Support a Rim Country bypass and lose big bucks

Working my way toward Payson, about half way up the hill out of Rye I began to run up on very slow moving traffic. At first, it was stop and go, then began a slow, grinding, first gear crawl, seemingly foot by foot.

Half an hour later I could see the Matazal Casino inching up on my right. A few minutes later, after a patient wait for the light to change, I was able to lurch forward about one hundred feet to fill in the gap resulting from the brief stop.

It was Labor Day weekend, the traditional time when folks from all over the Valley come to Payson to shop. I was looking forward to getting a haircut and visiting the antique shops on Main Street. Also, I had my eye on a couple of items I had previously spotted in Swiss Village. The new mattress store near Safeway would certainly get a visit, especially since I could simply walk over, regardless of the obscene shouts from orbiting cars waiting for my parking spot.

I have heard the proclamations many times, and, looking around, how could anyone dispute them. Payson would die without the huge spending in their local stores on holiday weekends. It’s the little people who count.

Folks who say that Payson is mostly a gas and grocery stop obviously don’t know what they are talking about. Yes, of course, Safeway, Basha’s and Wal-Mart get a huge increase in sales. Circle K and Giant do pretty well, too, but don’t think for a minute that all the cars you see only shop at those stores. No sir, places like the office supply store on the Beeline and the thrift shop are over-run - their cash registers jingling happily with all the influx of Valley money. Clothing stores, and appliance stores get a big chunk of the disposable cash lavishly spent in Payson on holiday weekends, not to mention the music stores. It’s a bonanza for all of Payson’s commerce. The town would absolutely die without it, it’s plain to see.

I’ve heard the other side of the story, make no mistake. I know from experience how difficult it is to get in and out of traffic when I want to visit some of the little shops. I know that south-bound traffic sometimes must wait for six, seven, eight minutes to cross over to the many little stores they are absolutely adamant about getting into on a Friday or Saturday. Some people claim that the increase in revenue in the local stores is more than offset by the loss of local spending due to the traffic, but I know that’s just uninformed, sour-grapes conversation. How could that be?

Just look at all the cars full of anxious shoppers, will you? The idea that all that money passes through Payson without being spent is unthinkable. It simply isn’t possible.

Yes, I’ve heard it too, that ADOT estimates that 95 percent of the flood of cars passing through Payson are merely on their way to another destination and have no intention of stopping. That’s ridiculous, however, and an obvious ploy to get more roundabouts built.

Once in a while, you hear some devious talk of a bypass being built around the town to relieve the increasing traffic jams. Don’t believe it for a minute. All it would serve is the 95 percent of cars which have no intention of stopping in Payson.

The loss of that potential revenue, whether it is realistic to expect or not, is completely unacceptable. Whether those thousands of cars have any intention of stopping or not, the potential is always there. Whether the vast majority of cars which actually stop in Payson do so for gas and groceries and go on their way is debatable.

Debatable, yes, but where are the facts and statistics to use in a debate? I suppose someone could simply stand at the intersection of highways 87 and 260 and observe the steady stream of cars making the turn and continuing on toward Star Valley or continuing on toward Pine.

Hey! By the way, what is Star Valley’s take on this situation? Anyone know? Has Pine or Strawberry weighed in?

Anyway, you would never catch me doing such a thing. Like so many others, I come to Payson to shop and spend some time. Actually, less traffic would benefit me.

You want to see the devastating effects of a bypass around a town? Take a look at Detroit. No one goes there to buy a car anymore.

Travelers almost always have a certain destination in mind when they commit to their journey. The object is to get to that destination in the shortest and most comfortable amount of time possible. Stops for food and gasoline, if necessary, are endured, not eagerly awaited. If necessary, places will be searched out which provide those items. If there is one primary place on a journey which provides them, people will always go there, and then, most likely, continue on.

Anyone choosing to completely bypass an area has no intention or need to go there in the first place. The way they figure it - why must they be forced to endure syrupy traffic, burning up more fuel and creating more carbon dioxide on their way to their destination?

That’s their claim, anyway. Sounds like fuzzy logic, if you ask me. The hordes who head north out of the valley on week-ends have shopping on their minds. I know it, and the great town of Payson knows it. The smart crowd in town believes it would be foolish to support a bypass around the town and risk losing all that good money.

Makes perfect sense.