The recent restriping project on 68th Street has led to considerable comment and confusion. The city will face similar issues on Thomas Road soon, and other projects may be proposed in the future. So this would be a good time to set forth my views on these types of projects.

I have no agenda of forcing “road diets” onto the people of Scottsdale, and will evaluate each project separately based upon the unique facts of each situation. When the facts, including most importantly safety concerns, indicate a road will benefit from lane conversions, I will carefully consider that project.

Several stretches of road have had “road diets” in the past. These include 96th Street, 124th Street, and Indian School Road. These projects did not cause any problems or concerns. And the city has rejected road diets when they didn’t make sense, such as the southern end of Hayden Road.

First, and foremost, in looking at these issues, I will rely on facts and data.

What are the current conditions on the road in question? How much traffic is on the road? How much traffic can the road handle? Are there safety issues for those who use the road, including cars, pedestrians, and bicycles? What about future development in the area?

Those of us on the city council are rank amateurs in road design and engineering. Even more so, we can’t leave road design up to the 250,000 citizens of Scottsdale. We can and must rely on the city’s professional staff in making these types of decisions. That’s what they are there for.

While the council has the final say on policy decisions, we necessarily rely on the staff to provide information for our decision making.

Second, I rely on public opinion among citizens most affected by the project. Street projects are uniquely local; they have direct impacts upon people who live, work, and play near the project and use the street daily. Those who live near a project are most knowledgeable regarding traffic and safety concerns.

While we listen to everyone and read their emails, the voices of those who live nearest to a project are the most important. They know the local conditions in a way no one else can.

While we listen to the voices of the public, safety is not up for a vote. We don’t vote on speed limits, lane width, or where stoplights or stop signs should be placed. These are issues which must be decided by the experts.

With these principles in mind, here is how I analyzed the 68th Street issue:

68th Street is due for repaving as part of the city’s regular repaving schedule. When it’s time for a repaving, the city also considers whether there are other goals that can be accomplished as part of the repaving. In the case of 68th Street, the city, working with the community, identified several issues.

First, although 68th Street stretches from Tempe to north of Indian School Road, it is two lanes with bike lanes for about 80% of its length. But from Thomas to Indian School, the road is four lanes with no bike lanes. This creates an inconsistent road pattern, as the road shifts from two lanes to four lanes, and vice versa.

This inconsistent pattern creates hazards for motorists, as they shift back and forth with the changing lane patterns. The lack of bike lanes is hazardous for bicyclists, since as they move north from Thomas, their bike lane is squeezed out by cars passing close by. If reducing 68th Street to two lanes were dangerous, as some have claimed, these dangers would have already presented themselves in the long stretch of 68th Street, which is already two lanes.

Second, traffic data shows that 68th Street has more than sufficient capacity for the current traffic. A street such as 68th Street can handle about 25,000 cars a day. The city’s most recent statistics indicate the daily volume on 68th Street between Thomas and Osborn is 9,900 vehicles per day and the volume from Osborn north to Indian School is 13,900 vehicles per day. So the traffic on the road is far below capacity.

Videos prepared by the city, as well as videos prepared by the opponents of the 68th Street project, demonstrate that the traffic on the street is relatively light (except, of course, when cars are stopped at lights). When a road operates at far below capacity, speeding becomes more prevalent. Since 68th Street is largely a residential street, with a few businesses interspersed, speeding is not welcome on this stretch.

Finally, the repaving project presented an opportunity to include various safety features into the roadway, including signal-protected pedestrian walkways, right and left turn lanes to ease traffic flow, room for buses to pull over without impeding traffic, and ADA compliance. These improvements qualify for federal funding, so the project is about 90% funded with federal dollars. Since the project is ready to go and under contract, it won’t face inflation or delays as some other projects have.

The neighbors in the area are strongly supportive of the project. The Southwest Village Neighborhood Association, which represents about 500 residents west of 68th Street, voted in favor of the project and worked with city staff over several years to improve the project. The president of the Association described the problems with the current lane configuration: “in this one mile segment cars are taking advantage of the double lanes. They speed past other vehicles. They dodge around vehicles.” Other neighbors attending the council meeting spoke of the safety features of the new project.

