Thousands of native plants along the South Mountain Freeway will be transplanted to a nursery for three years while construction work continues.
The Arizona Department of Transportation will be salvaging a mix of Palo Verde trees and saguaros on the 6-mile corridor on the Pecos Road segment. Other plants and trees will be preserved later as the 22-mile freeway is built.
The plants are being placed at an ADOT nursery near the construction zone.
Dustin Krugel of ADOT says action was necessary to protect the plants that were in the pathway.
“ADOT has a great responsibility in building this 22-mile-long freeway and that involves our environmental stewardship role. And with any project, we try to minimize the impact to the environment and plant salvage is one way to do that,” Krugel said.
The plants will be transplanted back along the freeway at the end of 2019.