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Highway 191 facelift begins
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Ainslee S. Wittig/Range News Jim Martin, state transportation board member and Willcox resident, speaks at the Highway 191 groundbreaking last week. Ray Thiessen , of the Gila Valley Veteran's Honor Guard, attends the Arizona flag. |
By STEVE RENO/Arizona Range News
Dramatic improvements are underway on "an extremely important link in our neck of the woods," said Ron Casper, Safford District engineer for the Arizona Department of Transportation. Casper and ADOT hosted a groundbreaking last Wednesday for the U.S. Highway 191 Improvement Project.
Dignitaries from Cochise and Graham County were joined by state transportation board members, as well as architects, engineers and construction company executives for a ceremony at the beginning point of the project on Highway 191 just north of Interstate 10.
The two-lane highway will be expanded to four lanes on a 16-mile segment that starts at the I-10 turn-off and runs north to the Fort Grant turn-off at the junction of Highway 266. An additional five miles further north lies the Artesia area that borders the city of Safford, but ADOT has not yet scheduled improvements to that final portion.
The current project is divided into five segments. The groundbreaking ceremony on Wednesday dedicated segment one that will cover the area from the freeway to a point 4.2 miles north, all encompassed in Cochise County. Segment four in Graham County officially went out to bid last week with the bid expected to be awarded by late May. Segment three is expected to be constructed by 2008, although that could accelerate by one year, said Casper. Segments two and five "is the challenge to our program because we still need to secure funding," he said.
"Keep your fingers crossed and hopefully this project will be done by 2010," said Jim Martin of Willcox, who is also a member of the state transportation board. "The plans for this originally started with Ron Casper in 1990 and it's taken us 14 years to finally get it started."
Delbert Householder of Fort Thomas is the newest appointed member to the state board and agreed with Martin. "About 20 years ago as a county supervisor, I started testifying about how important this road would be to our area," he said. "I hope there will be more money to come in to complete this project faster."
Casper said the highway was originally constructed as a dirt road in 1926. It was paved in 1947 and "there has not been a significant thing done to this road in the past 57 years." He marveled at how well it has held up, but commented that its current condition "is not close to current highway safety standards."
Improved safety for the highway is a key concern for Martin. "Willcox High School started a scholarship trust because of a death on this highway," said Martin, referring to the annual $700 Greg Morales scholarship started in the 1970s to honor the memory of Morales after his death in a traffic fatality. Another $650 memorial scholarship was created for this year by the grandmother of Amber Lachovsky after the former Willcox student was killed in an accident on the same stretch of the highway.
Design consultant Steve Fowler of DMJM Harris said ADOT will convert it to a four-lane divided roadway. Meadow Valley Contractors, one of the country's largest construction firms, said Casper, won the bid to improve segment one. They recently concluded a five-lane improvement project on Highway 70 between Thatcher and Pima and also built a bridge over the Gila River in Duncan.
The Highway 191 improvements will start at the I-10 off-ramps where the road will become fully divided, said Fowler, the project manager. "The existing roadway will have an asphalt overlay and both sides of the highway will have rubberized asphalt for a quiet ride," he said. Eleven concrete box culverts and 12 pipe culverts will be extended through the medians and to the west of the highway. All disturbed ground will be seeded with native plants and grasses, he said.
The most significant improvement on segment one will be the changes to the intersection with the Bowie Spur, he said.
Between 1993 and 2002, 26 of the 27 accidents at that T-intersection were by drivers "blowing through the stop sign," Fowler said. The accidents resulted in 35 injuries and three fatalities. "I understand there have been more accidents of a serious nature there since 2002," he said. "There was consideration to close that spur altogether, but it's a long process to do that, because you don't just close a highway overnight."
Instead, they will make a significant safety improvement to the intersection.
"We will remove hills near the intersection to improve sight lines," he said. "Northbound traffic from the spur will enter Highway 191 on a parallel ramp without stopping." Traffic will merge onto the northbound lanes with the assistance of an additional lane to smooth the transition, he said.
The ramp will eliminate the danger of the stop sign for drivers turning right from the spur onto the main highway. Over 90-percent of traffic from that direction turns right onto the highway. For the few who want to turn left in that intersection, "they will have to make a conscious effort to get into a left turn lane that will make them fully aware of the stop sign approaching," he said.
"The economic impact for Cochise County and surrounding counties will be tremendous when this project is completed," said Les Thompson, supervisor for northern Cochise County.
Graham County Supervisor Jim Palmer agreed. "Sometimes we've been a forgotten part of the state despite the beauty of this area," he said. "This project is a vital part of moving us into the new century."
"I have traveled this corridor for 44 years," said Willcox Mayor Mick Easthouse. "To see it will be a safe route is great."
Ron Jacobsen, Safford city manager added, "What a difference it will make when we have four lanes all the way to Safford."
Rob Bottcher, vice president of Meadow Valley, reminded travelers passing the construction in progress to "keep your focus on the road in front of you, not the road we're building to the side."
