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Some Benson roads may be bound for county control
Shar Porier/Wick Communications
In the next few weeks, the Cochise County Board of Supervisors will be asked to make a decision on accepting three road segments, at Highway 90 and Interstate 10 into the county system.
The Arizona Department of Transportation is scheduled to tackle that intersection to make it safer for travelers at the Benson interchange, said Patricia Morris with the county highway and floodplain department. The item was to come up for discussion at last week's supervisors meeting, but was pulled at the request of staff members.
When the department begins the construction to realign the intersection, Frontage Road will be eliminated, she added. In its place will be a mile and a quarter of access legs connecting to residential streets. The department wants to hand over these streets to the county for maintenance.
According to chief civil deputy county attorney Britt Hanson, who researched Arizona statutes, the department has the right to abandon the roads to the county. But statutes also state that the county does not have to maintain these abandoned roads. He also found that the department must notify the county of its intentions four years prior to the abandonment.
With the roads being constructed to state standards, they should not need repair for a number of years. However, Morris pointed out that there are significant drainage issues, signs and roadway vegetation that will have to be kept under control.
"Adding roads into our system is not anything we like to encourage right now, in light of our budget constraints, especially roads that we have an obligation to maintain," Morris said. "We can sympathize with ADOT in that these roads will serve as local access and in that regard, a local jurisdiction would be more appropriate as the maintenance agency."
It's also possibile Benson could annex that area if the land is zoned commercial, she said. If that doesn't happen, commercial traffic on the roadways would create the need for significant and costly repairs and maintenance.
There is another option: partnering with businesses to help maintain the roads, she said.
In any event, if the Department of Transportation turns the roads over to the county whether the county agrees to maintain them or not, pressure from residents in the area to keep them up is assured, Morris said.
(Shar Porier is a reporter at the Sierra Vista Herald/Bisbee Daily Review.)
In the next few weeks, the Cochise County Board of Supervisors will be asked to make a decision on accepting three road segments, at Highway 90 and Interstate 10 into the county system.
The Arizona Department of Transportation is scheduled to tackle that intersection to make it safer for travelers at the Benson interchange, said Patricia Morris with the county highway and floodplain department. The item was to come up for discussion at last week's supervisors meeting, but was pulled at the request of staff members.
When the department begins the construction to realign the intersection, Frontage Road will be eliminated, she added. In its place will be a mile and a quarter of access legs connecting to residential streets. The department wants to hand over these streets to the county for maintenance.
According to chief civil deputy county attorney Britt Hanson, who researched Arizona statutes, the department has the right to abandon the roads to the county. But statutes also state that the county does not have to maintain these abandoned roads. He also found that the department must notify the county of its intentions four years prior to the abandonment.
With the roads being constructed to state standards, they should not need repair for a number of years. However, Morris pointed out that there are significant drainage issues, signs and roadway vegetation that will have to be kept under control.
"Adding roads into our system is not anything we like to encourage right now, in light of our budget constraints, especially roads that we have an obligation to maintain," Morris said. "We can sympathize with ADOT in that these roads will serve as local access and in that regard, a local jurisdiction would be more appropriate as the maintenance agency."
It's also possibile Benson could annex that area if the land is zoned commercial, she said. If that doesn't happen, commercial traffic on the roadways would create the need for significant and costly repairs and maintenance.
There is another option: partnering with businesses to help maintain the roads, she said.
In any event, if the Department of Transportation turns the roads over to the county whether the county agrees to maintain them or not, pressure from residents in the area to keep them up is assured, Morris said.
(Shar Porier is a reporter at the Sierra Vista Herald/Bisbee Daily Review.)
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