Interstate 10 in Arizona

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Interstate 10
Main route of the Interstate Highway System
Papago Freeway, Maricopa Freeway
Length: 391.99 mi[1] (630.85 km)
West end: I-10 / US 95 at Ehrenberg
Major
junctions:		 I-17 in Phoenix
I-8 in Casa Grande
I-19 in Tucson
East end: I-10 east of San Simon
State routes in Arizona
< I-8 I-15 >
Unconstructed - Former

In the U.S. state of Arizona, Interstate 10 is the major east-west Interstate Highway in the Southern United States, runs east from California, enters Arizona and continues through Phoenix and Tucson and exits at the border with New Mexico.

Contents

[edit] Route description

The western terminus is located at the California border at the Colorado River in La Paz County where I-10 continues westward into California towards Los Angeles. Here, the same physical road is signed as both Interstate 10 and U.S. Route 95. The highway runs east by northeast past Ehrenberg and Quartzsite and then turns to an east by southeast orientation just before the junction for U.S. Route 60.

It continues this path entering Maricopa County and the Phoenix Metro area. The route turns east by northeast again at the junction for SR 85 northwest of downtown Buckeye, and turns due east at 203rd Ave/Tuthill Rd. The landscape by this point is largely urban and the freeway continues eastward through the communities of Goodyear, Avondale and Tolleson, meeting with area freeways such as Loop 303 and the western side of Loop 101 along the way.

Traversing through Phoenix, the highway meets with Interstate 17 for the first time just northwest of downtown at The Stack. Near 3rd Avenue, the highway enters a half-mile tunnel that runs under a park and the central branch of the City of Phoenix Library. Emerging past 3rd Street, the highway continues due eastward for another 2 miles before coming to another interchange for Route 51 and Loop 202, called the Mini Stack. At this interchange, Interstate 10 turns southward for about 3 miles, passing near Sky Harbor Airport and reaching the second junction with Interstate 17. Here, I-17 and I-10 merge as I-10 skews eastward again. After this junction, the highway is signed as US 60 as well.

Continuing southeast over the Salt River and eastward, I-10 enters Tempe and meets with SR 143. Then, at the Broadway Curve, the freeway turns southward again, with US 60 splitting off to become its own freeway. As of a 2006 estimate, the curve carries an average of 294,000 vehicles per day.[2] This number is predicted to increase by over 150,000 to approximately 450,000 by the year 2025.[3] This section of the Maricopa Freeway (Interstate 10) is currently twelve lanes wide; one of the widest sections of freeway in the valley. A study is underway to determine whether widening the Broadway Curve to double its current width to twenty-four lanes is feasible. The study should be complete in 2010, when a decision will be made.[4] I-10 continues southward running along the city borders of Phoenix on the west, and Tempe, Guadalupe, Tempe again, and finally Chandler on the east.

Immediately north of the Gila River Indian Community, I-10 has its second intersection with Loop 202. Past Loop 202, the highway turns to a more south by southeast direction going through the Gila River Indian Community and entering Pinal County. Three miles south of the Loop 202 Interchange, it meets SR 347, and eleven miles further, it meets SR 587. North of Casa Grande, the highway meets SR 187/SR 387 (one road) and then SR 287. It runs east of Casa Grande, turning due south past McCartney Road, and meets with old SR 84/Jimmie Kerr Blvd. A mile further south, I-10 meets the eastern terminus of Interstate 8 and turns due southeast. Passing through Eloy, the highway meets SR 87. I-10 continues southeasterly passing by Picacho Peak and continuing through to enter Pima County and the Tucson area.

Passing still in a southeast direction through Marana, I-10 meets SR 77/Miracle Mile in Tucson. The highway curves due southward, running just west of downtown Tucson and then meeting the northern terminus of Interstate 19 near South Tucson. The highway then turns southeast again and continues through Tucson, passing near Davis-Monthan Air Force Base. It continues southeast until the junction of SR 83 in Vail.

