It’s constituents versus the supervisor. Not really a David-versus-Goliath scen-ario, however, it is shaping up to be a battle of wills.
On the one hand we have District 1 Yavapai County Supervisor Carol Springer working to widen Williamson Valley Road to two lanes each way plus a center lane (five lanes total). The road currently has one lane for each direction (two lanes total).
Springer and officials with county Public Works say it’s a safety issue, in addition to a logical fix (instead of widening to three lanes now and two more later, spend the money now and be done with all five).
On the other side are residents in the Williamson Valley area who are questioning the plan. One has dubbed the proposal “Springer Highway.” Many residents there fear the road will become a truck route, while others want it to stay the way it was when they moved into the area. The latter belief is one that most everyone anywhere wants (I did when I moved to Williamson Valley), yet it is not realistic.
(In fact, if you want no neighbors, for instance, nowadays you would have to move to the outer regions and buy 40-plus acres. Still, growth will catch you eventually.)
Anyway, two things about this whole thing are bothering me. The first is that Springer does not buy into the Williamson Valley Residents for Responsible Growth’s statistics.
The Daily Courier reported that the group sent out 4,124 surveys to Williamson Valley residents. They received back 1,275 completed surveys, for a return rate of nearly 31 percent. The Williamson Valley Corridor Plan Survey indicated that 80 percent of those responding oppose a five-lane road.
Springer still has questioned the validity of the survey. She adds that some questions were misleading or had the potential to be confusing.
However, statistically it was valid. When sending 4,124 surveys, to achieve 99 percent confidence in the results (with a 3 percent margin of error), one would need to receive back 1,274 surveys; and the group exceeded that.
My other point on this that bothers me is law enforcement.
See, I favor the widening. Call me crazy. Driving the route in the morning is near gridlock during the school year and turning anytime on it causes problems as well (and not just because I drive an F350). Widening would solve both issues.
Regardless, each day certain people pass other drivers hell bent for their destination. I’ve been driving the road for seven-plus years, yet nowhere have I ever seen a working sheriff’s deputy (other than the patrol cruiser that sits empty in the parking lot of the Central Yavapai fire station at Outer Loop Road).
An increased law enforcement presence in Williamson Valley happens to be a promise Sheriff Waugh made while running for office. He was unavailable before press time to comment for this column; check back for his take on the issue.
I say spot speed zone enforcement works well, making drivers question when and where authorities will do it next. So, fine, widen the road. That does not fix the need for safety, such as quelling speeders.
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PARTING SHOT – If Springer does not think a 30 percent return on a survey is enough to be valid, why then is that enough when voters elect politicians? She, too, was unavailable for comment.
