A tentative five-year construction plan by the Arizona Department of Transportation includes adding “flex lanes” to Interstate 17. The lanes can help alleviate traffic during peak travel times.
Flex lanes are lanes that move traffic in one direction depending on the time of day. ADOT is proposing constructing two flex lanes on I-17 next to the southbound lanes, separated by a barrier.
ADOT spokesman Doug Nintzel explained the benefit of flex lanes.
“It will provide two extra lanes for northbound traffic on a Friday afternoon and then be available for southbound traffic on a Sunday afternoon, or in the case of an incident closing one direction at any one time, the flex lanes would then allow more room for traffic that is affected to move past that incident.”
Nintzel says a gate system will manage the direction of traffic at each time to avoid collisions. An additional southbound lane also is planned. ADOT will hold a public hearing in Phoenix at 9 a.m. Friday on the proposal in the ADOT Administration Building Auditorium, located at 206 S. 17th Ave.
