Cave Creek Council approves hybrid traffic measure

By Jeff Wendt
Mail

The Cave Creek Town Council approved a hybrid traffic measure for Cave Creek Road at the intersections of Rancho Mañana Road and Spur Cross Road on Tuesday night.

The measure, approved on a 4-3 roll call vote, will add a traffic calming lane on Cave Creek at Rancho Mañana, and a full four-way stop at Cave Creek and Spur Cross Road.

The 4-3 vote came after a proposal by Y2K Engineering to suggest using traffic calming lanes at both Rancho Mañana and Spur Cross fell in a 5-2 vote. The proposal now goes from the concept phase to the design phase, where staff will come back with a recommendation and costs for the hybrid option before installation.

The hybrid proposal, which came from council member Joe Freedman and amended by council member Dusty Rhoades, was geared at slowing traffic going westbound on Cave Creek headed towards Rancho Mañana to give those at Rancho Mañana time to turn and properly merge with eastbound Cave Creek traffic.

Freedman wanted to have just a four-way stop sign at Spur Cross, but agreed to Rhoades’ amendment to add the calming lane at Rancho Mañana.

“A four-way stop sign gives people a better chance at getting out at Rancho Mañana and Spur Cross in my opinion,” Freedman said.

“My concern with the stop signs at Spur Cross is we’re not considering all the businesses there,” council member Cynthia Driskell said. “We not only have to worry about people crossing the street there, but we have to worry about the ingress and egress from the businesses there.”

“Stop signs are the most beneficial,” Rhoades said. “People are speeding through the town and they are almost doing 60 on westbound Cave Creek. We need to find a way to slow them down, and I think stop signs are the way to go.”

Melissa Gende from Y2K Engineering presented her findings from a study conducted with five suggestions — do nothing, add stop signs, add traffic calming lanes, create roundabouts or access control/median reconfiguration.

While Mayor Robert Morris was against the hybrid proposal and for the Y2K recommendations, he was quickly chastised by Cave Creek resident Joe Toomis when Morris said that Rancho Mañana was not a safety hazard.

“Your study doesn’t take into account the near-misses that have happened in that road,” Toomis said. “I’ve had at least four that I can count of. Not a safety hazard? You’re completely wrong there.”

Council member Tom Augherton talked about how much Cave Creek Road throughout the town has changed over the years.

“We went from a two-lane to four lanes and then five after the removal of some of the medians in town,” Augherton said. “I beg to the staff to figure out how Cave Creek Road should function.”

Jeff Wendt
Reporter | Phoenix/Cave Creek

jwendt@iniusa.org

Meet Jeff
Jeff Wendt started at Independent Newsmedia in January 2023, after 25 years working for Gannett and The Arizona Republic. Started as a high school sports scoretaker, worked up to reporting high school sports and then became an associate high school sports editor in 2002. Also worked in the Design Studio as a copy editor.

Community: Jeff serves on the Board of Elders at his local church.

Education: Arizona State University with a Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism and Mass Communication

Random fact: Attended Game 2 of the 2001 World Series.

Hobbies: Playing video games (yes still the kid in me), watching reality TV, playing poker.