The Daily Agenda: Dangerous drivers sadden Happy Acres residents

Reckless driving has become a problem in a Marana neighborhood ... But due to jurisdictional issues, there's no quick fix ... Election questions linger.

Marana residents who are unhappy about heavy traffic and dangerous drivers in one of their neighborhoods will have to keep waiting for a long-term solution, with both county and town officials saying their hands are tied.

During a Marana Town Council meeting last month, resident Grace Stambaugh told council members about serious traffic concerns in the ironically-named Happy Acres neighborhood.

Happy Acres is an unincorporated area and while it’s physically located in Marana, it’s not officially a part of the town and falls under the jurisdiction of Pima County. 

Happy Acres backs up to the Saguaro Blooms neighborhood, another incorporated area. Stambaugh said that residents of the Saguaro Blooms neighborhood are using Happy Acres as a shortcut to get to Avra Valley, and speeding through the streets on the way to their final destination.

“We have over 1,342 vehicles accessing Happy Acres roads. If you’ve been in that neighborhood, those roads are not wide enough for two-way traffic,” Stambaugh said. “It’s become dangerous. I have been t-boned almost twice pulling out of my driveway…I have been run off the road multiple times. It’s time for something to change.”

She talked about subdivision and street standards, saying that the 2005 standard is what should have been applied to the Saguaro Blooms neighborhood.

But the Arizona Department of Transportation instead enacted 2016 standards, which says that traffic-calming features should be used to fix the reckless driving problem.

“We’re beyond traffic calming in this neighborhood,” she said. “We don't have sidewalks. We don't have any way to just walk out in our neighborhood, because we have so much traffic running through at speeds that are well excessive of (the posted speed limit of) 25 miles per hour.”

Stambaugh said that data from ADOT showed that 85% of the 1,342 vehicles captured were driving well above 25 miles per hour.

“I have witnessed, multiple times, school buses almost getting rear ended dropping off and picking up kids,” she said. “It’s just a matter of time before there's going to be a major accident in this neighborhood as a result of the number of vehicles and the speeds that these vehicles are going.”

Marana Mayor Ed Honea said he’s aware of the issue but is powerless when it comes to taking action.

“There’s nothing we can do. Marana can't go into a county neighborhood and put in speed bumps or any of that kind of stuff,” he told the Tucson Agenda. “They have to call the county and get anything they need done.”

Honea said that over the years, he’s tried a handful of times to annex the neighborhood and make it part of the town of Marana, which would empower him to send police or make changes to the roads.

“The people said no, so we were unable to get in there. I understand what they're saying that people are cutting through, but…the Town of Marana can't go out and put up signs or anything on Maybrook because it’s not our jurisdiction,” he said.

Pima County Sheriff’s Department spokesman Deputy Adam Schoonover said the department has a team in place to handle traffic concerns in unincorporated areas, but it still isn’t enough.

“That team is so few and far between that we can’t hit every single neighborhood, every single day,” he said. “With all the neighborhoods that are considered unincorporated areas in Pima County, they are spread very thin.”

This Special Enforcement Team deals with everything from red light-runners to speeding in neighborhoods. And on top of their heavy workload, the team itself is quite small, Schoonover said.

“I think there are six of them,” he said. “So if you can think of six people working the entire county, it's very difficult.”

While the sheriff's department is spread thin, Shoonover encouraged Happy Acres residents to take their concerns to the Pima County Board of Supervisors, who do have the power to take action. He also suggested recording videos to help support their claims.

“The squeaky wheel gets the oil,” he said. “Be that squeaky wheel. That way it can be addressed. It takes the neighborhood coming together and doing that.”

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