheduled for pavement reconstruction as part of this MCDOT road maintenance project:
Sun Cities Area
99th Avenue between Olive Avenue and Beardsley Road
Del Webb Boulevard between Grand Avenue and Bell Road
Far West Valley
Salome Hwy between Old US80 and Wintersburg Road
Wintersburg Road between Salome Hwy and the Thomas Road alignment
New River/Desert Hills Area
7th Avenue between Carefree Hwy and Desert Hills Drive
Circle Mountain Road between New River Road and 22nd Street
Northbound I-17 Frontage Road between Plymouth Drive and Old Stage Road
Project completion is scheduled for June 2012. For more information about this or other MCDOT projects, contact the MCDOT construction hotline at 480-350-9288 or visit the MCDOT website at www.mcdot.maricopa.gov.