Opponents of the project have voiced several concerns. The most important criticism has been that the city did not conduct sufficient outreach. It is not feasible to reach all of the citizens of Scottsdale, but the city has done a good job of reaching those likely to be affected by the project.

The city sent out nearly 6,000 postcards to residents living near 68th Street. As described above, city staff worked closely with the residents of the Southwest Village Neighborhood Association to improve the project, adding signalized crosswalks. Following the postcards, a community meeting was held in December of last year and the city staff solicited comments on the project, with most in favor.

A petition was filed by 22 residents and businesses stating that they did not receive notice of the project. I have checked and rechecked the city’s mailing records, and all the businesses on this petition (save for a Burger King on Thomas Road) were on the mailing list.

I believe it is likely the postcards were discarded with junk mail. We should possibly explore other ways of notifying residents, but the costs of additional notification must be balanced against the effectiveness of the current methods.

In the end, the residents and businesses which claimed they had not been notified did learn of the project and their concerns were heard and considered by the council. The emails received by council members were, in many cases, solicited by residents who live many miles away from 68th Street.

Some businesses were concerned that their operations would be harmed during the project. Since this project is simply repaving and striping, it does not involve construction or tearing up the roadway. Because the street needs repaving in any event, the restriping will not cause any additional problems for local businesses beyond the repaving. City contractors have pledged that driveways and businesses will remain open during the project.

Some opponents have pointed to “road diets” that did not work well in other communities. The success of any given project will depend on the exact details of the project.

For the reasons stated above, I think 68th Street is a suitable project for a road diet. Studies of road diet projects have found that they significantly improve economic activity, reduce traffic accidents, and improve pedestrian and bicycle safety.

While there are many new apartments planned for Scottsdale, there are no new apartments on the 68th Street corridor, except for a new apartment located at Indian School and 68th Street. It is more likely that traffic from this apartment will depart along Indian School to the Hayden and Scottsdale corridors and then on to the 101.

Other citizens have expressed a view that the council is trying to force people out of their cars in preparation for light rail, or to force people onto bicycles.

This is simply not true. All citizens need cars for transport, and I have no agenda of replacing cars. And light rail is simply not happening in Scottsdale.

I have no agenda other than making the streets as safe as possible. And while bicycling may be more difficult in some parts of the year, Scottsdale is one of the greatest locations in the U.S. for bicycling.

Some residents have expressed concerns about emergency vehicles getting through 68th Street. This project would have no effect on the width of the street; it would simply apply new stripes to the pavement. Emergency vehicles can drive across painted lines. And most Scottsdale citizens live on two lane streets, which have not posed problems for emergency vehicles.

Some have suggested an 11th hour “compromise” in which bike lanes could have been inserted into the four lanes already present on this segment of 68th.

This would have been impossible for several reasons. First, traffic engineers and local residents have been working on this project for several years. The notion that seven council members could have redesigned the road on the fly in the middle of a council meeting, late on a Tuesday night, is not reasonable.

Second, the main purpose of this project was to make this segment of 68th Street consistent with the rest of the street, with two lanes and bike lanes. Keeping four lanes would have undermined this main goal.

Third, squeezing bike lanes into this segment of 68th Street would have required narrowing the car lanes and inserting narrow bike lanes, bringing cars and bikes closer together. That doesn’t sound like a good plan, but instead sounds like a recipe for accidents and close calls.

Finally, any last-minute redesign would not have been eligible for federal funds since it would not have complied with the scope of the project as submitted to the federal government and the Maricopa Association of Governments. This money would have gone somewhere else, and Scottsdale would either lose the necessary repaving and safety features included in the project, such as signalized crosswalks, or pay for these out of its own (our) funds.

Some residents have expressed concern with “strings” attached to federal money. These “strings” are intended to ensure that roads meet federal safety standards and reflect the latest in road design.

Scottsdale depends upon federal dollars to leverage local funds and improve our roads while keeping local taxes low. Turning down federal dollars would require higher local taxes to keep our roads safe and in top condition.

In conclusion, I believe the facts justified the 68th Street project, and I will apply the same analysis to any future project.