PHOENIX — A highway in south-central Arizona was expected to be closed for more than two months starting Thursday.

The Arizona Department of Transportation announced that State Route 87 was scheduled to close at Interstate 10 in Eloy on Oct. 11.

It was initially scheduled to close last Thursday, but was delayed for a week due to the storms that moved through the Valley, according to ADOT spokesman Tom Herrmann.

The closure, which will run from Milligan Road to the I-10, will allow crews to complete a new interchange and connect SR 87 with the new westbound lanes for a wider I-10.

Crews will build the new eastbound lanes and connect them to I-10 in early 2019. The existing travel lanes on I-10 in the area will be demolished.

A first-of-its-kind dust detection zone will also be built.

It was expected to be closed through Dec. 21.

Drivers can use Sunshine Boulevard and Casa Grande-Picacho Highway to connect between I-10 and SR 87 during the closure.

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