For Star subscribers: Tucson has agreed to delay two of its RTA projects to help close an anticipated $150 million funding gap the RTA faces in delivering the projects it promised to voters in 2006.
Nicole Ludden Tucson City Council has agreed to delay two of its road improvement projects built into the Regional Transportation Authority’s 20-year transit improvement plan amid a funding shortfall that’s left 11 city projects without clear paths for completion.
The motion, proposed by Councilman Steve Kozachik, comes with the contingency the RTA Board ensures the city’s remaining projects are completed with any regionally allocated funding the RTA receives through 2026, or “as long as necessary to complete those projects.” “One of the things that we have to make sure we find answers for and find a strategy and a path forward are delivering the projects that were promised to voters back in 2006. was a huge step on behalf of our jurisdiction,” said Mayor Regina Romero, who represents the city on the RTA board.
According to the city, North Houghton Road has “no apparent major congestion issues” or “pressing safety challenges.” Tucson’s exploring alternatives to reduce the project’s scope, but changes require further outreach and analysis. The project has a current estimated cost of $55.3 million. Farhad Moghimi, the executive director of the RTA, said delaying the two projects “really helps with the remaining four years to be able to identify that if those revenues don't come in as healthy as we hoped them to come in, then we have this option to move projects to the next plan and let the voters decide.”
East-side projectsThe bulk of the city’s remaining projects are on Tucson's east side, causing frustration for the City Council members representing the city’s eastern wards. But the projects’ locations have also given council members more say in which projects they’re willing to delay. Lee said after talking to constituents, “there was not a single person that thought that we should take that risk.”
Kozachik said he was “reluctant to propose” the motion to delay two city projects over increasing concern about the RTA’s ability to deliver the projects it promised to voters.