Tactic B1.4

Traffic Congestion Mitigation

Promote alternative visitor destinations, routes, and times to moderate areas of greatest congestion – monitor congestion and communicate both real-time conditions and alternative routes.

This tactic is an effort to moderate congestion and vehicular volumes as visitors approach Sedona.

Interstate 17 and SR 179 are the preferred routes for most visitors. This can lead to congested roadways, particularly between the Village of Oak Creek and Sedona and as visitors drive SR 89A from Oak Creek Canyon.

This tactic calls for a coordinated effort between the City of Sedona, ADOT and the SCC&TB to develop systems to monitor flows on these roadways and find new ways to communicate real-time information to drivers. 

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IMPACTED PILLARS 

TIMEFRAME Short-term (12-18 months)

LEAD PARTNER City of Sedona

SUPPORTING PARTNERS ADOT, SCC&TB

ALIGNING RESEARCH Visitor Surveys, Local Input

TARGET / STATUS TO DATE

1. Number of traffic days when wait times exceed standard averages
2. Benchmark traffic volumes
3. Benchmark through visitor surveys

PROGRESS TO DATE

Promote Alternative Visitor Routes and Times / Traffic Congestion Mitigation

Promote alternative visitor destinations, routes, and times to moderate areas of greatest congestion - monitor congestion and communicate both real-time conditions and alternative routes.

FY21 & FY20:  As part of its commitment to inform and educate Sedona visitors, in FY21, the SCC&TB advanced plans for geo targeted messaging that communicates sustainability information and options -  such as parking and transit information as well as sustainable behavior messages such as LNT principles and the Sedona Cares Pledge - to visitors on their phones when they are within a delineated geographic area (Sedona and its environs).

Since passage of the Sustainable Tourism Plan (STP), the SCC&TB’s GetAroundSedona.com has incorporated real time traffic data to communicate traffic congestion. The SCC&TB continues to help inform the public by publishing maps and routes to Sedona online and in their Experience Sedona Guide. 

It is important to note that in December 2018, just four months before the Sedona City Council approved the STP, ADOT began displaying travel times to Sedona on I-17 via dynamic message sign (DMS). The sign indicates the travel times via SR179 and SR 260. ADOT uses this board during high peak travel times and it has become an important tool for alerting drivers to consider alternate routes (85% of visitors arrive to Sedona via SR 179).

The City of Sedona is discussing several options with ADOT for improved I-17 signage, including the possibility of a new sign on northbound I-17 closer to the decision point at the I-17 / SR 260 intersection, as well as the possibility of posting travel data providing on the DMS board for northbound I-17, just south of the SR 179 intersection. City of Sedona officials are also requesting  that ADOT make the messages displayed for southbound I-17 more meaningful to travelers.

Though there is no progress to report yet, the City of Sedona is involved in discussions to add DMS signs in Oak Creek Canyon as part of the roadside pullout evaluation study that Kimley-Horn completed for ADOT.

The City of Sedona installed video cameras in Uptown and near Tlaquepaque to help monitor traffic; IT staff is working on making this information viewable to the public.