Tucson is transforming 20 miles of road into bike-friendly streets

TUCSON, Ariz. (13 News) – The City of Tucson is gathering public input before moving forward with the Eastside Bike Boulevard Project.

The project was made possible after Prop 407 passed in 2018. The goal was to make roads east of Pantano Wash safer and more comfortable for cyclists and pedestrians.

However, converting 30km of roads to make them cycle-friendly won’t happen overnight, and the timeline to get started hasn’t been the easiest.

“There’s a collection of different phased projects within this larger eastside bike boulevard package that we’re developing,” said Lee Miller, a project manager with the City of Tucson’s Department of Transportation and Mobility.

“So some of these are in phase 2 where we are slightly behind schedule in implementation and so we are bundling them together to be efficient in delivering these projects.”

Prop 407 is expected to generate more than $225 million over a nine-year course, starting in 2020, when the money was first spent, and ending in 2028. The project is currently in Phase 2, which marks the beginning of its creation of the Eastside Bike network.

Traffic calming measures and push-button crossings are some of the proposed measures to make the 20 miles as cycle-friendly as possible. Ensuring everyone is on the road is considered a priority for Eastside residents.

“Just make sure that we take all road users into account when designing our streets. That includes walkers, cyclists, people in wheelchairs and cyclists,” says Karla Candelaria.

“All of this will really help improve the road network for everyone.”

Another question from attendees is how the network will connect to The Loop – project managers feel the same way.

“That’s one part we want feedback on as well is the location and the crossings to get to the loop, so we’re hoping to get that from people this time,” Miller said.

In addition to access to The Loop, other features, such as traffic crossings, will also be considered to increase safety for people who do not drive.

“Typical bicycle boulevards include things like speed bumps or speed bumps, sometimes traffic calming features called chicanes, curb extensions, which sometimes have trees or other planted features, which help reduce traffic speed.”

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