The Arizona Department of Transportation has finished replanting saguaros and other cacti and trees along Loop 101.

As part of ADOT's project to improve 11 miles of Loop 101, the team had salvaged more than 1,000 plants to repurpose once construction wrapped up.

ADOT worked with the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community and the city of Scottsdale to determine how to best take care of the plants during the project.

“This restoration work is challenging but also very rewarding because many of the saguaros are more than 100 years old and it’s great to have them in place as an iconic symbol of Arizona,” ADOT Landscape Construction Supervisor Richard Adamson said.

Crews used heavy equipment to transport individual plants from nurseries to their new homes along the freeway. An additional 10,000 new shrubs, trees and cacti are also being added.

“We’ve learned a lot over the years about including plant restoration in our freeway-improvement projects,” Madhu Reddy, district engineer for ADOT’s central construction district, said. “Local communities support these efforts and we receive compliments from local residents and valley visitors who like what they’re seeing.”