Ask just about any Sedona resident what their biggest complaint is and most will say the same thing — traffic.

For many of those same residents, the issue goes from tolerable to intolerable during certain hours of peak times of the year. But, a $250,000 Sedona City Council-approved traffic study, which started in April, is looking to shed some light on what can be done to reduce the number of vehicles — both tourists and locals — from clogging the main thoroughfares.

Representatives from Kimley-Horn Consulting, the firm conducting the study, met with the Sedona Planning & Zoning Commission on Aug. 15 to discuss the progress they’ve made so far. Brent Crowther told the commissioners that the entire study will take about a year to complete. To date they have met with nearly 20 stakeholders in the area, have analyzed past traffic studies and have been collecting data on traffic patterns in the area. This fall they plan to host community outreach meetings while keeping the city up to date on the progress.

“We want to paint a picture of what the needs are within the city of Sedona in order to determine what we’re trying to resolve,” Crowther said. “The transportation master plan will result in a list of prioritized strategies and projects, both low-hanging fruit and what can be done in the near term as well as some of the long-term strategies.

“Each recommendation will have cost estimates for both short-term and long-term planning. They will be prioritized based on their effectiveness while considering the cost, the complexity of the project and feasibility.”

Commissioner Avrum Cohen asked how much information from past traffic studies will be incorporated into the current study.

“Part of what the technical advisory committee has been looking at is actually these previous studies,” City Engineer Andy Dickey said. “They’re looking at what would be feasible to incorporate and what wouldn’t. That’s what we’ve been doing and will continue to do as we move forward.”

Chairman Marty Losoff said that coming from a metropolitan area like Chicago, he’s used to far worse traffic conditions than that of Sedona. He said it comes down to tolerance vs. footing the bill for improvements.

“Are we willing to tolerate paying for things?” he asked. “To me, when all is said and done we can talk about land codes and we can talk about all these things but how are we going to pay for it? Are we, as a city, tolerant to do that? Are we willing to pay a city tax, a special district tax or nothing at all?”

The current Sedona Community Plan lists the following as circulation goals:

• Reduce dependency on single-occupancy vehicles.
• Provide for safe and smooth flow of traffic.
• Coordinate land use and transportation planning and systems.
• Make the most efficient use of the circulation system for long-term community benefit.
• Limit the building of new roads and streets and make strategic investments in other modes of travel.
• Create a more walkable and bikeable community.

“Land use is not the silver bullet,” Crowther said. “There is no single strategy that will be a fix all. There needs to be a balanced, multi-disciplinary cross-sectional set of improvements that need to be made.”