Resurfacing ahead for I-8 stretch
Motorists who drive through Telegraph Pass next week need to be aware of roadwork taking place on Interstate 8.
Traffic will be reduced to one lane in either direction starting Monday when Tanner Cos. Inc. begins resurfacing a 2.-mile stretch of the eastbound lane and a shorter .-mile section of the westbound lane between Mileposts 17 and 21.
"It will go fast. The idea is to be done and out of there by Thursday night," said Rob Thompson, construction manager for Tanner. "So if you don't go over the hill until the weekend you will probably never know we did it."
"There will be lots of traffic control, flag men and a Department of Public Safety officer sitting there," Thompson said. "The speed limit will be lowered to 35 mph, and signs posted for double fines in the construction area."
The existing asphalt surface of the roadways will be removed and replaced with new asphalt to increase smoothness and durability, said Dallas Hammit, a senior engineer with the Arizona Department of Transpor- tation.
"It will start just a little past the Border Patrol checkpoint station and go over the pass in the right lane," Hammit said. "There are also some bad spots on the westbound downhill side we need to fix .
Thompson expects the milling portion of the road maintenance project - the asphalt removal - to take three days and the resurfacing one day.
In other I-8 projects, ADOT is building two new bridges over the Mohawk Canal.
"Right now we are replacing the westbound bridge," Hammit said. "Once it's completed we will switch traffic to it in order to remove the eastbound bridge and replace it also."
The project, which began in September, should be completed by summer of 2004.
ADOT also started a $9.1 million reconstruction project on the I-8 and Avenue 3E interchange this week.
Two new bridges, longer, wider and taller than the current ones, are being built. Once completed, the new bridges will allow for two lanes going each direction.
Avenue 3E will also be widened to provide two lanes of traffic in both directions, plus the addition of a left turn lane to enter the highway. New traffic signals will also be installed.
Improvements will also be made to the intersection of Avenue 3E and Gila Ridge Road by adding a dual left turn lane. Traffic signals will need to be modified.
