Holbrook Council Is Urged To Include Transportation Proposal In General Plan

By Tammy Gray-Searles
   “The point of this is, when you leave here tonight you will have a clear understanding and everyone who has something to say will be heard,” Mayor Jeff Hill told a small crowd of citizens at a Holbrook City Council work session on transportation plans that include a bypass of the city. “If you have something to say, now’s the time.”
   Interim City Manager Ray Alley noted that the presentation would summarize what the Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT) is working on for plans for Holbrook.
   “Anything that will happen is obviously way down the road,” Alley said. “If Holbrook hadn’t been bypassed by I-40, could you imagine what it would be like?”
   Jim Townsend of Wilson and Company, the engineers who are conducting the study, made a presentation to the council, outlining the steps taken so far and the next phases of the process. According to Townsend, traffic projections made in the study utilized 2006 baseline numbers. He also explained that the study done for the Holbrook, Winslow and Heber-Overgaard areas is being merged with a similar study that was done for the southern part of Navajo County.
   “A lot of freight moves through the county,” he said. “For Holbrook, I-40, SR 77 and SR 377, providing access into southern Navajo County, linkage between those routes is very important.”
   Townsend also told the council that development plans outlined by Aztec Land and Cattle were taken into consideration when creating the plan.
   Councilman Kent Darris pointed out that the development plans may not be for actual development, but just a way to protect water sources.
   Councilman Wade Carlisle asked whether the engineers also calculated traffic projections without any proposed developments.
   “Did you do any calculations based on past trends for what the trend looks like in the future? In other words, did you calculate minus the dreams?” he asked.
   Townsend noted that the developments were included in all areas where they were aware of development plans. He told the council that the numbers could vary by 20 to 30 percent, and it wouldn’t matter because a growth trend would be a growth trend, it would just trigger a need for additional roads at a different time.
   “It’s not so much the year that’s important to us, and it’s not so much important to the communities, it’s the growth,” he said. “The important thing is that we’re providing a vision for what the transportation needs might be. We’re not triggering, we’re not recommending anything be built before it’s needed.”
   He urged the council to include the transportation recommendations in the city’s general plan so that the process could move forward. He noted that after the study is complete, the next phase is to create conceptual plans with more specific details. According to Townsend, the plans now show bypasses in places where they could logistically be built, but they are still only concept.
   Townsend also explained that the need for alternate routes around Holbrook could be delayed by making some improvements to Navajo Blvd., such as eliminating parking along the street.
   “Right now you have about 12,000 vehicles a day on Navajo Blvd.,” he said. “That’s a significant amount, especially when you have inside lanes that aren’t fully functional.”
   He noted that the use of the inside lanes as turn lanes hindered the capacity of the roadway.
   Following Townsend’s presentation, members of the public were invited to ask questions or make comments.
   Former mayor Claudia Maestas noted that she would like to see the traffic counts, because she does not believe there are actually 12,000 cars per day on Navajo Blvd.
   “I’ve lived here for over 55 years, for 25 years in business on Navajo Blvd., and I’ve watched the traffic go by,” she said. “If you really want to do something to help us, and the only thing going on for us now is the people coming up from Phoenix through 77 and 377, and stopping and eating here, and buying things and supporting our businesses, make 77 four lanes if you want to help us.”
   She also noted, “My business is located on Navajo Blvd., where you say the worst part of the traffic is. There’s no way there are 10,000 to 12,000 cars a day. I wish there were.”
   Business owner PeeWee Maestas told the council that she had the same concerns as Claudia Maestas that a bypass would kill businesses that are already struggling to survive.
   Business owner Jim Gray noted that he has lived in Holbrook for 40 years, and has seen the city lose a lot of industry and gain none.
   “Holbrook is bleeding,” he said. “We cannot afford a bypass unless traffic is to the point you say it will get to, but otherwise you’re going to kill the rest of us. There’s not that many of us left, and it’s not that healthy. We don’t have the luxury of being Payson and Winslow. Everybody knows they’re growing and going to stay growing. Can we say we’re going to grow? Probably not.”
   Business owner Leo Maestas also voiced opposition to the plan, noting that he believes someone with a significant amount of money is pushing a personal agenda through political favors.
   “Holbrook needs an alternate route and crossing for local traffic only,” he said. “The tourists that come into Holbrook, leave them alone.”
   Mayor Hill concluded the meeting by offering his opinion on the plan.
   “I don’t know of anybody on this council in favor of a ‘bypass.’ I am for a plan, but not for building anything until it’s time to be built, but I don’t know when that’s going to be,” he said. “A transportation plan is speculation. My biggest fear is that if we do not incorporate anything into our general plan, at some point 20 to 30 years from now when this could be a real issue, we really could be bypassed.”
   Hill remarked, “They could have roads that bypass us by 60 miles, now that’s a bypass. What I want is a plan that goes in our general plan that we can have some input in. If an alternate route is outside of our city limits and the city can’t generate tax revenue off of that, that’s a serious issue.”
   He went on to tell the council that he felt they should move forward with including the transportation plan in the city’s general plan.
   “We approve a plan. It collects dust on a shelf until those trigger points happen,” he said. “It just sets out possibilities. I heard a lot tonight of failure of past city councils to plan ahead. This is planning ahead. That’s the entire point.”
   No motions were made regarding the plan, and the council did not take any formal action.