Arizona Department of Transportation’s proposed plan to close U.S. Highway 191 above Morenci has prompted law enforcement officials to lodge objections. Closure of the popular travel route for tourists would also affect the safety of residents according to officials.
Both Apache County Sheriff Joseph Dedman and Greenlee County Sheriff Tim Sumner wrote the Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT) outlining their multiple concerns with the cost cutting proposal and advising that they will not allow a closure to block residents’ access.
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US 191 begins at the Mexico border in Douglas. US 191 has a ten-mile (16 km) layover with US 70 east of Safford. The route links to State Route 366 (SR 366) and SR 266 to the south of Safford. US 191 intersects Interstate 10 (I-10) in Cochise County. The route between Springerville and Morenci was designated a National Scenic Byway and given the name of Coronado Trail Scenic Byway, as this approximates the path taken by Francisco Vásquez de Coronado between 1540 and 1542. |
“As the Sheriff of Greenlee County, I have several concerns that I would like to address and for you to take in consideration reference the proposed closure of US 191 from Morenci to Alpine of 85 miles. The majority of the highway closure directly affects the safety and livelihood of my constituents, the citizens that I’ve been elected to protect and serve. It also affects the many visitors and hunters that would still access the area and that I have a duty through Search and Rescue operations to provide life-saving missions. This would prohibit my Office and my Search and Rescue from access to perform our duties,” wrote Sheriff Sumner.
“There are numerous homeowners and renters living on upper Eagle Creek, Juan Miller Road, Tule Springs Road., Pine Flat Road, Josh Ranch, and very limited dirt road access from other counties to be able to access their homes and ranches along the Blue, Red Hill Road, and FS 24 Road. There are also properties all along these routes that people would not be able to access their private property including Granville properties. A business with the lodge, restaurant, and fuel that would not have any access at Hannagan Meadows would be affected as well,” continued Sumner. “Firefighting operations would be extremely hindered and there would be no access to the Strayhorse firefighting station.”
“Town of Duncan council, Town of Clifton council, Greenlee County Board of Supervisors, and many other organizations with concerns of tourism, economy, growth, pleasure, etc. …. agree to 100% opposition to the proposed highway closure,” noted Sumner. “Another major safety concern is that Clifton and Morenci would be completely locked in when a road closure from accidents or flooding would occur at the San Francisco River bridge at US 191 in Clifton.”
The Sheriff reminded ADOT that the proposal is also contrary to one of its own recommendations that a community or subdivision have more than one point of ingress and egress. He advised that ADOT would be limiting two communities to only having one point of egress and ingress if US 191 was closed in part, and called the situation “very dangerous.”
Sheriff Sumner also a questioned a comment an ADOT official made at the November 9, 2017 Town of Clifton meeting in which a “sensitive species” was discussed. He wrote, “the fact that the Federal Government continues to force the Mexican Gray Wolf into this area regardless of the “voice of the people,” I certainly hope this is not a backdoor approach to close this wilderness have to people and make it the haven some Federal agendas are trying to force.”
Sheriff Sumner concluded “Lastly, as the Sheriff of Greenlee County, in order to provide Law Enforcement service and Search and Rescue operations, we will remove any barricades or stop any work from denying access to our citizens into our Office from performing our duties.”
Sheriff Dedman offered the same warning to ADOT. He wrote, “The Sheriff of Apache County, in order to provide Law Enforcement service, Search and Rescue operations, timely assistance to Greenlee County and to provide for the safety, public health, and welfare of all citizens and visitors, we will remove any barricades or stop any work that would negatively affect Apache County Sheriff’s Office deputies from performing these duties or, deny access to our citizens, property owners or deny access to public lands by the general public.”