In Vail, I-10 turns in a varying east by southeast direction, entering Cochise County. Heading toward Benson, it meets with SR 90 and SR 80. The highway then turns in a northeasterly direction, meeting with US 191, passing through Willcox and meeting SR 186. Northeast of Wilcox, US 191 breaks off and I-10 meanders again to an east by southeast direction. The highway passes through Bowie and San Simon. Past San Simon, I-10 passes the state border and enters New Mexico.

[edit] History

Interstate 10 in Arizona was laid out by the Arizona Highway Department in 1956-58 roughly paralleling several historic routes across the state. Particularly east of Eloy, it follows the Butterfield Stage and Pony Express routes, and loops south to avoid the north-south Basin and Range mountains prevalent in the state. In fact, the route from its junction with Interstate 8 east to New Mexico is almost exactly the same route used by the old horse-drawn stagecoaches, which had to go from waterhole to waterhole and avoid the hostile Apache Indians. This is why Interstate 10 is more of a north-south route between Phoenix and Tucson than east-west. The Southern Pacific Sunset Route line had to take the route of least hills, and in the 1920s highways were laid down next to the trains across southern Arizona.

When the project was being designed in the 1950s, the Arizona Highway Department fought for a nearly straight-shot west from Phoenix for the new freeway, instead of angling northwest out of Phoenix along U.S. 60-70-89, through Wickenburg. Wickenburgers battled to bring the freeway through their fair city but lost that battle. The detour up through Wickenburg was logical decades earlier, when nearly all U.S. highways through Arizona were laid out along railroad tracks, and U.S. 60-70 was routed mostly parallel to the Santa Fe rail tracks east of Wickenburg, and the Arizona and California Railway west to Vicksburg. The two old federal routes then struck west across the desert and state line, picking up the Southern Pacific mainline at Indio, California, and Interstate 10 overlies the old roads most of that distance.

Moving east from the California line at Ehrenburg, Interstate 10 follows the old route of U.S. 60-70 for the first 31 miles east from Blythe, California. In 1960, this western-most stretch of Interstate 10 was built from near the Colorado River east to the future spot where the "Brenda Cutoff" section of Interstate 10 would connect a decade later. For 1960 motorists, this was the last freeway stretch until Phoenix. The "Brenda Cutoff" was named for a gas station on the old road just east of the fork where U.S. 60 now terminates at Interstate 10. Now an obscure name, "Brenda Cutoff" was the working title that the Arizona Highway Department called the stretch of freeway from U.S. 60 to near Buckeye. The Brenda Cutoff paralleled old sand roads used in the 1920s for Phoenix-L.A. traffic, but mostly abandoned after U.S. 60-70 was built to the north, through Wickenburg.

The Brenda Cutoff's opening in the early 1970s was eagerly awaited and was a big deal in newspapers in Phoenix and Los Angeles. It saved motorists from having to drive through Glendale, Sun City, Wickenburg and Salome, 20 miles out of the way, and it eliminated about 80 miles of two-lane highway. But the freeway was opened only as far east as Tonopah, and heavy traffic was routed down narrow county roads through the desert and fields between Tonopah and Buckeye. In addition, there was only one very-small gas station on the very-long route between Buckeye and Quartzsite, on the old county road at the tiny crossroads of Palo Verde. Signs warning "NO SERVICES NEXT 106 MILES" were posted at either end of the Brenda Cutoff those first few years.

The freeway was extended past Tonopah as far east as Phoenix's western fringes in about 1974. Interstate 10's freeway section ended in Goodyear until the controversial Papago Freeway was finished across the western Valley of the Sun in 1990. During the "west valley gap" years, westbound Interstate 10 traffic was routed off the Maricopa Freeway at 19th Avenue in Phoenix, and stayed on the access road as it curved past the Durango Curve. Los Angeles-bound traffic then turned left on Buckeye Road and followed the "TO 10" signs down Buckeye Road (first marked U.S. Route 80 until 1977, then Arizona 85, for nearly 15 years.

