Ideas could help mitigate frustrations

Better road work communication on council’s radar

Yuma City Councilmember Mike Shelton recently expressed concerns about the lack of communication to impacted businesses regarding the temporary closure of Arizona Avenue.

During the council meeting, Shelton said he wanted to talk about the “problems the contractor had in making the kind of communications it probably should have made, avoiding confusion.”

He noted it wasn’t a city project, but the project still affected city streets, businesses and local drivers.

Mayor Doug Nicholls noted he was open to discussing traffic control and making sure the public is both safe and informed. It seems there are a few ways this communication could be improved.

The city has the Road Report to share this information, but as we saw on the Arizona Avenue project, the system isn’t perfect. Arizona Avenue, a major artery, wasn’t initially listed on the report when it was first closed.

The Road Report also has limitations. Appearing only once a week, it can’t account for last-minute projects or emergency closures. However, the city could take the concept a step further, and set up an email subscription tailored specifically to deliver only road work bulletins to subscribers’ email. The city’s website currently has options for residents to sign up for email news from City of Yuma Government and the Parks and Recreation Department. Why not add an option for City of Yuma Road Work that includes any road closure coordinated through the city, whether or not it’s a city project?

Or, they could require that any contractor mail or hand-deliver notices to every impacted home and business within a specific distance from the planned roadwork, notifying them of any closures as well as the duration of the roadwork, so the impacted individuals can plan accordingly.

We know first-hand that when a road closure happens, it impacts business. But it impacts residents, too.

In one Yuma Sun staffer’s neighborhood, her street was closed for repairs to a nearby structure. The Sun staffer didn’t know about the closure until the “Road Closed” sign went up … directly in front of her house. The closure itself has yet to appear in the Road Report.

Now, we would assume that a contractor or road crew could not close down a segment of a road without first notifying the city and getting the green light to proceed.

And in that process, there should also be a process in place to let people impacted by said closure know too.

Proactive communication helps people plan accordingly, and mitigates the anger and annoyance that residents and business owners might feel when caught by surprise.

Nicholls has instructed City of Yuma Administrator Greg Wilkinson to add the issue to an upcoming work session.

We’re glad to see the city is taking the issue seriously, and working to improve the public notification process.