PHOENIX – Arizona Department of Transportation announced it is temporarily closing all of its MVD offices, its online operation and third-party contractors – but the closure is not due to COVID-19.
“The reason we’re doing this is that the computer system we’re using that operates MVD has elements that are more than 35 years old. So, needless to say, it’s obsolete and needs to be changed,” said ADOT spokesman Doug Nick.
“MVD has been working for more than five years now to develop and now install a state-of-the-art system. And in order to do that we have to shut the whole thing off, get rid of the old system and plug in the new one. And then the biggest thing that really takes more time is to test that new system out. To give it as much of a shakedown as we can before we open again to the public.”
The operational service shutdown will begin at 5 p.m. Friday April 17 and the system will come back online on Wednesday, April 22.
ADOT has already limited in-person visits to appointment only at MVD offices statewide, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In addition, the governor has ordered that any driver whose license is due to expire gets a six-month extension to reduce foot traffic into MVD office, and the deadline to obtain a federal Real ID – known in the state as the Arizona Travel ID – has been given a year’s extension to October 2021.
