With a noise like a giant parachute opening in a slipstream, Sedona shaved away a red rock hillside with explosives at 9:17 a.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 29, in pursuit of the Forest Road Connection Project and anticipated traffic relief.
The city had previously announced that blasting on the Forest Road Connection was scheduled to take place between 8:30 and 10:30 a.m. At 9:05, traffic was still flowing along State Route 89A. Fann Construction crews in reflective vests could be seen on the hillside above the U.S. Post Office from the Brewer Road roundabout. A Sedona Fire District truck and a backhoe waited in the middle of SR 89A. City staff watched from well across the road, looking down at the scene from the heights of Rolling Hills Estates.
Shortly before the explosions, a klaxon fired three times. A staffer from Public Works walked up to the roundabout and conferred with the SPD officer waiting there, then strolled back down the hill. The officer pulled his vehicle forward and halted traffic in the roundabout. The klaxon sounded again, and without any other notice, the side of the mountain liquefied with a low ripple. Dust plumed across SR 89A at the bottom of Cook’s Hill.
Although the city had planned for a 20-minute traffic closure, the dust was still settling when the officer at the roundabout pulled out and the flow of traffic restarted without even having had time to back up to Tlaquepaque. By 9:19, SR 89A was back to normal.
