PHOENIX, Arizona — Three Phoenix-area freeways are closed for the whole weekend of November 13–16 under the Arizona Department of Transportation's (ADOT) Weekend Travel Advisory, with southbound State Route 51, westbound Loop 202 (Santan Freeway) and westbound Interstate 10 all shut in separate stretches from 9 p.m. Friday until 5 a.m. Monday, November 16. ADOT announced the package on November 13 as part of ongoing pavement and widening projects, and drivers — including freight trucks on the I-10 corridor — are being told to plan detours and expect heavy delays.

Source: Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT)

The closures are in force right now, on Saturday, and run through the rest of the weekend. This report sets out each closed stretch, the ramps that are also shut, ADOT's signed detours, and the further nightly restrictions that follow on SR 51 through November 20 and again November 20–23 — so a driver or dispatcher reading it once has the whole sequence, not just one road.

SR 51 southbound: Northern to Highland, with a signed detour

Southbound SR 51 is closed between Northern Avenue and Highland Avenue, south of Camelback Road, for the SR 51 pavement rehabilitation project between I-10 (Papago Freeway) and Shea Boulevard. The southbound on-ramps at 32nd Street and 26th Street are also closed. ADOT's detour is westbound Northern Avenue to southbound 16th Street, then eastbound Highland Avenue or Indian School Road to rejoin SR 51 south of the closure. ADOT warns drivers to expect heavy traffic and delays on that detour and suggests southbound Interstate 17 as an alternate freeway route.

The current uneven pavement on SR 51 bridge decks is temporary and is not the finished surface, ADOT says. Crews are making interim repairs, and because of seasonal temperature limits the final resurfacing of the bridge decks will begin in January and is expected to require weekend closures through spring 2027. The project has also been expanded to include pavement repair on McDowell, Thomas and Indian School roads beneath SR 51, which will bring crossroad lane restrictions and periodic ramp closures through the end of 2026, plus nightly striping restrictions through December 2026.

Loop 202 and I-10 westbound: the other two closures

Westbound Loop 202 (Santan Freeway) is closed between Williams Field Road and Gilbert Road for a widening project, over the same Friday-night to Monday-morning window. That closure affects the southeast Valley corridor through Gilbert and Chandler, a heavily used commuter and freight route.

Westbound I-10 (Papago Freeway) is closed between Loop 303 and Verrado Way for the I-10 widening project west of Phoenix. Both Loop 303 ramps to westbound I-10 are closed, and so are the westbound on-ramps at Bullard Avenue, Estrella Parkway, Citrus Road, Perryville Road and Jackrabbit Trail. ADOT's suggested detour is westbound Van Buren Street, Yuma Road or McDowell Road to rejoin I-10 at Verrado Way. Awaaz Punjab first reported this I-10 widening series on November 6, when the eastbound Verrado Way to Citrus Road closure ran November 6–9; the westbound closure now in force is the second weekend of that same series, in which crews remove worn pavement, restripe lanes and shift traffic toward the median to prepare for widening, including a new high-occupancy vehicle lane in each direction.

What follows after Monday morning

The weekend closures end at 5 a.m. Monday, November 16, but SR 51 work continues nightly. Northbound SR 51 will be narrowed to one lane between Northern Avenue and Shea Boulevard nightly from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. from Monday, November 16 to Wednesday morning, November 18. Southbound SR 51 will be narrowed to one lane between Glendale Avenue and Indian School Road nightly over the same hours from November 16 to Friday morning, November 20.

McDowell Road will be narrowed to two lanes in each direction at the SR 51 overpass nightly from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. from November 16 to November 20, and again continuously from 8 p.m. Friday, November 20 to 5 a.m. Monday, November 23. Right turns at that intersection stay open, but all left turns onto and off SR 51 are prohibited during the inside-lane closures; drivers who need those turns should use Thomas Road instead, ADOT says.

Why this matters for Phoenix readers

Phoenix is one of the largest Punjabi diaspora and trucking hubs in the Southwest, and SR 51, Loop 202 and I-10 are daily routes for commuters, delivery drivers and long-haul trucks alike. A three-freeway weekend package is exactly the kind of closure that turns a routine Saturday trip or a Monday-morning delivery appointment into a long detour if it is discovered at the ramp. ADOT advises all drivers to slow down, merge safely and use caution through every work zone, and to check the Weekend Travel Advisory map or AZ511 for any change before leaving.