Arizona Department of Transportation

When it comes to state highway improvements that safely connect people and empower Arizona's economy, there are no minor projects. However, there are Major Projects. This episode of our podcast, On the Road With ADOT, features Rob Samour, the engineer in charge of our Major Projects and Alternative Delivery Division. These are the folks who played a key role in delivering the Loop 202 South Mountain Freeway in the Valley and the State Route 189 improvement in Nogales. Today, this division is part of ADOT’s mission to complete the I-10 Broadway Curve improvements and the I-17 Improvement Project between Anthem Way and Sunset Point (widening and flex lanes). And there's more on the horizon, including an I-10 widening project set to begin next year in Tucson. Learn all about Major Projects in the latest episode of our podcast. Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3XmAfOf Apple: https://apple.co/3X7WZQT

This year’s DBE and Small Business Conference is back in the Valley, on October 22nd, and packed with BIG ideas, BIG connections, and BIG opportunities! ✔️ Extensive business networking ✔️ Educational breakout sessions ✔️ Informative Prime panel ✔️ One-on-one speed appointments with buying agencies and Primes ✔️ Annual awards celebration ✔️ National and Arizona Exhibitors ✔️ Orientation for New and Potential DBEs Register here: https://lnkd.in/gAwduE_z

Navigating ADOT Field Reports If you have questions about how to navigate contractor's pay cycles, certified payroll or similar topics, you'll want to sign up for this live webinar on Navigating ADOT Field Reports! Come hear from ADOT staff on how to navigate these potentially tricky processes and ensure you are able to be paid on time for work on ADOT projects. Register here: https://lnkd.in/gugeKirU

We were thrilled to see the engaging safe-driving messages that Arizonans came up with!

ADOT is a leader when it comes to digital IDs. In our latest "On The Road With ADOT" podcast, ADOT Motor Vehicle Division Director Eric Jorgensen discusses the Smart ID Verifier app for iPhone and other digital ID innovations designed with convenience and security in mind. Listen on Spotify: https://lnkd.in/gmD8hESA Listen on Apple Podcasts: https://lnkd.in/gkF5WvyU

The Arizona Department of Transportation has been a leader in mobile IDs and now Arizonans now have another way to use digital driver licenses and IDs. ADOT's Motor Vehicle Division (MVD) has enabled mobile ID acceptance on iPhone with the Smart ID Verifier app. By using the Smart ID Verifier app, Arizona retailers can easily and securely accept mobile IDs in person to verify the ages of customers purchasing alcohol directly on their iPhones, no additional hardware needed. This new feature will bring Arizonans another way to use their mobile driver licenses. MVD is partnering with the Arizona Department of Liquor Licenses and Control to enable Mobile ID Acceptance on iPhone with the Smart ID Verifier app, available in the App Store. Participating retailers selling age-restricted beverages have an efficient and secure way to verify a customer’s age. Retailers using the Smart ID Verifier app will only be provided the required information necessary for age verification, such as a customer's age and ID photo. The information is encrypted between devices, so customers do not need to hand over their smartphones. “ADOT MVD is proud to once again provide new ways for Arizonans to seamlessly conduct business,” said Eric Jorgensen, ADOT MVD Director. “This digital verification process is a more secure and private way to present identification.” Mobile IDs, including IDs in Apple Wallet and IDs in Google Wallet, as well as the physical MVD-issued ID card can be accepted using the Smart ID Verifier app. Starting today, businesses will be able to verify age and properly record the verification for compliance with alcohol sales laws. Neither MVD nor Apple have access to users’ personal information and neither can see when or where users present their mobile IDs. “The Arizona Department of Liquor Licenses and Control is excited to partner with the Arizona Department of Transportation Motor Vehicle Division in the announcement of Mobile ID Acceptance on iPhone with the Smart ID Verifier app,” said Ben Henry, Department of Liquor Licenses and Control Director. “With this new capability, establishments can securely verify patrons' identification and determine they are of legal drinking age - right on iPhone. This will provide additional ease while maintaining compliance with Arizona Liquor Laws." Participation in the acceptance of mobile IDs is optional. Arizonans should continue to carry their physical driver licenses or state ID cards for those retailers who don’t yet accept the digital option. Arizona was the first state to offer four options to keep your digital license or ID in your smartphone. Arizona first offered the Mobile ID (mID) in 2021, then in 2022 was the first state to add Apple Wallet. Google Wallet and Samsung Wallet for Android devices became available for Arizona driver licenses or ID cards in 2023. More: https://lnkd.in/gnetCAvR

