PHOENIX — Thousands of people will travel this week for Thanksgiving but what drivers won't see is the work engineers are doing behind the scenes to make I-10 a safer freeway.
A new study led by the Maricopa Association of Governments (MAG) aims to identify ways to improve safety and accessibility along a key stretch of I-10 and connecting highways.
“The corridor starts at the Deck Park Tunnel," MAG transportation engineer Bradlee Williams said. "It goes east to the Mini Stack where the 51 and 202 freeways, then goes south to the western access of Sky Harbor Airport and then ends at the interchange with the I-17, the split.”
About 309,000 drivers travel through this corridor daily, according to MAG. Nearly 12,000 crashes were reported there between 2016 and 2021. Approximately 89 of those crashes resulted in severe injuries or death.
“We’re looking to find all these areas that create bottlenecks, that create traffic problems and then developing solutions to solve those problems to the fullest extent we’re able to do," Williams said.
Williams told 12News many of these crashes are often caused by differences in speeds along the corridor.
“You can be going fast and then suddenly have to hit the brakes because everyone is stopped in front of you or you can be in the left hand lanes going fast but people are stopped in the right hand lanes waiting to get on an exit ramp," Williams said.
MAG is partnering with local and federal agencies to test possible improvements, including short weave sections and braided ramps.
“We’re hoping we can reduce the amount of weaving that goes on, to make it easier to get to an off ramp, to make it easier to weave back into traffic after the on ramp," Williams said.
Recommendations won't be presented until 2024, but Williams said any plan MAG suggests will be made with Phoenix's future population growth in mind.
“There’s going to be a big increase in traffic volumes. We need to find a way to accommodate as much traffic as we can, but do it in a way that’s safer than what we have now," Williams said.
MAG is asking for input from drivers. A survey is posted online until Nov. 30.
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