Drivers should consider SR 260/SR 89A between I-17 and Sedona
Sedona AZ (May 14, 2019) – As Arizona Department of Transportation crews continue chip seal work along State Route 179, those traveling between Interstate 17 and Sedona should consider using SR 89A and SR 260 through Cottonwood as an alternate route.
Drivers are currently experiencing hour-long delays traveling through the Village of Oak Creek between Sedona and I-17 as SR 179 is currently narrowed to one lane in 3-mile segments between the Red Rock Ranger Station and Chapel Road.
Flaggers and pilot cars are providing traffic control through the work zone; however, the volume of traffic is creating long delays. Access to businesses, communities and local streets is being maintained throughout the project area for those traveling locally.
Those who aren’t traveling locally can use SR 89A and SR 260 through Cottonwood to save time between I-17 and Sedona.
Work is occurring during daylight hours only. The project is expected to be completed by the end of the week.
Chip sealing helps preserve the quality of the pavement and postpone the need for more involved reconstruction projects.
For more information on this project, visit azdot.gov/projects and click on North Central District.
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14 Comments
ADOT’s plan for highway 179 was a divided 4-lane but the City of Sedona
wanted a slow-slow scenic drive with trucks, etc. when it is a major artery
from VOC to W. Sedona. Large trucks are going 5mph over the roundabouts
and slowing down traffic further. Visitors are using the Yield signs as stop
signs slowing traffic further. Chip Davis has successfully cancelled any plans
to restore the bridge at Red Rock Crossing which should have happened prior
to the slow, scenic 2 lane Highway 179. Traffic will only keep increasing and
hopefully visitors will not return after fighting the Highway 179 traffic.
Helen Brown
Well, there is a quicker way for visitors to reach Sedona from the south – it’s called Rt 260. Cars and trucks alike are permitted to use this route. ADOT actually received an international award for redesigning the route from a bifurcated 4-lane road cutting through the forest to a meandering scenic route. I would suggest a little homework on the massive costs of the proposed bridge at the crossing and consider it would be Yavapai county footing the bill, as the land is not in Sedona. Neither is VOC for that matter. Perhaps when Cornville annexes it all and it becomes a Scottsdale-like thriving metropolis people will able to speed past the vistas to a boutique, or better yet, shopping mall. Me? I enjoy just “Feeling Groovy.”
Sedona is one of the most scenic and wondrous places on earth.
The drive through the monument valley should be slow and people should be able to take in the wonders they see, A 4 lane road would have been an abomination to nature and to Sedona.
Maintenance is a vital too in the upkeep of our roads which far exceed almost any other city for their cleanliness and quality.
ADOT probably could have picked a less busy week like the middle of the summer or in the winter, but then maybe there are reasons they needed a milder weather
I love it people moved to The village because they did not want to live Sedona or could not afford it, But you complain about how long it take to make the trip.
Let’s remember 179 and 89a are state hwy’s first and foremost they handle state traffic. Roads need to be re sacrificed from time to time.
Remember Sedona was a tourist town before most of us arrived and complaining about their past or travel times will not fix anything, traffic will be slow and get slower durning high season, get over it.
The comment Chip Davis has successfully cancelled any plans
to restore the bridge at Red Rock Crossing which should have happened prior
to the slow, scenic 2 lane Highway 179
It will never happen nor should it, the roads on the other side of Oak Creek can not handle any new traffic, and trust me the residents of Red Rock loop road do not want the traffic. Studies show visitors want to take 179 the Scenic road, but you want the county to spend millions and millions and millions of tax dollars they do not have to shorten your drive to west Sedona. City grow, Phoenix is growing Sedona will grow .
I will not moderate because I strongly feel all my words need to be
heard. There are many people who believe like I do.
Yes, Helen Brown you should be heard. And here’s some additions.
I was also apposed to the $80,000,000 two laner( our snails trail ) as did The Red Rock News. They even allowed my critical and professional editorial to occupy their editorial column. But the mayor and cronies on the city council wanted to slow Sedona growth so opposed the 4 lanes.
The tree hugging ninnies in town voted en mass for the resulting roadway. Remember all those trees they dug up and set aside the construction zones in soil boxes to save the trees. Well they all died.