The interstate's route through Phoenix was hotly contested in the 1960s, 1970s and early '80s. A plan proposed by the Arizona Department of Transportation involved monstrous block-sized 270-degree "helicoil" interchanges at Third Avenue and Third Street that would connect motorists to freeway lanes 100 feet (30 m) in the air, but voters killed it in 1973 as a result of opposition from the Arizona Republic and a growing nationwide anti-freeway sentiment. Voters on election day were treated to a photo depiction on the front page of the newspaper that in later years was shown to have drastically-overstated the freeway's height, but there is no question the proposed viaducts and helicoils would have been a visual gash across central Phoenix.

After 1973, Arizona engineers favored a more-modest plan to link Interstate 10 with Interstate 17 at the "Durango Curve" near 19th Avenue at Buckeye Road, and avoid the "Moreland Corridor" Papago Freeway alignment by adopting a route south of Buckeye road. Ten years later, ADOT unveiled the current below grade plans on Moreland Street, three blocks south of McDowell Road. Despite some local opposition, Interstate 10 was finally completed in central Phoenix on the Papago Freeway alignment, 3/4 of a mile north of Van Buren Street, on August 10, 1990.[5] The state is now considering a reliever west valley freeway, parallel to Interstate 10 on the old Durango Street corridor, and is using the Route 801 symbol as a placeholder.

The original 1962 alignment of Interstate 10 through Phoenix was on the Black Canyon and Maricopa freeways, now signed as Interstate 17 and U.S. 60, starting at about Grand Avenue. From 1962-74, Interstate 10 in Phoenix ended at 40th Street, and truck traffic through Phoenix and Mesa was directed to use Arizona Route T-69 via 40th Street south and Baseline Road east to connect to state Routes 87 and 93, the shortcuts to Tucson. The 10 signs were moved from the Maricopa Freeway to the Papago Freeway Inner Loop alignment when it opened in 1990 - the last gap of I-10 to be completed between Santa Monica and Jacksonville. This was the only time in Arizona where the posted freeway was moved from one road to another: the state never posted Interstate signs on older state or U.S. highways... ADOT instead made frequent use of interstate shields with the word "TO" above and arrows below the shield.

For several years in the early '70s an orphan section of I-10 was opened between Baseline Road and Williams Field Road (now Chandler Blvd.) but was not marked as any highway, nor was it connected to the rest of the interstate system. ADOT, it seems, did not want to divert trucks down from T-69 in Guadalupe down into the cotton fields west of Chandler. This section got its interstate signs when the freeway south to Coolidge was completed in about 1970, and the "Broadway Curve" was connected a year or so later -- for almost two years, Interstate 10 traffic used Baseline Road and 40th Street through the Japanese flower gardens until the last link between Tucson and Phoenix opened in about 1972.

From 1958-1972, the interstate was unmarked south from Tempe and Mesa, and traffic used either State Route 87 (Arizona) through Coolidge or State Route 93 (Arizona) through Casa Grande, or U.S. 80/89 through Mesa and Florence. Interstate 10 signs reappeared at the town of Picacho, the 1962-1970 western terminus of the freeway from Tucson.

The road from Coolidge to Tucson was originally Arizona routes 84 and 93, and when it was rebuilt as a freeway in 1961-62 it was cosigned as Interstate 10 and routes 84 and 93 through 1966, when 84 was truncated at Picacho. This section of interstate was completed in 1961, and forced the demolition of the town center at Marana, which has never really recovered. The freeway through Tucson (being rebuilt in 2008) was originally signed as State Route 84 from Miracle Mile to Sixth Avenue,

The original highway from Casa Grande to Tucson entered the Old Pueblo via Miracle Mile, a road modeled after German Autobahns but without overpasses or an exclusive right of way. Traffic circles at either end of Miracle Mile were the best Tucson could come up with in 1937. The section of Miracle Mile West stretching between Miracle Mile and the Southern Pacific overpass was signed as Business Loop 10, State Route 84A and State Route 93 in the 1960s. The Business Loop was dropped in 1998, as many of the business entrepreneurs in the area were practicing a very-old trade indeed.

