A lot of people use Tucson’s First Avenue to move north and south. It can be a tough place to drive—and an even tougher and more dangerous place for pedestrians. The City of Tucson has a plan to make First Avenue safer.
Drivers have to be especially alert on First Avenue.
They can’t count on pedestrians staying in marked and protected crosswalks.
We were talking about safety improvements with Patrick Hartley of Tucson Transportation and Mobility when a jaywalker crossed behind us. He ignored the crosswalk and protective lights just a few feet away.
This kind of behavior shows up in the stats.
The city says four people have died in cars on First from 2019 to 2023 but 11 pedestrians died on that street in that time. One cyclist was killed in that time period.
Now the city’s planning on rebuilding First from Grant north to River Road with more signals to stop traffic for walkers plus wider medians so people on foot can have a safe place to pause as they cross.
Dividers will protect cyclists from traffic.
Before that jaywalker interrupted us, Patrick Hartley was saying despite that man’s bad example, additions like pedestrian HAWK lights cut pedestrian crashes about 40 percent.
“Partner that with the raised medians, with the increased street lighting, with the reduced speed limits, all of those things in combination are going to have a significant benefit.”
And he says even if they can’t get perfect compliance they can install features that will still enhance safety.
Ramona Miles was staying inside the crosswalk when we met her at First and Fort Lowell. She has seen plenty while she’s getting around First on foot.
“It can be hectic at times. And like I said, I just saw this morning when somebody was at the crosswalk and somebody hit him with a walker and somebody hit him with their car. And so it really needs to be made safer all the way around, even for the pedestrians, because they get to where they're almost hit sometimes too.”
Patrick Hartley says the changes on First should cost about 135 million dollars. He says the new phase of RTA will cover the cost. Work should start in about a year and a half with completion in 18 to 24 months.
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Craig Smith is a reporter for KGUN 9. With more than 40 years of reporting in cities like Tampa, Houston and Austin, Craig has covered more than 40 Space Shuttle launches and covered historic hurricanes like Katrina, Ivan, Andrew and Hugo. Share your story ideas and important issues with Craig by emailing craig.smith@kgun9.com or by connecting on Facebook and Twitter.
