I-19 lanes at Duval to close for bridge work
One lane in each direction will be open near Duval Mine Road today and Monday

TUCSON--Today Green Valley area motorists will have to deal with one traffic restriction they may actually applaud.

Construction work for the long-awaited rebuilding of the Duval Mine Road bridge will require the closing of one lane in each direction on Interstate 19 today and Monday, a spokesman for the Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT) said.

That will leave just one lane operating in each direction. The northbound and southbound high-speed lanes, the ones closest to the median, will be walled off with barriers, starting around 7 a.m., to allow Granite Construction crews to conduct drilling, ADOT spokesman Nippy Feldrake said.

Crews will drill holes about 60 feet deep and six feet across, then will pour concrete for piers in the interstate median strip that will support the bridge.

Crews also will be drilling holes and pouring concrete on the outside of the roadway for similar supports known as abutments, Feldrake said.

"The barriers will be placed along lane one, the high-speed lane, of I-19 at Duval Mine Road northbound and southbound, so that when the drilling rigs get in there, traffic will be protected from the drilling operations," Feldrake said.

The project has been sought by local officials for years, because the current bridge has been the site of numerous accidents.

ADOT officials said the decades-old bridge has poor sightlines and the exit ramps and frontage roads are too close together for the current volume of traffic.

The $14 million project is to be completed next November, if Granite can keep to the state's hurry-up schedule.

It is projected to take Granite about one and a half days to pour concrete for each of 12 supports, Feldrake said, but only the pier work will require that lanes be closed. The abutments are far enough away from the I-19 pavement that they will not require lane closures.

ADOT had hoped to have the lane closures start yesterday, but Granite was unable to submit a traffic control plan in time for approval, Feldrake said.

Among other tasks, state workers yesterday inspected metal reinforcement cages that will be filled with concrete to form the 12 bridge supports.

pfranchine@gvnews.com | 625-5511 x 28