For the summer months, travel from the Verde Valley up to Flagstaff via Interstate 17 will face delays, as the Arizona Department of Transportation is planning significant work on the northbound lanes of the highway, starting in the last week of June.
The roadwork will start at the Coconino County line [roughly mile 315, just past the junction with State Route 179] and continue up to the junction with I-40.
“Highways in Northern Arizona deal with snowfall every year and the moisture that seeps into the asphalt from snow and ice will freeze at night when the sun goes down and thaw the next day when it warms up,” ADOT spokesman Ryan Harding wrote in an email. “These constant freeze-thaw cycles do damage to the pavement over time. This project is meant to be a long-term fix for that damage. It’s more involved than pothole filling or simple paving overlays. ”
The project is expected to lead to one lane of the northbound highway closed in three mile increments over the course of the summer.
Harding was not able to provide a more detailed timeline for when construction should be finished, but said that it would have to be halted or finished by the winter, when cold weather makes it impossible for road crews to properly lay down the pavement.
The road project comes after ADOT just completed a separate smaller project on I-17 just north of Camp Verde.
“The project they just finished was called a fog seal. It’s where crews will put a fresh layer of oil down on the road which helps to extend the life of the pavement and keep it in good condition,” Harding wrote. “ADOT does these types of projects across northern Arizona during the summer to help preserve the highway system.”
Jon Hecht can be reached at 634-8551 or email jhecht@larsonnewspapers.com
