SUPERIOR – The Arizona Department of Transportation is replacing two bridges on US 60 east of Superior with spans designed to handle passenger and commercial traffic for decades to come.
The combined $44.7 million project will require multiple full highway closures on US 60 between Superior and Miami for blasting operations as crews work to construct new bridges over Queen Creek and Waterfall Canyon.
Motorists should plan for as many as three closures a week, starting at a date to be determined within the next several weeks, and continuing until autumn. The closures, when required, will occur from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays.
During the closures for blasting, crews will work to shift the highway 65 feet to the east and align it with the new Queen Creek Bridge. Also during the closures, crews will reconstruct the Waterfall Canyon Bridge just east of the Queen Creek Tunnel.
During the closures, motorists will detour on state routes 77 and 177 through Winkelman. This will add up to one hour to the trip between Globe and Superior. By providing consistent days and times for these full closures, ADOT is providing a reliable schedule for those who travel between the Superior and Globe areas.
Toward the end of the project, a multi-day closure of US 60 will be required to finish realigning the highway with the new Queen Creek Bridge.
The new Queen Creek Bridge will span 763 feet and feature one lane of travel in each direction with 4-foot-wide shoulders. The replacement structure for the Waterfall Canyon Bridge will span 107 feet.
Once the Queen Creek Bridge is completed, crews will dismantle the existing structure, which opened to traffic in 1949. While the bridge remains safe for traffic, it has reached the end of its lifespan and doesn’t meet current standards for bridge design.
For safety reasons, construction will require closing some areas used by hikers, rock climbers and other recreational areas. In the Queen Creek Bridge area, trails will close from Magma Avenue in Superior to the west of the Claypool Tunnel. The trail through the Claypool Tunnel, heading east past Waterfall Canyon Bridge, will remain open until later in the project when active construction begins in this area.
In the Waterfall Canyon Bridge area, the US 60 pullout east of the Queen Creek tunnel will close during the project. Other nearby pullouts may close intermittently.
For more information, please visit azdot.gov/US60QueenCreekBridgeProject.