The Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT) worked with the community to design and construct improvements from Back O’ Beyond to the “Y” intersection on SR 179. This road carries millions of tourists each year through one of the most pristine and unique areas of the world. The road is also the only route connecting the business and residential communities of the greater Sedona area. While there have been past improvements to SR 179, continuing traffic build up will continue to exacerbate the capacity and safety issues of the road over the next 20 years.
The central goal of the project was to develop a transportation corridor that addresses safety, mobility and preservation of scenic, aesthetics, historic, environmental and other community values and reach consensus on the planning, design and construction of SR 179.
A collaborative community-based process was conducted between August 2003 and December 2004 to plan corridor improvements. To accomplish this, ADOT used an innovative process called the Needs Based Implementation Plan (NBIP). The NBIP used the existing highway configuration as its initial baseline. This process depended on the community to actively participate and provide input throughout the NBIP process. December 2004 marked the end of the NBIP Process.
