Ajo Way Interchange

RSA Construction Group crews built a new traffic interchange in Tucson, Arizona, to improve traffic flow and relieve congestion at the interchange of I-19 and West Ajo Way. The existing, 50-year-old cloverleaf design was replaced with a SPUI (Single Point Urban Interchange) designed to move large volumes of traffic through limited amounts of space safely and efficiently by controlling traffic flows from a single set of signals at the center of the interchange.

In addition to constructing a new, wider, two-span bridge, Ajo Way was widened from two to three lanes in each direction between 16th Avenue and the Santa Cruz River Bridge, with widening of the southbound off-ramp to include an additional turn lane. Intricately designed sound walls were added on both sides of I-19 between Ajo Way and the West Michigan Avenue pedestrian bridge, with drainage improvements, road reconstruction and repaving. The sound walls provide a visual experience for both drivers and residents.

More than 100,000 vehicles passed through the work zone daily, resulting in an extremely tight construction zone from traffic flow constraints. The work plan, equipment staging and construction phasing were customized to the location to accommodate the traveling public.