This photo, from November 2017, pictures one of several safety-message signs that the Arizona Department of Transportation installed at that time to alert drivers to dangerous speeding on the steep, winding stretch of Interstate 17 north of Phoenix.
These speed-feedback signs display to I-17 drivers the posted speed limit and actual vehicle speeds. The signs primarily track traffic in the left lane. The southbound I-17 signs are located near Sunset Point Rest Area (milepost 251) and approaching curves on the downhill grade.
The signs are the result of a $1.1 million, I-17 safety project after a study demonstrated that Department of Public Safety troopers had cited “speed too fast for conditions” as the leading driver violation in more than 40 percent of I-17 crashes that occurred in the Black Canyon City area between 2011 and 2015. The speed-feedback signs are a safety tool in an area where crashes and other incidents, including disabled vehicles, can cause closures and lengthy delays along I-17’s winding grade. (ADOT/courtesy)