ADOT director Victor MendezI look forward to receiving Arizona Department of Transportation’s weekly construction alert just before a holiday weekend. I want to savor the marketing spin ADOT manages to put out with a straight face."There’s good news for drivers heading out on the state’s highways over the Labor Day holiday weekend," reads the latest installment. "The Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT) says no construction closures are scheduled on Phoenix area freeways or highways across the state through the Monday holiday.’We know a lot of people will be out on the road this weekend and we traditionally ask our contractors to take a break when heavier traffic is expected,’ said ADOT Director Victor Mendez."Ha! Construction contractors generally avoid working on holiday weekends so they don’t have to pay premium wages to their employees. And traffic on Valley freeways over a three-day holiday is far lighter than a regular weekend.If ADOT really was looking out for the interests of motorists, the agency wouldn’t close U.S. 60 in Mesa during the week of a professional women’s golf tournament near the Superstition Mountains, or Loop 101 in Scottsdale during the week of the Barrett-Jackson Classic Car Auction. These disruptions affect not only the thousands of people trying to reach such events, but everyone else who might live in the area and just are trying to get through the day.But some motorists are so grateful for any break in the relentless highway construction that I’ve heard people praise ADOT as if the state has given us a gift on holiday weekends.They haven’t, but ADOT knows how to make sound good, anyway.

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