How the RTA Plan Preserves the Environment

We all want to live in a safe, beautiful, healthy community. This comprehensive, regional Transportation Plan will help us build that kind of community, now, and for generations to come.

Improved air quality

This Plan will reduce air pollution because it will give us more viable options besides just driving our cars and trucks and it will help reduce traffic congestion and idling times through better traffic flow.

We need to address our air quality problems before they get worse. Currently Tucsonans drive over 22 million miles a day. Approximately 60 percent of Tucson’s air pollution comes from on-road motor vehicles. Vehicles emit most of the substances that are the major cause of the brown cloud that hovers over Tucson.

With increasing congestion and stringent air quality regulations, the region eventually could face non-compliance issues. In 2003, Tucson was rated as the nation’s most challenging “hot spot” for asthma.

Having real options besides only driving will help us reduce air pollution.

This plan will make it easier to take the bus, use the new modern streetcar, or ride our bikes to get where we’re going. This Plan will revolutionize the Sun Tran bus system by expanding routes and hours and give us the Modern Streetcar in the urban core. This Plan will also give us 550 miles of additional bike lanes and paths, 250 miles of sidewalks, and 80 pedestrian crossings.

The plan also includes several strategies for reducing idling times. An idling car emits 12 times the amount of carbon monoxide pollution than one traveling at 30 mph. There will be 200 bus pullouts, 200 intersection improvements, and 10 improved railroad crossings. All of these improvements will help to reduce idling times and thus the toxins that clog our beautiful skies and our lungs.

Improved bicycle lanes

This plan allows for the addition of 550 miles of new bicycle lanes including 38 miles of shared use paths with pedestrians, inline skaters, runners, etc. Bicycle facilities off main arterial roads will provide safe and pleasurable bicycling experiences for both commuters and recreational riders.

Another major feature of the RTA plan is approximately $50 Million set aside for bicycle development and expansion, which is an unprecedented amount set aside for bicycle development in the history of our county.

In 2006, Bicycling Magazine named Tucson the No. 2 city for riding a bike. Implementing the improvements in the Plan could give us what we need to move toward being the best bicycling city in the United States.

Recycling will save taxpayers money

Many of the materials used for roadway projects in the Plan– asphalt, concrete, etc. – will be recycled from past projects. More than 80 percent of asphalt on road resurfacing and widening projects is reused. This saves taxpayers money and reduces demand on landfills.

More natural landscaping

Landscaping included in the Plan’s improvements would include desert vegetation that requires low water usage. Landscaping would be used in medians. Plants that provide shade would be used near bus shelters. Overall, landscaping would reduce the heat-island effect, a problem in urban areas due to heat retention in asphalt.

Protections for the Sonoran Desert

The Plan works with the values of the Sonoran Desert Conservation Plan to help us protect the desert eco-system and decrease sprawl.

The Plan includes $45 million for critical wildlife linkages. The linkages, which would eliminate or reduce barriers to wildlife, would allow wildlife to move safely throughout the region. This will also help to reduce accidents involving cars and animals. This innovative element of the Plan will make our roads less deadly for our native wildlife and for drivers.

The high-capacity modern streetcar will make it easier to get around the urban core of Tucson and make downtown a more attractive place to live. This will help reduce urban sprawl by building up the center of the community. The streetcar system allows the urban core to grow, without having to widen streets. Once the rails are laid, more streetcars can be added to the system to meet demand.

Modern streetcars are also better for the environment than buses because they are electric, don’t wear down roads, hold twice as many people and last about two times longer.

Environmental advocates support this plan, won’t you?

Groups like Families Against Cancer and Toxins, Perimeter Bicycling Association of America, and the Sonoran Institute and other environmental advocates have all officially endorsed this Plan.

This comprehensive Plan will help us take care of the environment and enhance the quality of life for those living in Pima County. Passing the Regional Transportation Plan on May 16 will be an important next step to building the kind of community we all want to live in, now and for generations to come

Add comment April 3rd, 2006

How the RTA Plan Improves Safety

We have a tremendous opportunity on May 16 to address our growing transportation problems and improve our quality of life.