The present-day Interstate 10 alignment along the Santa Cruz River was laid out after a city bond issue passed in 1948 to bould a riverbank-side boulevard with room for a four-lane freeway in the median to follow. The first section of bypass artery, from Congress Street north to Miracle Mile West, was opened in 1954 but had no overpasses or interchanges at Grant Road, Speedway Boulevard or St. Mary's Road. The freeway was finally built after the state took over the bypass and promised it interstate status in 1958, and parts of it obliterated the original road. It was first signed State Route 84.

The old cloverleaf at Sixth Avenue was the first built in Arizona, opening in the early 1950s as a southern Tucson gateway junction to the roads linking Tucson, Benson, Nogales and the hoped-for Tucson bypass along the Santa Cruz River. It was converted to a diamond interchange by 1964 and the old "quick dip" underpass was removed and replaced by an interstate-standard overpass in the late 1980s.

Although the controversial Interstate 10 route across Phoenix was the last gap of Interstate 10 to be completed, two pieces of the interstate were subsequently left sitting on divided remnants of old U.S. 80 and were neither built to interstate nor modern safety sections. One was the old Sixth Avenue interchange, and a small section of freeway east to the overpass over the old Southern Pacific (now UP) spur to Nogales and Guaymas. That section was replaced about 1990.

The last section of old U.S. 80 that carries the Interstate 10 traffic is an underpass beneath the Union Pacific mainline east of Tucson, where the freeway median shrinks to a guardrail at Marsh Station Road and the Pantano train overpass is too low. It is slated for replacement in 2010.

East of Tucson, Interstate 10 parallels and in some cases overlies old U.S. 80 to Benson, and was originally co-signed as U.S. 80 and State Route 86. From Benson, the Interstate follows the Southern Pacific mainline east through Willcox and Bowie to New Mexico, rather than bend south to the Mexican border along old U.S. 80, (signed as State Route 80 after 1989, through Douglas. The road from Benson east through Willcox was designated State Route 86 in about 1935, that route number was subsequently shifted west and exists now between Why and Tucson. The bypass around Benson was opened about 1979, and other than the Phoenix gap was the last section of Interstate 10 to be opened.

The Arizona Department of Transportation is in 2008 conducting a feasibility study of building new bypass freeways around Phoenix and Tucson and "straighten" Interstate 10 across the state. One route would go roughly from Buckeye east to Florence, then east through mountainous terrain to the Sulfur Springs Valley and connect with the existing Interstate 10 near Bowie. But this new roadway would traverse some environmentally-fragile areas and are opposed as gateways to urban sprawl. Another studied alignment would bypass Tucson to the south, forming a looping bypass freeway from Marana through the Avra Valley to Green Valley to Benson.