🏆ADOT wins award for interchange construction!🏆 A recent Arizona Department of Transportation project that constructed Loop 303 interchanges at 43rd and 51st avenues near Interstate 17 is a winner in the 2024 America’s Transportation Awards competition that includes a focus on community development. The $70 million Loop 303 project earned a West Region award in the “Quality of Life/Community Development, Medium Project” category in the national competition among state departments of transportation. The competition is sponsored by AASHTO, an association representing highway and transportation departments nationwide, as well as AAA and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. ADOT partnered with the Maricopa Association of Governments (MAG), the regional transportation planning agency, and city of Phoenix to accelerate construction of the Loop 303 bridges and ramps to address current and future traffic growth near the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. plant in the north Valley. The interchanges were completed in September 2023, several years sooner than originally planned. “This project is an example of great teamwork and cooperation among partnering organizations,” said ADOT’s Central District Administrator Randy Everett. “It took a lot of hard work by staff at MAG, city of Phoenix, ADOT and the contractor, Fisher Sand and Gravel, to deliver this project on the accelerated schedule.” The award was presented this week at the annual meeting of WASHTO, which represents departments of transportation in the West. Construction of new Loop 303 interchanges at 43rd and 51st avenues was funded through the dedicated Proposition 400 half-cent sales tax approved by Maricopa County voters in 2004. The project is part of the Phoenix area’s Regional Strategic Transportation Infrastructure Investment Plan managed by MAG. The new interchanges were designed to help manage future transportation needs in the area, support the Phoenix area’s growing semiconductor footprint and its supply chain, and allow for community development, including businesses and services.

🙌 Arizona Highways magazine wins 16 awards for excellence 🎉 Arizona Highways, the world-renowned magazine highlighting Arizona’s scenery and stories, earned a total of 16 awards for excellence in visuals, writing and production at the recent annual conference of regional magazines from across North America. The magazine, published by the Arizona Department of Transportation, won three first-place Gold Awards from the nonprofit International Regional Media Association. A panel of magazine industry experts judges its annual awards competition. “What a true honor it is to be recognized by our industry peers for the incredible work done by the Arizona Highways team,” Arizona Highways Publisher Kelly Mero said. Arizona Highways received the following awards: 🥇 Gold ▪️ Headline & Dek: Robert Stieve, “Dam Shame” ▪️ Single Photo: Guy Schmickle, “Schnebly Hill Monsoon” ▪️ Photo Series (35,000 or more circulation): “Flavor of the Months” 🥈 Silver ▪️ Website of the Year ▪️ Magazine Photographer of the Year (35,000 or more circulation): Joel Hazelton ▪️ Travel Feature: Morgan Sjogren, “A Long Strange Trip” ▪️ Profiles (35,000 or more circulation): Matt Jaffe, “The Grand Master” ▪️ Column: Robert Stieve, June, October and November 2023 ▪️ Illustration: Sam Ward, “Who Shot First?” 🥉 Bronze ▪️ Public Issues: Annette McGivney, “In Hot Water” ▪️ General Feature (35,000 or more circulation): Lawrence W. Cheek, “It’s Looking Up Downtown” ▪️ Portrait Photo: William Allard, “Henry Gray” ▪️ Overall Art Direction (35,000 or more circulation): August, October and November 2023 🏆 Merit ▪️ Historic Feature (35,000 or more circulation): Kathy Montgomery, “What a Place to Call Home” ▪️ Art & Culture Feature: Sunnie R. Clahchischiligi, “According to Custom” ▪️ Essay: Kelly Vaughn, “Learning on the Fly” Founded in 1925, Arizona Highways is dedicated to promoting travel to and through the state of Arizona. In addition to the world-renowned magazine known for spectacular landscape photography, Arizona Highways publishes travel guide books, calendars and other products to promote travel in Arizona. The magazine has subscribers in all 50 states and more than 100 countries. Learn more at arizonahighways.com and irmamagazines.com.

