WILLIAMS — More than 200 residents packed Williams Elementary-Middle School on Sunday, Jan. 11, to voice safety concerns about Highway 64 to State Sen. Wendy Rogers, Mayor Don Dent and Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT) officials.
Attendees included Coconino County Supervisor Tammy Ontiveros, County Sheriff Bret Axlund and several first responders from the surrounding area.
“I am very happy to be able to host the senator. This forum is the senator’s idea,” Dent said. “It benefits Williams, it benefits northern Arizona. I’m excited that she would even take this on. It’s going to be good for all of us because she is here to listen.”
Highway 64 serves as the main route to the Grand Canyon’s South Rim and is the main access road for residents north of Williams and in Tusayan. The highway has seen multiple serious accidents in recent years, including a critical injury rollover and fatal three-vehicle crash in the past month.
Dent opened the meeting at 2 p.m. and introduced Rogers, who began with a prayer and an update on repair plans. Joining them on stage were Jeremy DeGeyter, North Central district administrator for ADOT and Robert Trotter, fire chief at High Country Fire Rescue.
Rogers explained her role is to stay on top of the process and encouraged residents to speak up. She emphasized that community advocacy helps drive state priorities.
Rogers and DeGeyter then took questions and comments throughout the nearly two-hour forum.
A common message from residents to drivers emerged: slow down.
Multiple residents cited speed as a critical safety factor, particularly along a 4.3-mile stretch from Sunset Strip to Buck Mountain Road where intersections and wildlife crossings create hazards. One resident requested speed limit reductions in high-traffic zones, noting most accidents occur in areas with heavy elk and deer crossings.
After some debate about whether locals or tourists were involved in more accidents, Trotter presented data showing that over a three-year period, 87% of traffic accidents on the highway involved local drivers, with less than 9% attributed to drivers from elsewhere in Arizona and less than 1% to out-of-state visitors with rental vehicles.
Residents who spoke at the forum raised concerns about the need for more turn lanes, wider shoulders, improved turnouts and overall pavement repairs.
As DeGeyter listened to concerns ranging from speed limits and passing lane design to winter de-icing priorities and wildlife warning signs, he explained that ADOT’s decisions are data-driven and must work through established processes.
“Everything that ADOT does is based on data — reported collisions, wildlife crashes and so on,” DeGeyter said.
The meeting focused on a project out for bid to rehabilitate pavement and add turn lanes on the first 21 miles of Highway 64 from Interstate 40 to Pipeline Road. ADOT opened bidding Jan. 9 for work that includes milling existing pavement and replacing it with stone matrix asphalt designed for longer surface life.
The project will add turn lanes at Sunset Strip north and south, Barbara Road, Pronghorn Ranch Road — intersections prioritized based on crash data.
“Those turn lanes were added into the project a little bit later in that development process,” DeGeyter said. “They won’t address every intersection, but we had to prioritize based on the incidents and crashes that have occurred.”
The current project does not address the remaining approximately 33 miles from Pipeline Road to the Grand Canyon South entrance. Rogers has pre-filed an appropriations bill requesting funding to study repairs for that section when the legislative session begins Monday, Jan. 12.
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