Tucson Crosstown Express Soon?? (Marana, Vail: construction, university, live)

[joshuahall904]

Hello everyone,

Has anyone heard of a possibility of Tucson proposing some kind of Crosstown Express. These Stop Lights here are killing me lol Is Tucson not big enough yet to maybe get a Loop that goes around I-10 to the East Side?? I-10 is to far West to help me get to where i need and I feel that who ever spent money on Aviation Highway was going in the right direction but it doesn't really have use. It doesn't really go anywhere. Vail is expanding big time as well as Marana and if they don't build a loop soon, We may never see one.

[swbrotha100]

In a word, NEVER!

Realistically, you might want to search past posts on anything that has to do with freeways and Tucson. It's not gonna happen anytime soon, if ever. AZ 210 (Aviation Hwy) is supposed to eventually connect to I-10 from Broadway as a surface street with traffic lights. The only thing I've heard about anything else in the Tucson area is the possibility of a future I-11 looping around the south and west sides of the Tucson area to connect to I-10 somewhere southeast of Tucson.

[tumamoc]

Nope. But still better traffic than some places with expressways during rush hour.

[Ztonyg]

The traffic signals have decent progression. I used to commute from Ironwood Hill / Silverbell to Speedway / Kolb and as long as I caught the light at Campbell / Speedway when it was green, and I went the speed limit, I was able to get nothing but green lights until Wilmot. I've found Speedway and 22nd tend to be better routes to get crosstown (with Grant and Broadway being somewhat slower).

[azdr0710]

rush hour traffic is rough at some intersections in Tucson, but a cross-town freeway, though proposed by some for decades, will probably never happen....way too expensive (construction and property acquisition) and traffic really isn't that bad

[Prodigal Native]

Originally Posted by Ztonyg

I've found Speedway and 22nd tend to be better routes to get crosstown (with Grant and Broadway being somewhat slower).

Speedway is OK if you are pretty far east, but once you get West of Wilmot I try to avoid it. With all the traffic entering and leaving the various stores and the low speed limit it just annoys me. Speedway is OK around the University, but there is more traffic there at peak times, so it seems to be a wash.

I am a big fan of 22nd; it's wide open, good speed limits and relatively under-used.

As for the OP's question, there are a lot of threads on this topic, but in short I agree with the other people that say no, never. First, the people here will complain about the traffic, but we don't want to do anything to actually fix it. The RTA which was passed several years ago is the biggest roads project I have seen in 20 years here, and while there is some expansion involved most of what it really does is correct a lot of old issues (e.g. "Hey, I know, let's give the buses a place to stop that won't block traffic and cause gridlock because we LOVE to place bus stops 100 yards past major intersections!").

For the most part, the expansion projects are either on the outskirts of town where the land was cheaper or for the few projects that are in the core of the city they will bring the roads to where they should have been when the project started!

Core areas such as 1st Ave aren't going to start for several years while others such as Grant are projected to last up to 19 years!

Houghton is the one road I am familiar with that has the potential to be more "express" like, but there are more and more lights popping up on it and ironically, as the major East-West roads have been expanded up to Houghton this then becomes a perfect path for more urban sprawl which will choke these roads in another 20 years.

Check out RTA:
RTA Mobility > Home


Along with a pretty picture that helps visualize how it will unfold:
http://www.rtamobility.com/images/st...ts-2012-07.pdf

[Home_Kid]

grant rd used to have "express" lanes, that failed.

short of making Sunrise "express" there will be nothing for x-town. poorly planned for growth, now you are seeing the woes. let alone dismal jobs in this town, if you live on the E side but get a job on W or SW side, still sucky because it takes 37 lights and 20 stop-&-go's to get there. better off just moving closer to where the job is, etc.

but hey, you can zip around downtown if you need via that new pricey "modern" streetcar.

[Prodigal Native]

Originally Posted by Home_Kid

grant rd used to have "express" lanes, that failed.

AKA "Suicide Lanes". Yeah, I'm glad those are gone.

[Jukesgrrl]

I've been here eight+ years and I've heard plenty of complaining about the lack of crosstown access, but not a peep about getting it. I wouldn't bet on it happening in my lifetime. Tucson doesn't really want to be anything but a college "town."

[Home_Kid]

Originally Posted by Jukesgrrl

I've been here eight+ years and I've heard plenty of complaining about the lack of crosstown access, but not a peep about getting it. I wouldn't bet on it happening in my lifetime. Tucson doesn't really want to be anything but a college "town."

not even sure if college town, UoA rates keep rising pushing students to go elsewhere. its more of a snow-bird / retirement town.

x-town? that can be N-to-S or E-to-W. nobody in office here ever said to themselves "hmmmm, Maricopa is building the 51, 60, 101, 143, 202....... i wonder if we should do something similar?"

but, we should get a wider Grant and Broadway over the next 10-15 years. 2 lanes wide or 100 lanes wide, if you have lights that stop traffic every 2min it doesnt matter how wide the road is, takes same amount of time to get past 20 lights, dont these folks get that? apparently not.


at this point, land from I10 east is not suitable to build any major roads, but on the west/south side of I10 there is room. building a loop that perhaps loops south from about starr pass, across I19, and back up into the SE side of tucson would imho give opportunity to revitalize the areas the loop cuts through, etc.