As we enter mid-March, Sedona and the Verde Valley have welcomed the first wave of spring breakers.
Most of the region’s schools were also off this week for spring break, but school districts and universities from different parts of the country go on break on different weeks between now and about mid-April, creating a rolling spring break over the next month. Many of these tourists decide to make the Sedona area their vacation destination for their family or as a group of young adults coming to our region for hiking, mountain biking, wine-tasting or other outdoor activities.
The annual influx is cyclical and predictable, yet it seems like many residents forget about the increase of cars on the road and bodies on the trails.
The Arizona Department of Transportation recently placed real-time signage along Interstate 17 indicating travel times to and through Sedona via various routes heading northbound from Phoenix and southbound from Flagstaff.
Hopefully, this new signage will keep drivers from clogging two-lane State Route 179 and direct them through Cottonwood to State Route 89A. Unless there is a major backup due to an accident or other delay, the narrow, two-lane Oak Creek Canyon is still usually faster than looping all the way around to Camp Verde and back north.
However, the signage may keep some southbound drivers — who only plan to take the scenic drive and pass through Sedona without stopping on their way south to points beyond — from taking the canyon altogether.
Hopefully, this means that those who are on the canyon route are coming to spend money at Sedona’s shops and hotels, at least making the slow drive financially worthwhile for our community instead of just being another car slowing down traffic.
As a traveler who enjoys taking the back roads, I think driving on a scenic detour is great. But driving into scenic gridlock is an agony that can ruin a travel day. Signage maintained in partnership between ADOT and Verde Valley communities will benefit both travelers who visit and those who opt to pass us by.
While thick traffic on our state routes is a huge annoyance and the unavailability of parking spots at trailheads is a major frustration, the vast majority of the people visiting Sedona and the Verde Valley leave behind tens of thousands of dollars in exchange for goods and services we offer.
Those dollars equate to sales tax collection, making sure Sedona and other communities can fund their resident-focused programs without ever having to implement a property tax, which would affect not only property owners but those of us who rent.
Oak Creek Canyon is beautiful — one the places most of us recommend to our friends and family to see. Yet if tourists detour off Interstate 17 en route to the Grand Canyon or Phoenix and have zero intention of stopping to hike, shop or stay the night in Sedona, respectfully, we don’t need them passing through and clogging our roads for 90 minutes as they are passing through our towns.
While the Sedona Chamber of Commerce works to bring tourists to Sedona in the traditionally slow winter and summer, it does not make any effort to bring them to our region from spring break through Memorial Day weekend because it doesn’t need to. Phoenix and Tucson area tourists have come to Sedona since at least the 1950s and given our region the reputation as a highly desired weekend getaway location for other Arizona residents looking to get away from the Sonoran Desert for a few days.
So for the next few weeks, get ready for traffic to be considerably thicker, but predictably so. Leave earlier and expect to arrive later and be safe on the road. We’ll get through this season together.
Christopher Fox Graham
Managing Editor
