The population ebb & flow seems to have changed over the past 10 years. My guess is that there are more full time residents which makes the winter visitor surge less visible. There are several things that seem to spike traffic in Sun City: visits from family after New Years, short term rentals in Jan-March, spring break and spring baseball training. I'd guess we see a doubling of cars on the road but much of it is from neighboring areas.
Simple rule of thumb is we loose about a third of the population during the summer months. While it seems way busier now, our traffic jams really aren't all that traumatizing. It's just the 15,000 or so thousand people pouring back into town are all out at the same time of day. Late nights (said with a chuckle), anytime after 6 pm are still like a ghost town...unless it's bingo night and things of that nature.
There's no clear data on this one f, but those of us who stay here and pay attention, we have always used those percentages (roughly 30%). That would include those who have other homes and those that go away. And for the record, we do not have a population of 45,000 but during peak winter months we obviously have more people in the community.
Not to mention those who live nearby and 'play' here.....my street has regular golf car(t) traffic from Westbrook Village. SC golf is a far better deal than their community.
It also seems like there should be a massive recall of turn signal equipment because they don't seem to be operational in the whole West Valley area!
We have been here for two weeks and I can't believe how much people speed here,and it's not just the younger or snowbirds speeding.I agree with Emily everyone needs to slow down,what's the hurry.
I agree Wayne. No need to speed through Sun City just to save a minute or two. Life's too short. It is amazing how much longer it takes to go from the south end to the north end of Sun City if you hit all the red traffic lights. Folks should leave for appointments a few minutes earlier just in case they encounter a train at Grand Avenue which can really slow things down.
Last year MCSO placed speed readers on select SC streets. Not sure it did any good. Interestingly they seemed to be about 3 mph off based on my GPS. I can't recall ever seeing a traffic stop on a SC street. Would be interesting to know how many speeding tickets are written in SC excluding the thoroughfares. They do ticket golf car(t)s crossing streets without stopping, especially at Riverview on Del Webb.
I saw a few speed readers this year when I visited. Yes, I was speeding... I blame Los Angeles (for everything).
Those "speed readers" you saw are radar units owned and placed by the Sheriff's Posse of Sun City, not MCSO. They are not purchased or maintained by the Maricopa County, but by donations from the citizens of Sun City. In addition to displaying your speed as you pass them, they also record the speed , time of day and other information. The reports that are generated are then provided to MCSO District 3 in Surprise, so that can determine where to emphasize their speed enforcement efforts.