The Regional Transportation Plan will implement $180 million of safety improvements to roads, intersections, sidewalks, railroads, and bus pullouts. These improvements can’t come soon enough.

Arizona roads are some of the most dangerous in the nation according to a 2004 report by the Arizona Society of Engineers. Pima County and Tucson got a D+ on Safety from the Society. Fatality rates on roads in Tucson are worse than for many similar size and even larger cities according to the report.

While transportation infrastructure isn’t the only reason for high fatality rates on Tucson roads, it does play a part.

Safer Intersections

It has been shown that improving intersections and widening roads, which the transportation plan will do, can reduce traffic fatalities and injuries. According to the American Automobile Association, 44 percent of all crashes occur at intersections. Nationally, according to the AAA, low-cost intersection improvements have reduced injuries by 46 percent and crashes by 26 percent over five years.

The RTA plan calls for safety improvements at 200 intersections, which will go along way to addressing the potential for traffic accidents at these high-risk areas.

Safer for Pedestrians

The Plan will also help make it safer for pedestrians. There were 837 pedestrians killed in Arizona from 1999 to 2004. Most victims died on municipal streets of Pima and Maricopa counties—Tucson and Phoenix, according to a December 2005 Arizona Daily Star article.

Police data from early 2005 shows that at least nine pedestrians, including one who died, were struck along little more than a mile of East Grant Road alone. The RTA plan includes significant funding to rebuild Grant to modern safety standards, including the dangerous mile between Country Club and Alvernon. Citywide the Plan will also add 250 miles of sidewalks and 80 new elderly and pedestrian crossing improvements to make walking in Tucson safer.

Safer Routes for Children to Get to School

Another important piece of the Plan is the Safe Routes to School Program. The Plan includes $10 million to fund the Safe Routes Program which will improve many of the direct routes that children use to walk and ride their bikes to school.

Reduced Delays For Ambulances

The Plan will also help emergency vehicles reach accidents faster by reducing congestion and improving intersections. The National Fire Protection Association standard calls for emergency vehicles to respond in four minutes or less 90 percent of the time. In Tucson, ambulances reach this goal only 60 percent of the time and for rural fire districts, the time is even longer. Traffic delays are the number one reason for the delays.

According to the U.S. Fire Administration, for every extra minute it takes to transport someone with a life-threatening condition to the emergency room, his or her chance of survival diminishes by 10 percent.

Congestion is a real problem on Grant Road that leads to the Tucson Medical Center where more people go for 24-hour emergency care than any other place in Southern Arizona. The improvements on Grant Road included in the Plan will help to address the breakdown in traffic flow for ambulances on this critical corridor.

Safer Roads

A big chunk of the RTA Plan will go to improving roads and making them safer. About 58 percent of the plan, or a little more than $1.1 billion, is dedicated to adding more than 200 miles of new lanes to reduce congestion, ease the flow at busy intersections and make it easier for ambulances to reach accidents and emergency rooms.

Studies show that improving roads reduces traffic fatalities. Realigning roadways and removing roadside obstacles can reduce traffic fatalities by 66 percent. Building turn lanes at dangerous intersections can lead to a 47 percent reduction in traffic fatalities and injuries. Constructing medians to separate traffic can lead to a 73 percent improvement, while signs and pavement markings can reduce fatalities and injuries up to 39 percent. Widening a lane by two feet can reduce crashes by 32 percent.

Safer Railroad Crossings and More Bus Pull-Outs

The Plan will also provide for 10 new improved railroad crossings and 200 new bus pull-outs—two areas on our roads that can be dangerous and slow down traffic.

National and state surveys prove that currently Tucson’s roads are dangerous places to drive and walk. We have a chance to change that. The safety improvements in the RTA Plan will be vital to the safety, health, and future of our community.

Add comment April 3rd, 2006