Engineering News-Record, a construction trade publication, recently honored the team responsible for an Arizona Department of Transportation project that installed high-speed fiber-optic infrastructure along 67 miles of Interstate 17 between north Phoenix and McGuireville with a regional award.
The project team won the 2023 Best Projects Award of Merit for the Southwest region in the Specialty Construction category. Winning projects will be honored on Oct. 31at a luncheon in Phoenix and will be featured in Engineering News-Record’s Oct. 30 issue.
The $20.6 million project was part of a state initiative to increase broadband internet access. It included the installation of conduit and fiber-optic cable between Anthem Way and the McGuireville Rest Area under the asphalt shoulder of I-17. Work completed earlier this year.
The project connected to a broader project totaling 146 miles of fiber-optic conduit between Van Buren Street in Phoenix and the I-17/I-40 interchange in Flagstaff.
In addition, fiber-optic conduit also has been installed along I-19 between the Tucson area and Nogales.
ADOT planned to install additional fiber-optic conduit along the length of I-40 through northern Arizona.
The agency will use the fiber-optic cables to provide intelligent transportation systems technology. These technologies include traffic cameras, overhead message boards, wrong-way driving detection, and weather stations.