Dear Editor:
When is The Vail Voice going to hold DVI, and the contractor, and Pima DOT, accountable for the existing, pending, disaster at the joining/merging of Valencia and Old Spanish Trail? When is there going to be a public hearing to explain the botched job at that site … a future mortuary site for those who will lose their lives there, not to mention damaged vehicles and injuries?
I’ve seen too many “complaints” on Nextdoor and other web pages about “close encounters” at that location, as well as reports of accidents, even with the relatively low 25 mph speed limit. I can state that on Dec 10, at approximately 10:30 am, I almost broadsided, aka T-boned, a car turning left, to the east, from the ill-conceived T-intersection where southbound Old Spanish Trail comes to a new T-intersection. I actually had to lock up my brakes, and had I not been at the low speed limit, I might have hit the crossing car. Cars at that T-position cannot see oncoming westbound traffic as they start their turn onto Valencia Road.
It bothered me greatly. I’m an ex-engineer, with considerable knowledge of common-sense physics. That traffic pattern design is totally devoid of common-sense physics and traffic engineering. It is the most ill-conceived, poorly planned, poorly budgeted, probably “low bidder” debacle I have ever seen. Someone needs to be held accountable in advance of accidents happening.
I can provide sketches of what the intersection looks like now, and options on how it should have been designed.
How do we best get the attention of those involved in this engineering nightmare? Do we need a public hearing? Do we need a petition of 20,000 people, even though we don’t have that many people that travel that route frequently?
If something isn’t done, soon, to correct that situation, then Pima DOT, the contractor, and/or DVI can likely be held legally liable.
Michael O’Grady
Dear Editor:
The December 2020 issue featured an article by Robert Samuelson called Calamity with Kestrels! It was a great article and I enjoyed it very much.
However, I wanted to inform Robert and the Vail Voice that the name “Anasazi” to refer to Ancestral Puebloan Native Americans is incorrect.
The name Anasazi was given to these tribes by one of their fiercest enemies, the Apache, and I believe that the name is in fact considered derogatory.
The correct name that is preferred by modern Puebloans to refer to their ancestors is “Ancestral Puebloans”. I am also a writer, editor, and a big fan of Native American culture and history 🙂
Jasmine Hanner
