Arizona

Department of
Transportation
NEWS
For Immediate Release
Contact: ADOT Media Relations
Phone: 800-949-8057

Public Input Sought for Proposed Signage Replacement Along Interstate 19

TUCSON—The Arizona Department of Transportation is conducting a four-pronged effort to gather public

opinion on the proposed replacement of 400 signs on Interstate 19. The new signs would list distance information
and exit numbers in miles instead of kilometers.

The current signs were installed in 1979, when the 63-mile interstate highway between Tucson and Nogales on
the U.S.-Mexican border was completed. At the time, federal officials were considering changing U.S.
measurement standards from the English (miles) to the metric (kilometers) system. The Federal Highway
Administration designated I-19 for a test of metric-system use on roadways.

As part of an ongoing inspection program, ADOT has determined the 30-year-old I-19 signs no longer meet
reflectivity and other safety requirements and should be replaced. In 2009, state and federal officials approved this
sign-replacement project to receive $1.5 million from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA).
ARRA terms require that the project be under construction by March 2010.

To avert businesses and organizations from having to discard printed advertising and informational materials with
distance and exit information based on the metric system, ADOT proposes including the metric numbers on the
new signs for two years. By then, ADOT believes, printed stocks will have been depleted.

ADOT’s opinion-gathering effort includes:

• establishing a Web site (www.azdot.gov/i19signage) at which individuals can review project information
and submit comments as of Monday, Jan. 18,
• conducting statistically valid, random surveys of individuals and businesses that might be affected by the
change from the English to the metric system,
• interviewing government officials and stakeholders in the I-19 corridor, and
• establishing a telephone contact (Angie Brown, ADOT consultant, at 520-327-6077) to receive public
comments.

The I-19 corridor includes the cities or towns of Tucson, Green Valley, Sahuarita, Rio Rico, Tubac and Nogales;
and parts of Pima and Santa Cruz counties.

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ADOT Communication and Community Partnerships • 206 South 17 Avenue • Phoenix, Arizona 85007