Two major road projects have been put on hold in the midst of a funding shortfall and dispute between the City of Tucson and the Regional Transportation Authority.
The Tucson City Council voted Oct. 18 to delay the projects Houghton Road from Broadway to Tanque Verde Road and 22nd Street from I-10 to Kino Parkway.
Eleven Tucson projects are embroiled in a funding shortfall of between $130M and $170M faced by the RTA. Voters approved a half-cent sales tax in 2006 for $1.9B of infrastructure projects in Pima County, but the 11 projects in Tucson are not yet fully funded.
The City and RTA have been caught up in an ongoing dispute as to how to fund Tucson’s projects, and the City has been faced with either making up the shortfall, itself, or delaying the projects in hopes of securing funding under the tax’s renewal, known as RTA Next. RTA Next could go on the ballot in 2024.
Now that Tucson has agreed to delay these two projects, the RTA Board is expected to vote to move them to the next RTA. The Board has already moved two other projects – North Silverbell Road from Grant to Ina roads and North First Avenue from Orange Grove to Ina roads – into the next round.
The Tucson vote to delay the two latest projects includes a contingency that the City’s remaining projects be finished with funding the RTA receives through 2026 or until whenever they are completed.
Despite Tucson’s contingencies, RTA officials have said member jurisdictions are not allotted specific amounts of funding or numbers of included projects but that allocations are based on project needs and available funds.
Both projects have potential changes in scope as they go into RTA Next.
The North Haughton Road project has an estimated cost of $55.3M, and the 22nd Street project is estimated at $78.3M. Both projects primarily consist of road widening.
In the event RTA Next fails to pass, RTA will have to seek funding from other sources, such as state or federal monies.
Council’s measure to delay the two current projects includes a demand for a 360 review of RTA Executive Director Farhad Moghimi’s performance based on colleague and constituent feedback. Moghimi has said that requirement is beyond Council’s authority and any review would have to be approved by the RTA Board. (Source)
