Asphalt plant breakdown caused commuter slog

Tortosa resident Mike Ponce was anything but a happy motorist this morning.

He and thousands of others leaving Maricopa via John Wayne Parkway northbound shared the frustration.

All arteries connected to the city’s main vein were also backed up.

Ponce, like thousands of other angry commuters heading north toward Phoenix, were upset about the situation and wanted to know what happened.

Ponce’s commute to Chandler was delayed an hour. He said he took several U-turns trying to avoid backups on several connecting routes to John Wayne Parkway, including West Honeycutt Road and Smith-Enke Road, where traffic was backed up for miles.

“It’s just kind of impossible,” Ponce said. “I’m stuck in traffic. I left home 45 minutes ago and I’m not out of town yet. Today, in particular, it’s really bad.”

ADOT spokesman Steve Elliott said the contractor decided to extend lane restrictions on northbound John Wayne Parkway through rush hour, causing the early-morning traffic problem.

Elliott said the contractor on the project reported the asphalt plant broke down at around 3 a.m. today. This delayed the asphalt delivery to the roadwork site.

The contractor, after discussing it with ADOT officials, made the decision to keep the lane restriction in place until they could finish paving. This caused the backups of morning commuters leaving Maricopa.

“We’re sorry for everyone’s inconvenience and ADOT will certainly work with the contractor to discuss this and make sure we reduce the chances that it doesn’t happen again,” Elliott said adding, “We certainly got a lot of calls about it.”

The good news, Elliott said, tonight is the contractor’s last night of paving on John Wayne Parkway.