The Arizona Department of Transportation is testing a new method of detecting wrong-way drivers entering a freeway. This is one of the efforts the agency is launching after officials held an emergency meeting on the issue last year following a string of fatal crashes.
Officials are testing a set of wrong-way driver detectors on the Loop 101 off-ramps at Glendale and Peoria avenues.
ADOT spokesman Doug Nintzel said the detectors are starting to show some promising results.
"A consulting team also is conducting a separate study," said Nintzel. "They’re gathering information about detectors and how they potentially could interact with warning systems such as the overhead message boards along the freeways."
Nintzel said ADOT has also installed larger and lower “do not enter” signs along 45 additional state interchanges.
However, he couldn’t comment about how these projects would impact a recent civil lawsuit alleging the state hasn’t done enough to prevent wrong-way drivers from entering the freeways.
