Dust Storm Advance Warning Set For Dangerous Stretch Of I-10

A first-of-its-kind dust detection system will warn motorists on Interstate 10 to pull over before they encounter blinding dust storms. I-10, a major thoroughfare from Tucson to Phoenix, is one of the deadliest stretches or Arizona roadways during dust storms and haboobs.

An October 2013 dust storm claimed the lives of three people in a 19-vehicle pileup in the area where the new system will be put in place, between Sunshine Boulevard and Picacho Peak Road, or between mile markers 209 through 2019. Traffic was backed up for six miles into the night after that crash.

The Arizona Department of Transportation is using a $12.8 million federal grant to put the new system in place by October. The X-Band Doppler Radar will supplement National Weather Service radar to give more accurate ground readings. The new system should be able to spot activity in a 40-mile radius as high as thousands of feet in the air.

“When dust storms start at the ground level, we can’t see those on radar,” Ken Waters, warning coordination meteorologist with the National Weather Service, told the Arizona Daily Star. “This radar is going to give us that opportunity, and we’re very excited about that.”

When activity is spotted, the ADOT and the NWS will create an alert for people in the area and post messages on overhead signs that warn motorists to “Pull Aside, Stay Alive” and take other safety precautions.

For the complete story, go to the Arizona Daily Star.