It took a week’s delay from the June 3 start date, but Sedona in Motion construction work has finally begun in Uptown. On the first day of construction, crews tore up the island on Jordan Road that splits lanes entering northbound or southbound State Route 89A. By the end of the work day, the island was a memory, and a gaping hole in the asphalt is all that remains.

We sincerely hope that the city of Sedona and its contractors and subcontractors keep up this pace of construction, finish the work on schedule and reopen the road in time for the fall tourist season.

In Ron Eland’s news story “Merchants prep for SIM work” in the Friday, June 7, edition, Sedona Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Jennifer Wesselhoff offered tips for Uptown merchants to stay in the black during the months of construction they must face in the months to come.

The unfortunate fact remains that no matter what business signage the city employs or extra efforts the Chamber of Commerce makes to help Uptown merchants or steps merchants themselves implement to keep business steady, many tourists entering the Uptown construction zone will simply say, “Nah, I’ll keep going and shop somewhere else where traffic and parking isn’t a mess.”

Uptown merchants are understandably scared that they may not financially survive the coming months. Many remember the stories of merchants along State Route 179 who did not endure the Hwy. 179 Improvement Project.

There are obvious differences between Sedona in Motion and the State Route 179 project that should give Uptown merchants some hope that they will fare better during this stretch:

• The Hwy. 179 Improvement Project was a years-long project run by the Arizona Department of Transportation that involved a major overhaul of several miles of roadway rather than relatively small changes to short stretch of city-owned road.

• The SIM construction is mainly on the road itself with only a few business storefronts that will be directly affected while the State Route 179 project involved shifting points of access and driveways that were many businesses’ only points of access.

• State officials weren’t really beholden to small business owners, while city of Sedona officials are our neighbors and much more responsive to local concerns.

• While no government is truly adaptive to problems in the way a small business is, the city of Sedona is far more nimble that the state of Arizona and unforeseen problems in signage or business access can be dealt with far faster than sending complaints to the state and hoping for a fix in the same fiscal quarter.

• Uptown is a large commercial zone with multiple points of access and parking areas for customers unlike the narrow commercial corridor of State Route 179.

• Overall, the national economy is stronger in 2019 than it was from 2006 to 2010 when Americans were in an economic malaise from two overseas wars compounded by the Great Recession that started in late 2008.

That being said, if there are Uptown stores you shop at periodically for souvenirs for friends or gifts for the holidays and you want to see them survive the construction period, it behooves you to make your purchases now rather than waiting.

If there are Uptown restaurants you enjoy, consider dining there a few times more than normal, perhaps during slower times of the week when you won’t be annoyed so much by the traffic.

Remember that the overwhelming majority of Uptown business owners are Sedona residents and our neighbors. Their workers predominately live in Sedona with many commuting in from other parts of the Verde Valley. With the high cost of rent and overhead, many survive on relatively thin profit margins. The road work is beyond their control and they need as much local support as they can get until the construction is complete.

— Christopher Fox Graham

Managing Editor