Arizona’s highways have existed almost since statehood in 1912, but the agency overseeing them, the Arizona Department of Transportation, is marking its 50th anniversary this month. It’s all because state lawmakers, facing a booming population and accelerating transportation needs, decided to consolidate the Arizona Highway Department and Arizona Aeronautics Department as of July 1974. Since then, ADOT employees throughout the state have expanded the state’s transportation infrastructure, implemented new technologies and innovations, and provided safer and more efficient ways to keep travelers moving safely. Governor Katie Hobbs marked this month’s milestone with a letter to ADOT staff highlighting the agency’s accomplishments and innovations, including not just highways but the AZ511 traveler information system and AZMVDNow.com, the online portal through which Motor Vehicle Division customers can conduct dozens of transactions. “Most importantly, it is ADOT’s dedicated employees, past, present, and future, who shape our state’s transportation system through public service and leadership that ensures AZ families make it to their destinations safely,” Governor Hobbs said. When ADOT was created, there were about 5,800 miles of state highway and the interstate system in Arizona was 86% complete. Since then, ADOT has added more than 1,100 miles to the state’s transportation system. “Our state is more connected than ever,” ADOT Director Jennifer Toth said. “ADOT employees have worked hard over the decades to expand and improve Arizona’s transportation system. Because of that, people can safely travel throughout our state and businesses can grow.” ADOT has had seven other directors over five decades, including Mary Peters, who became administrator of the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA). In 2006, Peters became U.S. Secretary of Transportation. Former ADOT Director Victor Mendez also served in Washington, D.C., as FHWA administrator for five years, and then was U.S. Deputy Secretary of Transportation from 2014 to 2017. ADOT is fortunate to have a handful of employees who have been along for all 50 years. “I get to work with and learn from some of the best and brightest people,” said Ed Green, a 62-year state employee who started with the Arizona Highway Department and now is a hazardous material coordinator in ADOT’s Environmental Planning Group. “Not only ADOT, but the world has changed with the inclusion of available technologies that make our tasks easier and quicker,” said Tami Wollaston, who started as a draftsman nearly 51 years ago and currently is a transportation engineering specialist in ADOT’s Roadway Engineering Group. “Over time this agency also has included necessary environmental and cultural features along state highways,” said LeRoy Brady, chief landscape architect in ADOT’s Roadway Engineering Group and a 50-year employee. “We’ve improved highways while maintaining Arizona’s unique beauty.”

Like many large organizations or companies, ADOT has a internal publications aimed at keeping employees up-to-date on agency issues. Back in July 1974, when the state legislature created the Arizona Department of Transportation when it combined the Arizona Highway Department, Arizona Aeronautics Department and motor vehicle services agency into one entity – ADOT – the employee newsletter Newsbeat was born. Newsbeat succeeded Hiway Drumbeats, which had been the employee newsletter for the Arizona Highway Department. Let’s skim through the 8-page Volume I, Number 1 edition of Newsbeat from July 1974, and see what was shared with those very first ADOT employees in July 1974: 🛣️ Unsurprisingly, the cover story features an article about seven people appointed to permanent or temporary administration positions, including WIlliam Ordway, who will forever be the first Director of ADOT. 📐 Arizona Governor Jack Williams recognized 600 engineers in Arizona, including several from the Highway Division, for their contributions to the field of technology. 🚘 A photo showed barrels filled with out-of-state license plates that, according to the caption, is “indicative of the population influx into Arizona.” Back then, plates were separated by their type of metal, steel or aluminum, and were sold as scrap or recycled. ⛰️ Another photo showed three men checking up on a project I-17 south of Flagstaff. At the time, five major projects were in various stages of construction on I-17, which was completed in 1978. 🎳 Arizona Highways Magazine claimed the Highway Bowling League title. Individuals honors for the high series (gross) went to Gene Stair, 639, and Carl Wisser’s 264 was tops in high game (gross). 🛑 Robert Schnee, a welder in the Equipment Shop, designed and built a signpost pulling jack that made the task safer. According to the caption, “Each jack cost $65 to build, but the safety factor is worth the cost many times over.” Five decades later, ADOT employees are still showing their ingenuity, inventing things like the guardrail crab and pokey picker upper, that increase safety and work efficiency and save money.