Andy Dickey, deputy city manager, gave the Tourism Advisory Board a status update on Sedona in Motion, the city’s transportation master-plan program, and outlined near-term projects that city staff are advancing to ease congestion in Uptown.

Dickey said early SIM projects "made pedestrian crossing efficient, reduce left hand turning through Uptown, create the second southbound lane," and said the work reduced travel times that had previously reached 45 to 60 minutes down to 15 minutes in routine conditions. He defended a zipper-merge approach, saying: "If we can get the utilization of both lanes, now our capacity, doubles."

Dickey described the city’s parking strategy around the new garage. He said staff are preparing a residential permit parking zone covering Smith, Wilson and Banderon streets from Forest Road up to Schnebly, and that the parking guidance technology will include wayfinding, space monitoring and a fee structure to manage demand. He said the garage and related guidance work will support a "park once" strategy anchored to a south and a north hub — the municipal lot at Schnebly and the new garage.

On the Oak Creek undercrossing and the adjacent at-grade crossing at Tlaquepaque (the arts complex cited in the meeting), Dickey said the city and Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT) agreed to test the undercrossing and that staff use a travel-time rule to decide when to close the at-grade crossing. "When we have what we consider a moderate to severe congestion event ... that's when our travel time tells us from Bell Rock Boulevard to the Wye that we're over 18 minutes in travel time. We close it," he said, adding staff work with ADOT and property owners on analysis and timing.

Dickey said the Uptown Circulator study, which would create a loop linking shops, lodging and parking in Uptown, is underway and that staff expect a final report to reach council in January 2026. He also said transit operations facility design is in progress to support a growing fleet.

Why it matters: the SIM strategies combine roadway reconfiguration, multimodal pathways, parking management and transit to reduce through traffic, improve safety and support local businesses.

Board members asked about a proposed pedestrian overcrossing, the potential for renaming routes and the effectiveness of recent lane and roundabout changes. Dickey said the overcrossing concept (SIM 2) remains on the long-range list and is not currently budgeted. He also described the Forest Road connector and other completed SIM elements and said the city is collecting travel-time and usage data to evaluate projects.

Ending: Dickey said staff will continue outreach and analysis with ADOT and property owners and will present further recommendations as design and monitoring data become available.