TUCSON (KGUN9-TV) - A booming new shopping center is great news for Tucson's south side but trouble for drivers there.
Tucson Marketplace at the Bridges has brought a welcome burst of business near Park and I-10 but the extra cars it attracts has one local man pushing the city of Tucson get drivers some help.
Now that call for help is being answered.
There's a business boom just up the intersection of Park and Benson Highway but the trouble is, that boom is attracting extra traffic and raising some worries about safety and just getting through here.
With more and more stores, restaurants and theaters going up at Tucson Marketplace, there's more reason to go there.
Marco Moreno appreciates the new businesses but so many drivers appreciate it too he almost missed the start of the latest Star Wars movie.
"When ‘Rogue One’ hit I actually sat at this light for five lights."
Day after day, seeing long lines of cars struggling to turn from Benson to Park, and sometimes making risky moves to do it, convinced him to to persuade the City of Tucson to add a green turn arrow there.
"The fact that more restaurants, more establishments that go into that lot we just need this light to get with the times."
He pushed the idea on Facebook, asked Ward 5 Councilmember Richard Fimbres for help, and turned to KGUN9 On Your Side.
To justify a green arrow, city transportation workers need to see a hundred cars try to turn during a peak traffic hour.
But they usually only take those measurements in Fall or Early Spring when visitors make the streets busier. At first, the city said the requests from Moreno and Councilmember Fimbres came too late for the Spring measurements and would wait until Fall.
But now based on Moreno's request, the Councilmember's request and congestion TDOT saw for itself, that survey will not have to wait. If it counts enough cars trying to turn there could be a green arrow here just a few days after that.