Jim Cunningham, who works for ADOT in the Benson office, added, "our goals are simple. We want to build you a quality job and give you a safe experience when you drive through."
"When it's said and done," added Fowler, "I just hope you will enjoy the ride."
Dignitaries from Cochise and Graham County were joined by state transportation board members, as well as architects, engineers and construction company executives for a ceremony at the beginning point of the project on Highway 191 just north of Interstate 10.
The two-lane highway will be expanded to four lanes on a 16-mile segment that starts at the I-10 turn-off and runs north to the Fort Grant turn-off at the junction of Highway 266. An additional five miles further north lies the Artesia area that borders the city of Safford, but ADOT has not yet scheduled improvements to that final portion.
The current project is divided into five segments. The groundbreaking ceremony on Wednesday dedicated segment one that will cover the area from the freeway to a point 4.2 miles north, all encompassed in Cochise County. Segment four in Graham County officially went out to bid last week with the bid expected to be awarded by late May. Segment three is expected to be constructed by 2008, although that could accelerate by one year, said Casper. Segments two and five "is the challenge to our program because we still need to secure funding," he said.
"Keep your fingers crossed and hopefully this project will be done by 2010," said Jim Martin of Willcox, who is also a member of the state transportation board. "The plans for this originally started with Ron Casper in 1990 and it's taken us 14 years to finally get it started."
Delbert Householder of Fort Thomas is the newest appointed member to the state board and agreed with Martin. "About 20 years ago as a county supervisor, I started testifying about how important this road would be to our area," he said. "I hope there will be more money to come in to complete this project faster."
Casper said the highway was originally constructed as a dirt road in 1926. It was paved in 1947 and "there has not been a significant thing done to this road in the past 57 years." He marveled at how well it has held up, but commented that its current condition "is not close to current highway safety standards."
Improved safety for the highway is a key concern for Martin. "Willcox High School started a scholarship trust because of a death on this highway," said Martin, referring to the annual $700 Greg Morales scholarship started in the 1970s to honor the memory of Morales after his death in a traffic fatality. Another $650 memorial scholarship was created for this year by the grandmother of Amber Lachovsky after the former Willcox student was killed in an accident on the same stretch of the highway.
Design consultant Steve Fowler of DMJM Harris said ADOT will convert it to a four-lane divided roadway. Meadow Valley Contractors, one of the country's largest construction firms, said Casper, won the bid to improve segment one. They recently concluded a five-lane improvement project on Highway 70 between Thatcher and Pima and also built a bridge over the Gila River in Duncan.
The Highway 191 improvements will start at the I-10 off-ramps where the road will become fully divided, said Fowler, the project manager. "The existing roadway will have an asphalt overlay and both sides of the highway will have rubberized asphalt for a quiet ride," he said. Eleven concrete box culverts and 12 pipe culverts will be extended through the medians and to the west of the highway. All disturbed ground will be seeded with native plants and grasses, he said.
The most significant improvement on segment one will be the changes to the intersection with the Bowie Spur, he said.
Between 1993 and 2002, 26 of the 27 accidents at that T-intersection were by drivers "blowing through the stop sign," Fowler said. The accidents resulted in 35 injuries and three fatalities. "I understand there have been more accidents of a serious nature there since 2002," he said. "There was consideration to close that spur altogether, but it's a long process to do that, because you don't just close a highway overnight."
Instead, they will make a significant safety improvement to the intersection.
"We will remove hills near the intersection to improve sight lines," he said. "Northbound traffic from the spur will enter Highway 191 on a parallel ramp without stopping." Traffic will merge onto the northbound lanes with the assistance of an additional lane to smooth the transition, he said.
The ramp will eliminate the danger of the stop sign for drivers turning right from the spur onto the main highway. Over 90-percent of traffic from that direction turns right onto the highway. For the few who want to turn left in that intersection, "they will have to make a conscious effort to get into a left turn lane that will make them fully aware of the stop sign approaching," he said.
"The economic impact for Cochise County and surrounding counties will be tremendous when this project is completed," said Les Thompson, supervisor for northern Cochise County.
Graham County Supervisor Jim Palmer agreed. "Sometimes we've been a forgotten part of the state despite the beauty of this area," he said. "This project is a vital part of moving us into the new century."
"I have traveled this corridor for 44 years," said Willcox Mayor Mick Easthouse. "To see it will be a safe route is great."
Ron Jacobsen, Safford city manager added, "What a difference it will make when we have four lanes all the way to Safford."
Rob Bottcher, vice president of Meadow Valley, reminded travelers passing the construction in progress to "keep your focus on the road in front of you, not the road we're building to the side."
Jim Cunningham, who works for ADOT in the Benson office, added, "our goals are simple. We want to build you a quality job and give you a safe experience when you drive through."
"When it's said and done," added Fowler, "I just hope you will enjoy the ride."
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