[edit] Exit list

County Location Mile[1] # Destinations Notes
La Paz 0.72 1 Ehrenburg, Parker
5.87 5 Tom Wells Road
11.99 11 Dome Rock Road
Quartzsite 17.54 17 US 95 south to SR 95 north – Parker, Yuma, Quartzsite East end of US 95 overlap
19.94 19 To US 95 south to SR 95 north – Parker, Yuma, Quartzsite
26.68 26 Golden Nugget Road
Maricopa 31.18 31 US 60 east – Wickenburg, Prescott
45.38 45 Vicksburg Road
53.98 53 Hovatter Road
69.69 69 Avenue 75 East
81.24 81 Salome Road
94.18 94 411th Avenue - Tonopah
98.32 98 Wintersburg Road
103.47 103 339th Avenue
Buckeye 109.70 109 Sun Valley Parkway, Palo Verde Road
112.77 112 SR 85 south to I-8 – Gila Bend, Yuma, San Diego
114.88 114 Miller Road - Buckeye
117.01 117 Watson Road
120.24 120 Verrado Way
121.72 121 Jackrabbit Trail
Goodyear 124.73 124 Loop 303 / Cotton Lane
126.71 126 Pebblecreek Parkway, Estrella Parkway
127.71 127 Bullard Avenue Interchange under construction, opening in January 2008
128.72 128 Litchfield Road - Goodyear
129.71 129 Dysart Road
Avondale 131.71 131 Avondale Boulevard
132.69 132 107th Avenue Westbound exit is via exit 133A
133.69 133A 99th Avenue
Tolleson 133.98 133B Loop 101 north
134.69 134 91st Avenue - Tolleson
135.68 135 83rd Avenue
Phoenix 136.18 136A 79th Avenue HOV only; westbound exit and eastbound entrance
136.70 136B 75th Avenue Signed as exit 136 eastbound
137.69 137 67th Avenue
138.67 138 59th Avenue
139.66 139 51st Avenue
140.66 140 43rd Avenue
141.67 141 35th Avenue
142.67 142 27th Avenue Eastbound exit and westbound entrance
143.18 143 I-17 / US 60 – Flagstaff Signed as exits 143A (north) and 143B (south)
143.89 143C 19th Avenue, Grand Avenue westbound exit and eastbound entrance
144.68 144A 7th Avenue Signed as exit 144 westbound
144.70 144B 5th Avenue; 3rd Avenue HOV only; eastbound exit and westbound entrance
145.46 145A 7th Street Signed as exit 145 eastbound
145.70 145B 3rd Street HOV only; westbound exit and eastbound entrance
146.71 146 16th Street Eastbound exit and westbound entrance
146.96 147A Loop 202 east Tempe
147.27 147B SR 51 north Paradise Valley
147.27 147C Loop 202 east HOV only; eastbound exit and westbound entrance
147.27 147C SR 51 north HOV only; westbound exit and eastbound entrance
148.18 148 Washington Street, Jefferson Street Airport rental car return, Phoenix light-rail station
148.94 149 Sky Harbor International Airport (eastbound), Buckeye Rd (westbound) Airport rental car return
149.57 150 I-17 north / US 60 west – Flagstaff Signed as exit 150A westbound; West end of US 60 overlap
149.94 150B 24th Street Westbound exit and eastbound entrance
151.50 151 University Drive, 32nd Street
152.39 152 40th Street
153.38-153.75 153 SR 143 north (48th Street) / Broadway Road, 52nd Street – Sky Harbor Airport Signed as exits 153A (SR 143) and 153B (Broadway Road, 52nd Street) westbound
Tempe 155.25 154 US 60 east – Mesa, Globe East end of US 60 overlap; also includes HOV eastbound exit and westbound entrance
155.94 155 Baseline Road
Guadalupe 157.98 157 Elliot Road - Guadalupe
Tempe 158.98 158 Warner Road
Chandler 159.98 159 Ray Road
160.98 160 Chandler Boulevard
161.50 161 Loop 202 east / Pecos Road
162.82 162 Wild Horse Pass Boulevard, Sundust Road
164.80 164 Queen Creek Road; SR 347 south – Maricopa
167.78 167 Riggs Road - Sun Lakes
Pinal 176.11 175 SR 587 north – Chandler, Gilbert, Casa Blanca Rd, Sacaton
185.56 185 SR 187 / SR 387 – Casa Grande, Sacaton, Florence
190.95 190 McCartney Road – Central Arizona College, Casa Grande Regional Airport
Casa Grande 195.19 194 SR 287 – Casa Grande, Coolidge, Florence
