The Arizona Republic

Grand Avenue has long served as a spine of the West Valley, funneling commuters into the Phoenix area and moving freight from the coast and neighboring states.

But the Arizona Department of Transportation is considering a plan to turn over a 23-mile stretch of Grand Avenue, also known as U.S. 60, to the cities. It would no longer be considered a U.S. highway from Phoenix to Surprise.

Some cities along the corridor aren’t taking kindly to the idea, saying such a proposal threatens the avenue’s role as a regional expressway and would leave them with a costly burden of maintaining the road and providing public-safety services.

ADOT has begun a study to examine the possibility of transferring ownership of Grand to the local governments.

Maricopa County and a half-dozen cities, including Phoenix, would be affected.

Tim Tait, a spokesman for ADOT, said the diagonal highway has become more of a main street in recent years as cities have added driveways and stoplights. He said the study will determine the process, costs and potential consequences of moving it from state control to the responsibility of several communities.

“There’s a lot of people that don’t know it’s a U.S. highway,” Tait said. “It allows them to have much more freedom in how they control the road.”

Several city officials familiar with the proposal said it would be a move in the wrong direction.

They noted that Grand Avenue has been listed as a major corridor on long-range regional transportation plans.

Jamsheed Mehta, transportation director for Glendale, said ADOT has started its study without asking a key question:

Will Grand Avenue remain a regional corridor?

He said the road remains a heavily traveled daily route for commuters, not a local street.

Estimates put an average of 42,000 cars a day on Grand Avenue, with some portions bearing more than 50,000 cars a day.

“Traffic of that nature should never be the responsibility of local jurisdictions,” Mehta said.

“I totally believe that it continues to be a commuter facility. That alignment is so perfect for reducing commute times.”

Another pressing concern is the financial impact to cash-strapped cities that would be forced to maintain the road, police it and respond to emergency calls. ADOT has not completed any cost projections.

Bob Beckley, public-works director for Surprise, said the cost would be a “tremendous burden” to the city and its bare-bones road-maintenance budget. He said the city is underfunding pavement maintenance by about $10 million per year.

Cost would also be an issue for Phoenix, but Shane Silsby, the deputy director of street transportation, said there is a potential upside.

If Phoenix managed its portion of the road, city employees could better integrate traffic signals on Grand with those on other streets.

“To progress those signals and synchronize them, it’s better to have them on one system,” Silsby said. “From that standpoint, there is a benefit.”

But that is part of the problem, said Eric Anderson, transportation director for the Maricopa Association of Governments.

“From my perspective, one of the issues that may arise if the (road) is turned over to the different cities is that you could end up with different speed limits and lights that would impede traffic flow,” Anderson said. “Having it under the control of the Arizona Department of Transportation, we have some consistency in that area.”

City transportation officials complained to the association that the cities would have to fund improvements for Grand, some portions of which need a major overhaul.

“What the cities are reluctant to do is take over a state facility and be burdened with the cost if the facility is not in top-flight condition,” Anderson added.

Tait said the study, which should take about a year, will evaluate cities’ concerns. He said the proposal is not a money-saving strategy on the state’s part.

“We don’t want to put a city in a position where a turn back is a burden,” he said, adding that ADOT has transferred parts of highways in other parts of the state, such as Apache Junction and Flagstaff.

But the newest proposal would be the first to deal with so many government jurisdictions:

Phoenix, Glendale, Peoria, Youngtown, El Mirage, Surprise and the county.

The Arizona Transportation Board has ultimate authority over the decision and can vote to abandon any portion of a state route or highway, although Tait said ADOT “prefers to do it collaboratively” with cities.

Mehta said the move would be a step backward from improvements that have been made along Grand in Glendale in recent years, including several overpasses and a repaving of the road west of 75th Avenue. He said allowing cities to add more driveways and stoplights will slow traffic.

Glendale has spent millions buying and closing off driveways along Grand in an attempt to ease congestion.

The federal government has also invested heavily in the Northern Avenue corridor to connect Grand with freeways.

“Why would we lower the standard this road was meant to provide?” Mehta asked. “It’s not a good idea to change the objective of that road midstream.”

It seems to me the supporters for the route transfer would be more productive to their cause if they spent their time addressing “unknowns” of which I gave examples in my article. Their ongoing alternative to avoid those issues has been to continue name calling and bashing those whom they consider their enemies. I personally haven’t witnessed that from the people who object to the city council’s decision to approve the SR89A route transfer. Therefore, in that regard alone, the behavior of Let the People Vote remains far superior which is an indication of solid validity in their cause. And that, of course, is my opinion which makes certain people cringe because they are sick of hearing it!

This council ran as a single issue block and single issue candidates never last! What continues to offend me the most is their refusal to follow their campaign promise to listen and follow the will of the people.

Instead of following the results of their own professional survey they turn to DORR and Sedona Biz on line survey to justify their vote. Thank goodness “Let The People Vote” stood up and helped the residents have a voice after their elected officials ignored them!

Nothing says it better than that sentence about politics in Sedona. I’ll stick to looking at the red rocks.