[kaneui]

Transportation: Tucson's big dilemma

Looks like the latest transportation plan for metro Tucson will be in front of the voters next May. After public input meetings, this version has been trimmed slightly, but still has no new freeways proposed, which is Tucson's style.

If residents reject this plan and tax increase, they will end up with the worst traffic mess in the state. As it is, the city and county don't have enough money to maintain existing roads, and without a new infusion of funds, things will deteriorate even further. How high is Tucsonans' tolerance level for more potholes and bumper-to-bumper gridlock? Maybe higher than we think.

---------------------------------------------------------------

$2B road plan greenlighted
Transit panel's OK is unanimous; supervisors may put it on May ballot

By C.J. Karamargin
ARIZONA DAILY STAR
10-27-2005

A draft $2 billion plan to ease Tucson-area transit woes won unanimous approval Wednesday from the Regional Transportation Authority.

After months of often-heated public meetings, the RTA is proposing 51 projects that should be built over the next 20 years with a new half-cent countywide sales tax. The plan now goes to the Board of Supervisors to be placed on a May ballot.

The projects are aimed at tackling one of the area's most relentless public policy problems through sweeping improvements to roads, road safety and mass transportation.

Projects include $164 million to widen Grant Road, $89 million for a streetcar that would run from the University of Arizona to Downtown, and $38 million to expand weekday bus service.

Rick Myers, chairman of the RTA citizens advisory committee, called the draft "a balanced approach" to addressing the community's highest-priority transit needs.

"It is a start, and more work needs to be done," he said.

The draft plan will now be reviewed by the eight local governments that make up the RTA. Assuming no major objections arise, the RTA will meet on Nov. 30 to ask the Pima County Board of Supervisors to schedule an election.

Voters will get the final say on the plan and the tax in an election tentatively slated for May.

"This is going to take a lot of work to explain to the public," said Katie Dusenberry, a former county supervisor who serves as the advisory committee's vice chairwoman. "We've got a big job to do."

If the past is any guide, Dusenberry is not overstating the concern that voters can be highly skeptical about boosting the sales tax to pay for improved roads and public transit. Four similar efforts have failed decisively over the last two decades.

According to the RTA, the sales tax is expected to generate $65 million in its first year.

The draft plan approved by the RTA on Wednesday represents the third set of revisions to a plan unveiled by the public body with much fanfare in July.

On Monday, an RTA advisory committee cut more than $400 million in projects from the plan in an attempt to balance the budget. The cutbacks included elimination of the biggest proposed project: $200 million to connect the eastern end of Barraza-Aviation Parkway with Interstate 10.

The proposed cuts reduced the estimated cost of the projects by about 20 percent and brought the total cost of the plan to a little more than $2 billion. That's split among $1.2 billion for roads, $545 million for transit, $185 million for safety elements, and $110 million for environmental enhancements.

Before Wednesday's approval, the RTA heard objections from six citizens, among them Ken O'Day, president of the Campbell-Grant Neighborhood Association. He predicted the widening of Grant Road "will have devastating consequences" on hundreds of homes and businesses.

Pete Tescione criticized the plan for failing to be "forward-looking." He called buses a "bridge to the past" and suggested constructing a monorail above the medians of busy streets.

"Start thinking out of the box," he said.