Tucson City Council takes action on transportation, now it’s your turn
Image source: City of Tucson Bicycle Boulevard Master Plan
Recently, Tucson Mayor Romero and City Council voted to spend an additional $14 million for the repair of residential streets in the coming fiscal year. This is good news as 63% of respondents who participated in the Move Tucson survey said it was “very important” for the City to invest in repaving streets. A major shortcoming of this approach is that it's only focused on the surface of the roadway, leaving out critical improvements that can simultaneously be made such as filling sidewalk gaps, repairing sidewalks, and building curb ramps for accessibility. This is a disappointment that’s been expressed by Tucsonans who've gotten in touch with us recently.
One silver lining, however, is that this presents an opportunity to create much-needed match funding for repaving funded bicycle boulevards. This, too, is an issue we've been hearing from you about for years as current bicycle boulevard funding mechanisms don't include any dollars for repaving, compromising the safety and comfort of those who're traveling on two wheels.
At this point, City Wards and the Mayor will each have $2 million to utilize, but it’s not yet clear if there will be consistent criteria or a vetting process for choosing which residential streets get resurfaced. This is an important local advocacy opportunity and we invite you to contact the Mayor and Council and the City Manager and encourage them to prioritize bicycle boulevard projects funded through Proposition 407 and other sources as they move forward to identify which neighborhood streets will be included in the plan.
On a separate note, the Mayor and Council voted yesterday to extend the suspension of transit fares through the end of this fiscal year, June 30th. We applaud this decision. Continuing to waive fares and maintaining reliable transit service will keep riders and transit workers safe and help ensure that they can travel to work and other essential destinations during the pandemic. Many thanks to those of you who may have taken us up on our call to action to contact your council members. Please make sure to thank our elected officials when you reach out to them about bicycle boulevards!