US 160 pavement work near Tuba City to bring long traffic delays, lane shifts

Drivers on U.S. Route 160 near Tuba City are facing a long construction season that will slow commutes, school runs, medical trips and freight across one of northern Arizona’s most important travel corridors. The Arizona Department of Transportation has started pavement preservation work on the 14-mile stretch from mileposts 321 to 335, and the agency says delays will continue throughout the work zone into fall 2026.

The worst disruption will be in Tuba City’s multilane sections, where ADOT says travelers should expect lane closures and lane shifts, with work taking place Monday through Thursday. East of town, on the two-lane segments, traffic will be reduced to one lane and moved in alternating eastbound and westbound directions under flagger and pilot car control. For families trying to get children to school, patients heading to appointments, and businesses moving supplies across Apache County and neighboring communities, the practical message is the same: build in extra time and expect the route to move slower for months.

ADOT says the Tuba City project is a pavement preservation effort done in cooperation with the Navajo Nation and the Hopi Tribe. The $20.5 million job is designed to improve the roadway by removing and replacing the top layer of pavement, applying pavement treatments, repairing drainage channels and headwalls, replacing culverts, installing erosion control, putting up new signs and signposts, adding pavement markings and installing rumble strips. Earlier project materials also describe related work as milling and repaving, guardrail removal and replacement, culvert extension and pavement marking.

That work matters because US 160 is more than a local road. It carries regional traffic, including visitors heading through northern Arizona and commercial vehicles serving communities spread across the Navajo Nation and into Apache County. When lane reductions stack up with flaggers, pilot cars and shifting work zones, even short trips can become extended ones, especially where drivers have few alternate routes.

The Tuba City project is part of a wider run of US 160 construction in northeastern Arizona. A separate 24-mile pavement rehabilitation project between Dennehotso and Mexican Water carries a $19.7 million price tag, and ADOT project records also show another Apache County rehabilitation stretching from milepost 416 to milepost 440 northeast of Kayenta, with pavement and minor bridge work. Together, the projects point to a prolonged stretch of disruption across the corridor, but ADOT is promising a safer, smoother road when the last lane restriction comes off.