Road Runner: Southern Arizona roadway makes list of nation's deadliest highways

One of Southern Arizona’s primary highways has landed on the “Most Dangerous Roads in America” ranking of federally reported fatalities on the nation’s highways.

The study conducted by Teletrac Navman, a company providing GPS vehicle fleet tracking software, ranked Interstate 19 ninth among the 25 highways with the highest rate of deaths per mile.

The roadway, which spans 63 miles from Tucson to Nogales, has seen 40 vehicle crash deaths between 2016 and 2019.

Researchers found that the most common fatal crashes were overturned vehicles, motor vehicle crashes and embankment crashes.

The company said it used data reported by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to establish the death-per-mile rate rankings.

I-19’s death-per-mile rate of .63 was just five spots behind I-17 from Phoenix to Flagstaff. The Northern Arizona highway had 103 fatalities along the 146 miles of highway and a death-per-mile rate of .70, the study said.

Florida’s I-4 was the deadliest as well as the only highway with a death-per-mile rate greater than one at 1.13 along a 132-mile stretch of road.

“There have been significant technological improvements to automobiles, greater vehicle and driver connectivity and heightened awareness around safety standards, but we continue to see significant road fatalities,” a company news release said. “This study highlights the need for all drivers — passenger and commercial — to continue to stay vigilant to protect people on the roads.”

There’s ongoing work to prevent Arizona’s highways from becoming increasingly dangerous, state transportations officials said.

Last week, the Arizona Department of Transportation began installing improved wrong-way signs along I-19, I-8 and I-10.

Crews began installing larger — and hopefully more visible — signs to gain the attention of drivers traveling in the wrong direction.

“The more visible signs are one of ADOT’s countermeasures to reduce the risk of serious crashes by wrong-way drivers, who are frequently impaired when entering highways in the wrong direction,” the department said.

The statewide initiative will replace the older signs with the larger ones closer to the ground and will install signs at freeway exit ramps.

“The updated red wrong-way signs along exit ramps have been enlarged from 30-by-24 inches to 48-by-36 inches,” ADOT said. “At the same time, the bottom edge of the signs will be about three feet above the ground, rather than seven feet, so they are closer to a driver’s line of vision.”

In addition to the signs, new white pavement arrows will point motorists in the correct direction. These will be painted at interchanges where the signs are installed.

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Motorists will see most work occur on ramp shoulders with short delays or ramp closures possible at some locations. Freeway traffic will not be affected, the department said.

The project will conclude in early 2022.

The risk of wrong-way crashes is growing on the state highway system.

It’s a reason for the first-of-its-kind Wrong-Way Vehicle Detection System installed along 15 miles of I-17 in January 2018.

It helped dampen the number of vehicles traveling the wrong way with a threefold increase in detections combined with the automatic notifications to law enforcement the system provides, ADOT said.

Down the Road

Overnight delays on I-10, Houghton interchange

Motorists using the I-10, Houghton Road interchange should expect overnight delays between Monday, May 24, and Tuesday, June 1, due to bridge deck work.

Crews will reroute one direction of I-10 over the entrance and exit ramps between 9:30 p.m. and 5:30 a.m. each day.

Houghton will remain open, but delays of up to 15 minutes should be expected as law enforcement direct traffic through the intersections.

I-10, Cortaro Road ramp closures

The I-10 exit ramps to Cortaro Road will be closed May 24-25 for pavement work.

Cortaro Road will close to all traffic beneath I-10. To cross I-10, motorists will need to use an alternate route such as Twin Peaks or Ina roads.

On Monday, traffic on westbound Cortaro will be directed to the westbound I-10 frontage road, and all traffic on eastbound Cortaro will be directed to the eastbound frontage road.

On Tuesday night, westbound traffic on Cortaro will be directed to Hartman Lane, and eastbound traffic will be directed to the eastbound I-10 frontage road.