The last support beam was recently installed for the Dobbins Road interchange, almost two years after the first girder was set on Loop 202 South Mountain Freeway in Phoenix, according to the Arizona Dept. of Transportation.

 

The project also involved the final girder placed on the Salt River segment of the freeway in the Laveen area, ADOT says, adding that 459 steel-reinforced concrete girders were placed from Lower Buckeye Road to 51st Avenue.

 

Providing a direct link between the city’s east and west segments of the Valley of the Sun, the 22-mile South Mountain Freeway is scheduled to be finished next year, according to ADOT.

 

Arizona Public Service recently announced that it will build an additional 500MW of solar storage and stand alone battery storage by 2025 to power homes and businesses with solar after sunset.

 

The company will add battery storage to existing solar power plants, build new solar plants with storage, and use storage to deliver cleaner energy during peak usage, according to officials. APS is rolling out the energy storage upgrades and new solar plants over the next two years.

 

Don Brandt, APS chairman and CEO, says as storage technology improves and declines in cost, “we will increasingly be able to store the power of the sun cost-effectively to deliver when our customers need it.”

 

APS is already partnering with Tempe-based First Solar to build a first-of-its-kind solar-plus-storage project that will be one of the largest in the country when completed in 2021.

 

Vortex Immersion Media and The Solanna Group have announced plans to develop a multi-acre DomePlex in Phoenix. When completed, the DomePlex will feature an “experiential” theater seating up to 2,500 and will be Vortex' first large-scale attempt at immersive virtual reality without a headset. For the past decade, Vortex has produced hundreds of events in fixed and mobile 360-degree immersion domes up to 60 meters in diameter accommodating up to 5,000 people.

 

Vortex CEO Mark Laisure says his company aims to “be this generation's Disney with this game-changing format.”

 

The Solanna Group is a Native American economic development, land investment and asset management company. Its CEO, David Fordon, previously served as president of Salt River Devco, the Salt River-Pima Maricopa Indian Community's property and asset management company.

 

Vortex plans to build additional multi-acre DomePlexes throughout the world with other strategic partners, according to company officials.

 

GLHN Architects & Engineers has opened a new and larger Phoenix office, at 3636 N. Central Ave. Russell Combs is the Phoenix office lead.

 

Established in 1963, GLHN has more than 55 staff members working in Phoenix and Tucson. GLHN’s recent projects include ASU's Tooker House Engineering Residence Hall and Dignity St. Joe’s Hospital parking garage expansion.