Just when you thought it was safe to travel Sedona area roads before the first Sedona in Motion construction project gets underway after Memorial Day, the Arizona Department of Transportation strikes.
ADOT is currently repaving State Route 179 from the Red Rock Ranger District Ranger Station to the Chapel Road roundabout.
We published press releases about the project from ADOT several times in the past month to warn drivers about the delays on the state-owned highway. As a final warning, we published the story again on the front page of the Friday, May 3, edition.
Despite misinformation on social media, this road work is managed by the state, not the city of Sedona nor Yavapai or Coconino counties. The road work is also not part of the Sedona in Motion plan.
The state of Arizona owns State Route 89A, except for the portion in Uptown that the city of Sedona purchased over a decade ago, and the state owns the entirety of State Route 179.
In the meantime, however, traffic between Sedona and the VOC is often at a standstill as drivers wait for pilot cars to escort them past the three-mile segments. Numerous readers have sent us photos of the backup and called us about the delays.
The repaving work on State Route 179 is only expected to last about five days, according to ADOT, so the delays on the road hopefully shouldn’t last long.
That being said, ADOT will also be working on State Route 89A from mile post 370 to 375, i.e., from Upper Red Road Loop Road through Sedona to about Midgley Bridge. Fortunately, most of this stretch is a four-lane road. This is fog seal work, which is also a relatively fast process. Additionally, ADOT crews will avoid the busiest time of day and only be working from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m.
As these projects finish up and the first Sedona in Motion construction project gets underway in Uptown, the traffic delays will merely shift where they are located.
Planning ahead is what allows residents to get ready for what’s coming down the pike. Should a merchant consider expanding a business if they don’t know when a construction delay may cut off business for several months? Should a homeowner consider an expensive landscaping project if the city might building a short connector road adjacent to their property or wait until the road is built?
The city has been aloof as to when exactly when these projects will be taking place. Each of the Sedona in Motion entries on the city’s website includes details of the projects’ histories, but not much about what to expect going forward.
For instance, regarding this first Uptown Roadway Improvements Project on today’s front page, the Sedona in Motion website, simuptown.com, reads “Road construction is scheduled to begin the week of June 3, 2019, with an anticipated completion in spring 2020” — but it’s buried in the eighth paragraph on the home page if you’re looking for it.
For another example, the Slip Lane project page states the project will cost and estimated $2.7 million and that “Assuming design work and right-of-way acquisition proceed as planned, construction is expected to begin in FY 2021,” but fiscal year runs from July 1, 2020, to June 30, 2021, which is an awfully long window if Uptown residents, workers, merchants and business owners are planning for the long term.
We ask the city to include dates, even tentative ones, for all of the projects currently slated, even if those project dates change as time moves forward. Do so in a single location on the city’s website or simuptown.com so residents don’t have to search every project to see if there are new updates.
Perhaps including a hard “target date,” i.e., Feb. 3, 2021, will show resident that the city is aiming for something specific. If an unforeseen delay in October 2020 pushes that target date back, residents can see it on the webpage they regularly check once they’ve learned that the city constantly updates that page every time there is a change.
The inclusion of dates, even ones that shift as time moves forward, as delays push things back or unexpected successes move them forward will show residents that the city is actually making progress on these projects and not simply hoping, “well, we’ll build that thing someday.”
We’ve been waiting for that someday for far too long.
— Christopher Fox Graham
Managing Editor
