Vice Mayor John Martinez may have summed it up best when he said it comes down to a fear of the unknown. In this case, it may be more concern than fear but either way, a handful of local business owners said they’re worried how a pair of proposed slip lanes at the intersection of State Routes 89A and 179 may impact their bottom line.
By a 6-1 vote, the Sedona City Council has decided to enter into an intergovernmental agreement with the Arizona Department of Transportation, which will begin the design phase of the slip lanes as part of the city’s Sedona in Motion plan.
Councilman John Currivan was the dissenting vote. He said he’s not necessarily opposed to the project but wanted to wait a month before voting in order for data to be gathered to see how much time may be saved coming down Cooks Hill and turning onto State Route 179, similar to a study done going northbound on State Route 179.
By entering into the IGA, ADOT has agreed to pay for half of the project, which carries a total price tag of $2.4 million.
ADOT has approved funding for the current fiscal year for the design phase but constriction — if the final project is approved — would not start for another two years.
If council did not approve the IGA, or delayed approving it too long, ADOT’s Audra Merrick said funding for the project could be lost and there is no guarantee it would be approved in the future, being that funding allocations are competitive throughout the state. As for the project itself, City Engineering Supervisor Stephen Craver said the turn lanes would be separated from the roundabout by a narrow median.
This allows those specific turning movements to bypass the roundabout. The right turns can be made more efficiently because it only requires a merge at the end of the lane rather than a full yield to enter the roundabout, and it also removes those vehicles from the overall capacity of the roundabout.
Craver also said the city transportation master plan indicates this improvement is expected to reduce a severely congested trip from 36 minutes to 30 minutes for a northbound trip from Bell Rock Boulevard in the Village of Oak Creek to the Y intersection.
Although not modeled, it is also expected to have a significant benefit for traffic that backs up on Cooks Hill. Several business owners spoke to council with their comments centering around a few similar concerns. Some were concerned about the right-of-way acquisitions onto their property, resulting in the loss of parking spaces and ingress/egress points.
Others worry about the length of the slip lane medians and whether that would prohibit left turns, while others wanted to ensure that the center turn lane will remain since delivery trucks use it.
ADOT owns the land on which the former Chevron gas station sits. There was discussion that it may be used for any parking spaces lost due to right-of-way acquisitions. Council members said they have heard those concerns and want to do everything possible to mitigate the impact this project may have. The city plans to host stakeholder meetings.
“We need to be fair and make sure everyone knows what’s going on,” Councilman Scott Jablow said. “There’s a lot of good that’s going to come out of this project. I would say almost all good out of this project. Most of us were elected four years ago and said we were going to do something about traffic and now is the time to do something because it’s getting worse.”
Martinez agreed and said that while past councils may have “kicked the can down the road” in terms of traffic mitigation, he said the current council will not do so. It was also noted several times that, if during the design phase city and ADOT determine that one of the lanes is not needed, it will be eliminated. Or, if it’s determined neither are of much benefit, the entire project can be scratched.
If that were to happen, the city would be responsible for only the costs of the project to that point.
“We know what’s critical to you,” Mayor Sandy Moriarty said to the audience. “I hope you won’t leave here saying, ‘They didn’t hear us.’ We heard you. If there’s a fatal flaw, we’ll pull the plug. But I don’t think we can know that at this point.”
