Oro Valley police Officer Brian Kleinberg clocks traffic along a stretch of North Thornydale Road in Marana as part of a Pima Regional Traffic Enforcement operation last week.

Jim Davis / Arizona Daily Star

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Motorcycle officers from Marana and Oro Valley police departments issued 156 traffic citations Sept. 24 during a joint operation along a stretch of North Thornydale Road that's under construction.

"We were having so many traffic issues there," said Adam Lawson, a spokesman for the Marana Police Department. "People weren't following the traffic laws."

The Pima Regional Traffic Enforcement operation included five Oro Valley officers and two from Marana who blanketed Thornydale from West Orange Grove Road to the Cañada del Oro Wash in Marana between 7 a.m. and 2:30 p.m.

The operation also included monitoring a school zone at Orange Grove and North Camino de la Tierra.

The citations were mostly for speeding and failing to obey traffic-control devices such as stop signs and stoplights, Lawson said.

The traffic stops also resulted in seven criminal traffic arrests, one DUI arrest and one arrest for drug possession, according to a press release from the Marana Police Department.

Oro Valley officers were used to allow for better coverage in the area, Lawson said. He said interagency cooperation is common for such operations.

Traffic issues have been common there since January, when Marana began a project to widen Thornydale from four to six lanes, with a divided median.

In early March the Marana Town Council approved an ordinance that established a $250 fine for speeding in a construction zone.

There are no plans for future crackdowns along Thornydale, Lawson said, though more could be scheduled if traffic problems continue.

"It wouldn't be out of the realm of possibility," he said.