After the voting the ADOT project supervisor plus ADOT’s consulting design engineer project manager told me that the two lanes would definitely slow traffic.
But stupidity prevailed as too often it does.
Much more traffic snarling may well stop growth and of course the traffic loads too. So we may get a partial victory.
The four-lane vs. two-lane SR 179 issue/debate has a lot of history and was debated for many years before it was constructed. The public records should be available for public review at the ADOT offices, and to a lesser extent, Yavapai County and City of Sedona offices, for anyone wanting to learn the history and facts.
ADOT had a huge public engagement and public participation process during the SR 179 planning phase. In the end, a good majority of community members who sent letters and e-mails, and participated in the numerous ADOT meetings and charrettes, desired a two-lane road.
Thank you, John, for bringing forward the facts. A video interviewing three gentlemen, one an ADOT representative, is available which hopefully will be made public in the near future. From the beginning ADOT preferred the bifurcated route from the VOC to Back O’Beyond. It was the route from BOB to the “Y” which was so controversial.
Hopefully the true story from the direct source (ADOT) will set the record straight once and for all.
To Eddie, and all of you that are always looking back not forward.
“So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.”
― F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby
“The secret of health for both mind and body is not to mourn for the past, nor to worry about the future, but to live the present moment wisely and earnestly.”
― Bukkyo Dendo Kyokai, The Teaching of Buddha
Get past 179 it is what it is. Sedona is growing and will grow learn to live with it.
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John Roberts says:
May 17, 2019 at 5:14 pm
Yes, Helen Brown you should be heard. And here’s some additions.
I was also apposed to the $80,000,000 two laner( our snails trail ) as did The Red Rock News. They even allowed my critical and professional editorial to occupy their editorial column. But the mayor and cronies on the city council wanted to slow Sedona growth so opposed the 4 lanes.
John your posts all always” I told you so” you just like to look back and point you finger. Your comment” But stupidity prevailed as too often it does.” is very help full .
179 belongs to ADOT and so the highway design decision was theirs to make.
However they generously invited citizen participation and, through the charette process (a meeting in which all stakeholders in a project attempt to resolve conflicts and map solutions.), an acceptable design was adopted. The people wanted a scenic highway. No sense in putting a high speed 4 lane highway which abruptly ended at the “Y”. The traffic volume warranted traffic control devices at intersections. It was either stop lights or roundabouts. You decide, but you’re going to get one or the other. We voted on roundabouts and that’s what we got.
Those residents who are recent arrivals don’t know the history of Highway 179 and all the citizen input that went into the beautiful award winning highway we now enjoy. Thanks also to the Voice of Choice for facilitating the charettes and to Walter Kulash, a nationally renowned high designer, for his highway design solutions, and for providing insight into what makes a highway both beautiful and functional. Mayor Dick Ellis, Councilman Ernie Strauch and citizen Joel Staddecker were instrumental players in making things happen. Get over complaining about the chip seal treatment. Even a 4 lane highway way needs maintenance from time to time.
Thank you, Steve DeVol, for a concise explanation. Enough said!
Yes, Steve Devol, hwy 179 is owned by ADOT. They made the decision not to contest the Ninnies stupid based vote to hug trees and forget their preferred 4 lanes.. The highway needed reconstruction and couldn’t wait for the dust to settle. You would know that by the comments I repeated from the top two engineers responsible for the project had you been there with me and them. Two lanes would jam traffic badly.
As to the renowned Walter Kulash, for the 26 years I was active in highway designs I never heard of him even though our company owned two large consulting engineering firms in the business and was a major player in that business. From what I saw of his work I was not at all impressed with it. I was also a past registered professional engineer licensed to practice in 3 states including Arizona. But then maybe I just wasn’t alert enough to know of Kulash.
Of course you are correct in stating chip and seal was needed. Every asphalt paving requires it at least every 20 years in the Arizona climate..And probably more often.
I should add that when the public becomes involved in designs like this we instead get the constant traffic snarls results on 179 and that also happens in 89A traffic uptown where the merchants screwed things up with their interference years ago. Do we let brick layers extract diseased teeth ??? Of course not. Same thinking applies to building our roads.
However I too want to thank you for your thoughts. They should help put this to rest.