Looking for Highway 80 to bypass Tombstone? You’ll be waiting 20 years.

“The bypass wouldn’t be until 2040,” Mayor Steve Schmidt said. “It’ll depend on how much things change.”

Citizens were allowed to express their concerns in two meetings before the Arizona Department of Transportation makes its recommendation for future plans.

City Manager and City Clerk George Barnes said the second public meeting regarding the meeting took place on March 21.

“They pretty much had a replay of the earlier discussions,” Barnes said. “Some people think it’s OK, others don’t like it.”

The bypass could be positive if traffic on Fremont Street increases.

“Really, the only thing that could dramatically change that is the cross border traffic. They’re literally coming down through the historic district with those big loads,” Barnes said. “They are enormous. It’s like space shuttle size stuff. Obviously that’s not very good for the infrastructure and if the traffic increases a lot it’s just not a good through path.”

Opponents of the bypass are afraid of how it will affect businesses in Tombstone.

“However, people believe a lot of the business we get here is just because people are driving through,” Barnes said. “If you have a bypass you might not be driving through. It’s always a two-edge sword.”

Schmidt opposes a bypass based on previous examples.

“Bypasses have never been good ideas, as far as I know,” Schmidt said. “Look at Willcox, even Benson or Sierra Vista. It killed downtown. Everything seems to move out to the bypass. Tombstone does have a little bit of history, but I don’t know if that will do it stop people that are passing through town.”

Now that the public has had a chance to voice opinions, it’s up to the project consultants and the Arizona Department of Transportation to decide the future of Highway 80, Barnes said.

“The thing to bear in mind about all of these things is that if this ever happens it will be more than 20 years from today,” Barnes said. “Who knows what Tombstone will be like in 20 years? It hasn’t changed much in the last 20 years.”