Work began this May on an Arizona Department of Transportation project to replace the Queen Creek and Waterfall Canyon Bridges, on US Highway 60 just east of Superior. Blasting work related to the project has led to regular Tuesday-Thursday closures of the highway between 9 a.m. and 2 p.m., requiring drivers who travel between Miami and Superior to detour through Hayden-Winkelman.

According to ADOT, one significant piece of the project has wrapped up: constructing access roads to the bottom of the Queen Creek Bridge site, where initial work has begun on the three piers that will support the new bridge.

The new Queen Creek Bridge, with one lane in each direction, will span 763 feet and have four-foot-wide shoulders. It will be built just east of the existing steel-arch bridge, which opened to traffic in 1949. The current bridge will then be removed.

Crews have also made significant progress on one of two cuts into the rock slope, according to ADOT. Those cuts are necessary because the new bridge will be adjacent to the existing span, requiring a great deal of rock removal.

Access roads to the bridge pier locations are being excavated, and excavation is also taking place where the piers will be erected. One pier, according to ADOT, will consist of four drilled shafts 96 inches in diameter; another will feature 16 drilled shafts 60 inches in diameter. Crews are also making additional cuts into the rock slope to allow for the new bridge’s location and shift to the current highway.

An access road has also been finished at the Waterfall Canyon Bridge work site, and excavation for the new bridge is underway. The replacement bridge will be 107 feet in length and will remain in the same location as the current bridge, which was built in 1929.

The project is expected to be complete by early 2027.