198.40 198 Jimmy Kerr Boulevard – Casa Grande
199.36 199 I-8 west – Yuma, San Diego
Eloy 200.40 200 Sunland Gin Blvd – Arizona City
204.13 203 Toltec Road – Eloy
209.09 208 Sunshine Boulevard – Eloy
211.27 211A Picacho Road – Arizona State Prison, Picacho Eastbound exit only
211.27 211B SR 87 north – Coolidge Florence Westbound exit signed as exit 211
212.49 212 Picacho Westbound exit only
220.13 219 Picacho Peak Road – Picacho Peak State Park
226.74 226 Red Rock
232.30 232 Pinal Airpark Road
Pima Tucson 236.71 236 Marana
240.74 240 Tangerine Road
243.24 242 Avra Valley Road
247.02 246 Cortaro Road
249.01 248 Ina Road
250.35 250 Orange Grove Road
251.47 251 Sunset Road
252.71 252 El Camino del Cerro, Ruthrauff Road
254.59 254 Prince Road Eastbound exit and westbound entrance only until June 2010. Traffic for next 5 exits must exit freeway and use frontage rd.
255.57 255 SR 77 north (Miracle Mile) Closed until 2010
256.46 256 Grant Road Closed until 2010
257.61 257 Speedway Boulevard, (St. Marys Road) (eastbound) - University of Arizona Closed until 2010
258.65 258 Congress Street, Broadway Boulevard, (St. Marys Road) (westbound) Closed until 2010
259.63 259 22nd Street, 29th Street, Starr Pass Boulevard, Silverlake Road Westbound exit and eastbound entrance only until June 2010
260.39 260 I-19 south – Nogales
261.28 261 6th Avenue, 4th Avenue Former I-19 Business
262.02 262 Benson Highway, Park Avenue Former Interstate 10 Business
262.86 263 Kino Parkway, Ajo Way - Tucson International Airport Signed as exits 263A (south) and 263B (north) eastbound
264.73 264 Palo Verde Road, Irvington Road Signed as exits 264A (south) and 264B (north) eastbound
265.32 265 Alvernon Way
267.40 267 Valencia Road - Tucson International Airport Former Interstate 10 Business
268.39 268 Craycroft Road
269.64 269 Wilmot Road
270.87 270 Kolb Road
273.43 273 Rita Road
275.77 275 Houghton Road
279.68 279 Wentworth Road, Vail Road
281.96 281 SR 83 south – Sonoita, Patagonia
289.71 289 Marsh Station Road
292.77 292 Empirita Road
Cochise 297.45 297 Mescal Road, J-6 Ranch Road
299.63 299 Skyline Road
Benson 302.67 302 SR 90 south – Fort Huachuca, Sierra Vista
304.16 303 I-10 Bus. east to SR 80 – Benson, Douglas No westbound exit
305.20 304 Ocotillo Street - Benson
307.43 306 I-10 Bus. west (Pomerene Road) to SR 80 – Benson
313.56 312 Sibyl Road
319.76 318 Dragoon Road
323.39 323 Johnson Road
332.41 331 US 191 south – Sunsites, Douglas West end of US 191 overlap
337.69 336 I-10 Bus. east – Willcox
Willcox 341.33 340 SR 186 (Rex Allen Drive, Fort Grant Road)
345.28 344 I-10 Bus. west – Willcox
353.19 352 US 191 north East end of US 191 overlap
356.77 355 To US 191 north – Safford
363.66 362 I-10 Bus. east – Bowie
367.60 366 I-10 Bus. west – Bowie
379.75 378 I-10 Bus. east – San Simon
383.14 382 I-10 Bus. west (Portal Road) – San Simon
391.57 390 Cavot Road

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b Arizona Department of Transportation. ADOT Highway Log. Retrieved on July 16, 2007.
  2. ^ State proposes an additional 10 lanes for highway. East Valley Tribune.
  3. ^ 202 foes love new Broadway Curve. Arizona Republic. Retrieved on 2008-03-18.
  4. ^ Extension may help uncork Broadway Curve. Arizona Republic. Retrieved on 2008-03-18.
  5. ^ The Way It Was in 1956. USDOT. Retrieved on 2008-04-13.

[edit] External links

Interstate 10
Previous state:
California		 Arizona Next state:
New Mexico
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Freeways in the Phoenix Metropolitan Area
Radial
Circumferential
Interchanges and other