CHANDLER, Ariz. — Drivers in the East Valley are in for a headache starting Friday night, and it's a headache that won't end until the fall of 2020.
ADOT is spending $76 million to add a lane on each side of Loop 101 in Chandler. The new pavement between Baseline Road and Loop 202 will help deal with congestion in the long term, but in the short term, there will be lane closures and adjusted speed limits.
Loop 101 southbound will be completely closed from 10 p.m. May 31 until 5 a.m. June 3. Construction workers will put up cones and barriers to create a construction zone. That construction zone will remain until the project is finished in 2020.
The road-widening project is one of several in the East Valley. Loop 202 has already been widened, and ADOT plans to do the same to the Broadway Curve beginning in 2020.
US Census Bureau data shows that Phoenix is one of the nation's fastest growing cities, and these road projects are an attempt to deal with the thousands moving into the Valley each year.