News

Interstate 10 Deck Park Tunnel turns 35 years old on Sunday

KJZZ | By Ignacio Ventura

Published August 9, 2025 at 7:44 AM MST

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Construction on the Deck Park Tunnel on Interstate 10 in Phoenix in the 1980s.

Arizona Department of Transportation

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Construction on the Deck Park Tunnel on Interstate 10 in Phoenix in the 1980s.

Arizona Department of Transportation

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The Deck Park Tunnel on Interstate 10 in Phoenix on its dedication day.

Arizona Department of Transportation

Rush hour traffic heads into the westbound tube of the Deck Park Tunnel, July 2020.

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Rush-hour traffic heads into the westbound tube of the Deck Park Tunnel during July 2020.

Scott Bourque/KJZZ

gates cover the entrance to the center of interstate 10 tunnel

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The empty space in the center of Interstate 10's Deck Park Tunnel was originally intended to be a bus express lane and station.

Sky Schaudt/KJZZ

The tunnel within the Deck Park tunnel is mostly dark, illuminated every few hundred feet. The tunnel is mostly empty save for a few traffic cones and construction materials in the median.

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The tunnel within the I-10 Deck Park tunnel is mostly dark, illuminated every few hundred feet. The tunnel is largely empty, save for a few traffic cones and construction materials in the median.

Arizona Department of Transportation

The tunnel seems to stretch on forever, as a few traffic cones sit in the foreground under the light.

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The tunnel within a tunnel seems to stretch on forever, as a few traffic cones sit in the foreground under the light.

Arizona Department of Transportation

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The Deck Park Tunnel on Interstate 10 in Phoenix in 2024.

Arizona Department of Transportation

The Dean Lindsey Memorial Tunnel underpass turns 35 years old on Sunday. The large structure opened in 1990 and is a part of the final mile of I-10.

According to the Arizona Department of Transportation, the tunnel serves more than 200,000 vehicles daily. It spans almost a mile between Third Street and Third Avenue.

ADOT also says the construction of the tunnel required heavy work. Workers placed 1,400 columns for bridge structure support and excavated a million cubic yards of soil.

Its current name comes from the civil engineer Dean Lindsey, who was heavily involved in interstate projects.

In 2021, a modern LED system replaced the tunnel’s sodium lighting.