Loop 101 in Arizona
| SR-101 | |||
| Get started | Phoenix | ||
| End | Chandler | ||
| Length | 61 mi | ||
| Length | 98 km | ||
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According to Ablogtophone, the Loop 101 or State Route 101 is a state route and freeway in the U.S. state of Arizona. The highway forms a three-quarter ring around the city of Phoenix and several suburbs. The highway starts west of the city and ends southeast of the city. The Loop 101 is 98 kilometers long.
Travel directions
Walk 101 on the north side of Phoenix.
The Loop 101 near Scottsdale.
The highway begins at Interstate 10 at Tolleson, in western Phoenix. The highway has 2×3 lanes from here plus weavers on both sides. The highway will initially run through an undeveloped area between Phoenix and several suburbs west of the highway. This section is called the Agua Fria Freeway. One then reaches the suburb of Glendale, which has 247,000 inhabitants, and immediately follows the town of Peoria, which has 147,000 inhabitants. In Peoria you cross the US 60, an important highway to the northwest, including towards Las Vegas. However, it is not a highway. On the north side of Peoria, the road turns east, still having 2×3 lanes with a reservation for 2×4 lanes in the median strip. One then enters the northern neighborhoods of Phoenix. A 4-level stack interchange crosses Interstate 17, the highway from Phoenix to Flagstaff.
Also east of I-17 are 2×3 lanes with regular weigh bays that increase capacity. The interchange with I-17 is followed by an interchange with SR-51, the highway that runs to downtown Phoenix. After that, the highway temporarily passes through undeveloped land, but this changes again when you turn south and enter the Scottsdale suburb, which has a population of 240,000. This is an Indian reservation. The highway has 2×5 lanes here. One then crosses the Loop 202, the ring road around the very large eastern suburbs of Phoenix.
To the west is Tempe, a city of 176,000, and to the east is Mesa, a city of 472,000, and is larger than many of the better-known U.S. cities like St. Louis, Minneapolis, and Miami. Here the highway is called the Price Freeway and has 2×4 lanes here. After just a few miles, one crosses the Superstition Freeway, US 60, an east-west connection to Mesa and Apache Junction. To the south of this, the highway has 2×3 lanes with weaving sections. One then enters the suburb of Chandler, which has 261,000 inhabitants. On the south side of Chandler, the highway ends at Loop 202, the beltway of Mesa, Gilbert, Tempe, and Chandler.
History
Planning
In the late 1950s, Phoenix began to grow strongly. This led to a ‘Major Street and Highway Plan’ in 1960. This plan already included a ring road, called the ‘West Belt Expressway’, ‘North Belt Expressway’ and the ‘East Belt Expressway’. However, this ring road was not part of the original Interstate Highway plan because the city was not yet considered large enough to include the construction of ring roads in the Interstate Highway program.
Construction history
The construction of the Loop 101 started in the 1980s, Phoenix was already an agglomeration with 2.2 million inhabitants, but did not yet have a decent ring road. In 1988, the first section of the Outer Loop Freeway opened between Northern Avenue and Peoria Avenue in Peoria. In 1990, the northwestern portion of the ring road was under construction, as was a more urban section through Tempe and Mesa. Construction of the ring road accelerated from the mid-1990s, by 1999 all remaining sections were under construction simultaneously. The ring highway was completed in 2001.
Later adjustments
In 2011, 50 kilometers of HOV lane was added to Loop 101, on the west and north sides of the ring, from I-10 to SR-52.
Between August 2014 and June 2016, Loop 101 was widened from 2×4 to 2×5 lanes between Shea Boulevard and Loop 202 in Scottsdale for 10 miles. The project was completed six months ahead of schedule.
In 2019-2020, Loop 101 between US 60 and Loop 202 in Chandler has been widened from 2×4 to 2×5 lanes over a distance of 10 kilometers. The project cost $76 million. Work started in May 2019 and was completed in August 2020. Between 2019 and 2022, 18 kilometers between I-17 and Pima Road have been widened. The widening was completed on January 11, 2022.
Traffic intensities
Walk 101 in northeast Phoenix.
| # | 2013 |
| Exit 1 | 136,000 |
| Exit 3 Thomas Road | 145,000 |
| Exit 4 Indian School Road | 122,000 |
| Exit 5 Camelback Road | 130,000 |
| Exit 6 Bethany Home Road | 122,000 |
| Exit 7 Glendale Avenue | 117,000 |
| Exit 8 Northern Avenue | 112,000 |
| Exit 9 Olive Avenue | 104,000 |
| Exit 10 Peoria Avenue | 138,000 |
| Exit 11 Grand Avenue | 114,000 |
| Exit 12 Thunderbird Road | 105,000 |
| Exit 14 Bell Road | 114,000 |
| Exit 15 Union Hills Road | 124,000 |
| Exit 17 75th Avenue | 146,000 |
| Exit 18 67th Avenue | 148,000 |
| Exit 19 59th Avenue | 153,000 |
| Exit 20 51st Avenue | 176,000 |
| Exit 22 35th Avenue | 147,000 |
| Exit 23 | 63,000 |
| Exit 24 19th Avenue | 168,000 |
| Exit 25 7th Avenue | 156,000 |
| Exit 26 7th Street | 153,000 |
| Exit 28 Cave Creek Road | 155,000 |
| Exit 29 32nd Street | 109,000 |
| Exit 30 | 162,000 |
| Exit 31 Tatam Boulevard | 137,000 |
| Exit 32 56th Street | 138,000 |
| Exit 34 Scottsdale Road | 125,000 |
| Exit 35 Hayden Road | 123,000 |
| Exit 36 Princess Drive | 125,000 |
| Exit 37 Frank Lloyd Wright Boulevard | 119,000 |
| Exit 39 Raintree Drive | 139,000 |
| Exit 40 Cactus Road | 165,000 |
| Exit 41 Shea Boulevard | 156,000 |
| Exit 42 Pima Road | 165,000 |
| Exit 43 Via the Ventura | 167,000 |
| Exit 44 Indian Bend Road | 171,000 |
| Exit 45 McDonald Drive | 172,000 |
| Exit 46 Chaparral Road | 167,000 |
| Exit 47 Indian School Road | 171,000 |
| Exit 48 Thomas Road | 174,000 |
| Exit 49 McDowell Road | 171,000 |
| Exit 50 McKellips Road | 170,000 |
| Exit 51 | 96,000 |
| Exit 52 Apache Boulevard | 106,000 |
| Exit 53 Broadway Road | 103,000 |
| Exit 54 Southern Avenue | 121,000 |
| Exit 56 Guadalupe Road | 175,000 |
| Exit 57 Elliot Road | 166,000 |
| Exit 58 Warner Road | 154,000 |
| Exit 59 Ray Road | 137,000 |
| Exit 60 Chandler Boulevard | 106,000 |
| Exit 61A Frye Road | 98,000 |
