The Yavapai County Public Works Department is accepting public feedback on the draft Yavapai County Traffic Study for Regionally Significant Roads through Monday, Jan. 15. The study aimed to create a priority list of roadway improvements that may qualify for grant funding or can be scheduled in the next decade.

The regionally significant roads included in the study on the Prescott side of Yavapai County are Pioneer Parkway, Williamson Valley Road, Iron Springs Road and, in the Verde Valley, Cornville Road from State Route 89A to Solair Drive.

“Over the last decade, Yavapai County has experienced a 14% growth in population and by the year 2050, the county is expected to grow by another 25%,” the study concluded. “As a result of this projected growth, the county’s [RSRs] are likely to experience a considerable increase in traffic volume levels. The county initiated this traffic study to identify improvements needed to mitigate existing and potential future concerns on four RSRs.”

Other projects along Cornville Road covered in the study have been completed, and more are scheduled to begin construction in the coming months. Yavapai County District 2 Supervisor James Gregory explained that rumble strips have been added between Beaver Creek Road in Cornville and the top of the hill.

“We did rumble strips [and] increased the shoulder of the roadway,” Gregory said. “We also added some guardrails in that area. You can see the significant amount of work being done just recently on that, and that project just ended. That was a $4.2 million project, and that’s coming to an end [and] was funded by the feds at 90 to 95%, and [the county] did the 5 to 10% match on that.”

Engineering work for the roundabout at the intersection of Cornville Road and Tissaw Road is also nearing completion. The roundabout is a $5 million project that is anticapted to take 18 months, with half the funds being provided by the federal government and the other half by Yavapai County and the state of Arizona. 

“That is coming soon,” Yavapai County Director of Public Works Dan Cherry said. “We recently executed an intergovernmental agreement with [the Arizona Department of Transportation] because a portion of that funding is coming in through federal sources, through congressionally directed spending. ADOT has to manage that funding and thus will manage the construction phase of that project. We’re between 95% and 100% completed with the plans right now, we’re just kind of waiting for ADOT to get on board with this IGA and make sure that they’re comfortable with the plans and get the package specifications all finalized … I’m hoping construction starts sometime in mid-2024.”

The study also argued that Cornville Road will need to be widened to four lanes from SR 89A to Tissaw Road to accommodate projected growth in the Verde Valley during the next 20 years. Cornville is projected to grow from a population of 3,817 in 2021 to 4,617 in 2042, while Cottonwood is projected to gain another 1,500 people. 

“The county currently does not have any plans to improve this segment of Cornville Road, though it is understood that the additional through lanes will be constructed when the adjacent 89 & Vine project as development occurs,” the study stated.

The 89 & Vine project is a proposed large development on the northeast corner of the intersection of Cornville Road and State Route 89A that is “anticipated to consist of a maximum of 1,700 single-family dwelling units,” the study stated. “Other components of the development include a hotel, office complex, working vineyard, wastewater treatment facility and commercial shopping complex. 89 & Vine will be constructed in five phases with planned full buildout by year 2040.” 

“That project should be a pretty significant project because if you look at what’s happening now, it’s everything from Tissaw [Road] up to 89A, where you see significant congestion,” Gregory said. “Part of [the conversation] will be also to increase [that section of the road] to four lanes … Once the developer starts making plans to build that area up, I think it’s important for them to cover some of those [road] costs.”

Yavapai County is also doing another safety study through the Northern Arizona Council of Governments that is covering the entire Verde Valley and is looking at all the areas where there are fatal injury accidents.

“Then we can look at a game plan for when we’re putting in for grants for regional road projects. That [NACOG study] gives us information where we need to address some of our resources [where] those major accidents and deadly accidents are occurring,” Gregory said. “I’m hoping that it’ll come out here in the next couple of months, if not sooner.”

One hundred and fifty-four crashes were observed in the Cornville Road study corridor between 2016 to 2021. No injuries were documented in 86 crashes, along with possible injuries in 25 crashes, minor injuries in 34 crashes, five serious injuries and four fatalities. 

“[The Yavapai County Sherrifs’ Office] has been doing traffic details in that area and trying to ensure that people were driving in a safe manner and we need to continue those efforts,” Gregory said. 

Gregory added that he is optimistic that the architecture firm Gensler will release its recommendations to Yavapai County in the next couple of months. The county hired the firm in June to evaluate all of its building space needs.

“Hopefully we’ll have a workable project here in the next two to three months with [Gensler’s] recommendations and that’ll give us a good plan of what we’re going to do for the next five to 10 years as far as infrastructure,” Gregory said. “I think there’s a lot of things that we can do that we can not duplicate some services, and that might be with law enforcement, fire … we’ll just have to see. But that’s something good. I know that’s something that hasn’t been done in a long time with the county.”

The draft study is available at yavapaiaz.gov/Resident-Services/Public-Works by selecting “Yavapai County Traffic Study for Regionally Significant Roads.” Comments may be emailed to web.public.works@yavapaiaz.gov with the subject line “Regionally Significant Roads” before Monday, Jan. 15.