Saturday, October 16, 2004

All aboard for road tax?

Piecemeal transportation projects have failed - will a united regional plan succeed?

GARRY DUFFY

Tucson Citizen

We need $11 billion. Now. That's how much it would take to fix Tucson's roads, transportation planners say.

But though commuters like to complain, in 15 years they have defeated four major transportation plans that would have been funded with a sales tax increase.

Why will it be different next spring?

Local leaders hope a new process will forge community consensus for a half-cent sales tax that would raise about $2 billion over a 20-year span.

This time, instead of the city or county proposing a plan, a regional board will draw the lines with input from all local jurisdictions. The Regional Transportation Authority, operating under the umbrella of the Pima Association of Governments received legislative approval this year to draft a comprehensive plan and again ask voters to fund it.

"It will have to cover everything from sidewalks to highways, and everything in-between," RTA Chairman S.L. Schorr said recently.

Neighborhoods, businesses and environmentalists will all have a say.

"We won't have to reinvent the wheel," Schorr said. Many elements of past plans will be retained.

To appeal to the full range of voters, the new blueprint will cover not just roads but also features for walkers, bicyclists and mass transit, including light rail.

"Public involvement is key to the success of the RTA plan," Tucson Mayor Bob Walkup said.

"I think it is the right way to do regional transportation plans because every local government is at the table," Walkup said recently. "That's what the people want to see."

Specific projects, timelines, and cost estimates will be included.

"It will not be a concept plan" PAG Executive Directory Gary G. Hayes said recently. "It will be a very specific plan."

Any "significant" changes to a voter-approved transportation plan would have to go to voters, he said.

Fans of transit helped defeat the city's road-heavy transportation plan in May 2002, and business and development interests returned the favor a year later, rebuffing a rail line down Broadway.

That won't happen again, Hayes vowed.

"We have to get the unanimous support of the community before we go to a vote," he said.

Working without funding or political will, the city is doing what it can to hold the line.

"Working around the fringes - that's not a bad way to characterize what we are able to do now," city Transportation Director Jim Glock said.

Drivers saw an increase in crack-sealing and milling and paving projects over the summer. Those were funded by a one-time $25 million allocation to the department. That was on top of about $45 million that the department budgeted for maintenance and operations, but it wasn't enough, he said.

Bonding for transportation improvements, as Pima County did for $350 million in 1997, is not an option for the city. The City Charter sharply limits property taxes, which are used to pay off bonds.

In addition, the city is falling behind Phoenix in growth, which means it's receiving a smaller proportion of state highway user revenue funds.

There are a few projects due in the near future. Plans call for widening and adding turn lanes at Grant and Craycroft, and building a new Fourth Avenue underpass to relieve congestion at a key entry to the downtown area. The old underpass will become a pedestrian route beneath the Union Pacific railroad tracks.