JW Powell Specific Plan FAQs

Below you will find answers to some of the questions that the public has raised during the process of developing a specific plan and engineering designs for the future JW Powell corridor and associated public facilities. Each response may be updated as new information becomes available and will be date stamped.  

Can truck or heavy equipment traffic can be restricted on this new road alignment? Are there criteria for what roads can get this designation?

This new road alignment is an arterial which by definition, set forth by Engineering Standards and the Regional Plan, is a truck route. The City does prohibit through trucks on local streets and collectors on a request and case by case basis, this would not be one of those places. The land use planning for the area and NAU’s future uses for their parcel will heavily influence the use of this route for trucking. Posted 3/23/2021

How is this new road going to affect my property values and taxes?

When assigning an asking price to a property that is for sale, realtors look for comparable sales in the same area or market.  A comparable property or “comp” is ideal if the conditions and size of the parcel and condition and size of the building and uses are similar. In general, improved road access and access to water and sewer increase both the amount people are willing to pay for a property and the number of people willing to buy a property, because the new owner has less upfront investment to get services to the land. How much these improvements increase the value is dependent on a number of macroeconomic and local market factors.

 Likewise, when a property is assigned a valuation by the Assessor for the purpose of determining property taxes, they look for values of comparable properties sold recently in a similar market or neighborhood. Assessment usually lag behind property sales because they are only updated annually based on recent sales in the neighborhood being assessed. Posted 3/23/2021 

 My land is Residential but it could be zoned Commercial.  How does that affect my property values and taxes?

In Arizona the future land use assigned to a property is not a factor in how the Assessor calculates a property valuation, but a purchaser may consider what they can do with the land with and without a rezoning as part of their offer to purchase.  Therefore, future land use only indirectly affects the valuation of property. Posted 3/23/2021 

Could the new road alignment be two-lane through the present-day residential portion of South Fourth Street and expanded to a four-lane road in the future? 

At this time, there is a good possibility the new JWP roadway would be built as a two-lane road. This means there would be one northbound lane and one southbound lane, separated by a median. If the two-lane option is originally constructed, as the vehicular traffic increases over the years the additional lane in each direction would be constructed.

It should also be mentioned the City will seek to acquire the full Right-of-Way (ROW) cross section before the initial construction. This will ensure, on the front end, that the City has acquired the complete property to build the entire cross section including roadways, FUTS Trail, sidewalks, medians, and parkways, even though it may be years or decades before all of the infrastructure is built out.  

Furthermore, the preference by the City is to build the outermost lanes of vehicular traffic and bicycle and pedestrian improvements first and then build new lanes on the inside toward the median. This helps to ensure future construction is less impactful. Posted 3/23/2021

What would the expected speed limit be on the new road alignment through the present-day housed area on South Fourth Street?

 The City of Flagstaff Engineering Standards specify a design speed of 40 MPH for this new road alignment.   Posted 3/23/2021 

 What is the expected traffic for the new JWP road alignment?

The expected daily traffic counts have been modeled and are based on projected land use that will access the new road alignment in years 2040 and at full buildout, estimated to be 2090. These models include a set of assumptions and other potential future intersections, for example a traffic interchange on I-40 for Lone Tree Road. The estimated traffic volumes depend on the assumptions for land use and future road connections. No scenario in 2040 or 2090 exceeds the planning level threshold that indicates the need for 4-lanes through the current residential area which is 17,000 +/- vehicles per day. Some volumes approach that figure making the purchase of extra right-of-way advisable.

At this early point in the design and planning process, it is premature to estimate what traffic counts may be as there are a myriad of uncertain variables. As soon as planning and design has progressed into more advanced stages assumptions can be set and estimated numbers will be shared at that time.    Posted 3/23/2021