In the editorial “Not all needed traffic solutions will be popular” published just a month ago in April, we wrote that, of all the potential traffic fixes, the city will likely face the biggest public pushback over a series of proposed connector routes between isolated neighborhoods.

Some residents reading the editorial were shocked, shocked! — to find these short connections might be coming to seven potential sites around Sedona — perhaps as early as tomorrow — with zero public discussion. Alas, not true.

• The Sedona in Motion traffic plan started nearly three years ago when the city budgeted $250,000 to pay for it. We and taxpayers back then complained about cost, but that money was for this plan.
• The discussion about Sedona’s traffic problems occurred through an online survey and numerous public meetings over the last two years. We had stories about meetings and the survey so those interested could attend meetings and tell the city about the problems they saw.
• A litany of proposed solutions were discussed at public forums with maps printed on huge poster boards. Adding to the public sessions, an extensive poll was also placed online for residents to vote on each proposal and weigh in one the viability of each one via a cost-benefit analysis.
• The final Sedona in Motion plan contained 14 suggested traffic solutions and was finalized eight months ago in October. The plan has been posted on the city’s website and has been available to be viewed by anyone.

All of these facts have been extensively covered in our print paper, our website and social media pages, and through a few city mailers sent to residents. This is why it is still mind-blowing when longtime residents allege they knew nothing about it.

In the online comments on our April editorial, one resident alleged a “highway” would result in bulldozing units in her apartment complex. Another feared that her road would be filled with tourists zooming down it at freeway speeds, endangering her children, who would no longer be able to play outside. A third feared for the lives of elderly men and women who walk her neigh­borhood streets and would most certainly be struck and killed by reckless tourists.

• These connectors were chosen because they involved the least amount of disruption to neighbors, cutting across unused or unusable open space between private property, connecting roads at the shortest points to keep costs down.

  No houses will be bulldozed, and the city has no interest in using eminent domain to seize property. The city is looking to buy parcels from willing sellers at fair market value.

  It’s ironic these residents feel construction on these brief residential roads is morally reprehensible and environmentally repugnant, yet the construction of their home that tore up the pristine landscape first is completely acceptable.

• Tourists won’t be the ones using the connectors, residents in those neighborhoods will.

  During the traffic survey process, hundreds of residents told the city they wanted such connectors so they’d have more alternative routes to get on or off State Route 89A or reach businesses without spending too much time on the highway.

  It’s amazing that some residents can claim in the same breath that tourists are too dumb to navigate a round­about or make a U-turn, but savvy enough that they can cut through West Sedona back roads like a hot knife through butter.

• The speed limit though residential neighborhoods is 25 mph, sometimes 15 mph.

  The connectors are not meant to move at the speed of State Route 89A, but rather allow movement between subdivisions. If residents are worried about the speed of vehicles, lobby the city to put speed bumps in the neighborhood.

Of all the Sedona in Motion traffic solutions, the neighborhood connectors, the Forest Road connection to SR 89A west of the Uptown post office and reworking the stretch from the Y intersection to Schnebly Hill Road roundabout will do the most good to keep cars moving.

Despite the tiny number of vocal residents only now objecting to a 3-year-old approved traffic plan, we encourage Sedona City Council and city staff to stay on its intended course. Officials were elected to serve the common good, not the loudest squeaky wheels. Trust that the overwhelming majority of residents have already spoken, and we now expect city leaders to do what they promised.

Christopher Fox Graham

Managing Editor