Sedona needs sidewalks.  The city’s 2002 Sedona Community Plan identified ensuring safe pedestrian access throughout the community as a goal.

“Sidewalks provide an alternative mode of transportation,” City Manager Eric Levitt said.

Sedona needs sidewalks.

“Sidewalks provide an alternative mode of transportation,” City Manager Eric Levitt said.

The city’s 2002 Sedona Community Plan identified ensuring safe pedestrian access throughout the community as a goal.

The problem is, many streets in Sedona don’t have sidewalks.

City staff and Sedona City Council are looking at how to change this before prices get too high.

Construction cost inflation is a concern for the city if the project is delayed, Levitt said.

Eric Kleine, owner of Kleine Concrete in Sedona, said the cost of concrete and rebar goes up each year.

“It’s about 12 percent [increase] from last year,” Kleine said.

Colored concrete currently costs approximately $4.25 per foot, Kleine said, and prices keep going up.

“I expect them to increase probably 8 to 10 percent every two years,” Kleine said.

Two unfunded sidewalk capital projects currently sit before Sedona City Council competing with other projects — drainage systems, Creekwalk, road improvements — for prioritization.

Sidewalk projects on Andante Drive, Rodeo Road and Sanborn Drive vie for funds to move the projects forward.

Even if the city chooses to seek funding for the sidewalk projects now, they still won’t be constructed for a few years, Levitt said.

Each year the city waits, the price of the projects increases.

The current estimate for  the Andante Drive sidewalk is $1.5 million. The city projects the sidewalk on Rodeo Road and Sanborn Drive to cost $2.4

million.

These two projects would provide connections from Hwy. 89A to some West Sedona neighborhoods.

City Engineer Charles Mosley said the sidewalks complete a few of the pedestrian connections identified in the city’s Trails and Urban Pathways Vision.

The city lacks sidewalks in older neighborhoods, Levitt said. New roads often don’t include walkways either.

“The majority of sidewalk within the city lies within ADOT [Arizona Department of Transportation] right-of-way,” Mosley said.

Mosley did not know how many actual miles of city street has sidewalk.

Sidewalks line Hwy. 89A in Uptown and West Sedona, but once pedestrians leave the highway, they often find themselves on their own.

According to Levitt, city code doesn’t require sidewalks on roadways, which is

something city staff is discussing now.

The Uptown Enhancement Project, set to be complete at the end of June, incorporated wide sidewalks along the entire Hwy. 89A Uptown corridor. Other sidewalk construction — such as along Jordan Road — has been completed in Uptown as well.

After the Hwy. 179 Improvement Project is complete, Hwy. 179 will also become pedestrian-friendly. Plans call for walkways and bike lanes within city limits.

With the major routes taken care of, the city now needs to provide access to them from connector streets. The community plan identifies providing links between activity centers and neighborhoods as a way to promote and improve pedestrian travel.

The Andante Drive project would connect the neighborhoods along the road to Hwy. 89A.

The south side of Sanborn Drive would be paved from where Thunder Mountain Road turns into Sanborn Drive to Coffee Pot Drive. A sidewalk on one side of the street would then connect Sanborn Drive to Hwy. 89A via Rodeo Road.

Mosley said sidewalks aren’t necessary on all streets but some are needed.

“We’d like to have connectors so people feel safe walking down to the commercial [areas],” Mosley said.

City Council will discuss both sidewalk projects along with six other capital projects at a work session Wednesday, June 13. Council will prioritize projects and explore funding options.