The Sedona City Council unanimously approved the Intergovernmental Agreement with the Arizona Department of Transportation, during the council’s Feb. 24 meeting, to construct the 0.4 mile Brewer Shared-Use Path.

The pedestrian and bike SUP will connect Ranger Station Park to the Brewer Trailhead along the west side of the Brewer Road.

“Brewer Road is narrow, there is no place to walk on that shoulder, and it drops off to ditches,” Assistant Director of Public Works Sandy Phillips said. “It’s a very highly pedestrian, trafficked corridor that leads up to the Brewer Road Trailhead. So we’re excited to bring this project,” to construction.

The SUP’s current cost is $2,787,286, however the IGA also accepted state funding that is covering $2,628,411 of the construc­tion cost with a city match of $158,875.

Public works “has requested $560,875 in Fiscal Year 2027 to address any remaining project costs, including potential bid overages or additional improvements such as a raised crossing or related amenities,” the council packet reads. “These funds would ensure the city can meet its IGA obligations and proceed with construc­tion as planned.”

Engineering design is anticipated to be completed this spring with construc­tion forecasted to take four to five months, weather dependent starting this fall. The start date also depends when the contractor gets awarded through ADOT’s procurement process.

“There’s no easements required for this,” Phillips said. “The only easements we’re going to need are temporary construction easements to make sure that there’s a good transi­tion from the existing driveways to the shared use path, and this is part of the GO! [Sedona Pathways] Plan.”

While the $2.7 million cost is “pretty expensive for” less than half-a-mile of sidewalk Phillips said, the high price tag comes from the need to build retaining walls in order to stay within the right of way and to not decrease the vehicle lanes.

“That’s the result of the geometric challenges for the project,” Public Works Director Kurt Harris later said. “Since it’s such a narrow road and then such a narrow right away, we’re trying to do everything we can not to take right away and purchase property. So to do that, we couldn’t use slope backs. So we’re going to have retaining walls.”

Residents should anticipate rock hammering during the construction “there will be some noise and some flagging,” Harris said.

Residents can also expect one lane being open during the day when construction starts and both lanes open at night, Phillips said. She added that the Brewer SUP will use the stabilized decomposed granite that makes up the Dry Creek Road SUP, because she has gotten positive resident feedback about the mate­rial for matching the local aesthetic and for being “softer on joints,” of users, but the drawback is the material requires greater maintenance.

“It’s going to provide residents a much safer, grade-separated place to exercise and walk from the Brewer Trailhead to Ranger Station Park, so they can recreate safely with their families without having to take a vehicle or mix with moving traffic on a very narrow, geometrically challenged road,” Harris subsequently said. “It also provides wider access for emergency services, or for residents in the case of evacuation.”