Road Projects and Officials Must Be Sensitive and Sensible
In 2002, Arizona Dept. of Transportation engineers sincerely thought they were being context-sensitive. Their $45-million proposal to four-lane nine miles of State Route 179 in Sedona provided for deer crossings, stained rocks and replanted cacti. Then at a fateful meeting, Sedona residents “ripped into me,” recalls Debra Brisk, former ADOT deputy director and now transportation sector manager with HDR Inc., Omaha. “They were right,” she says. “We were just looking at it as mitigation. But it’s beyond that.”
So ADOT started over. A panel with citizens and federal officials helped choose a consultant team. “We did all that before we even looked at the [building] alternatives,” says Steve O’Brien, corridor manager for lead consultant DMJM+Harris, Los Angeles. The process included simulation models, setting core values and gathering suggestions, not just soliciting comments. The now-$55-million, 14-mile link to Interstate 17 is set to break ground this fall, with raised medians, improved crossings, turning pockets and bifurcated sections. “The extent of the process may not be appropriate for every project, but I’d hope that in some form it becomes a standard for the way we engineers do things,” says O’Brien.