TUCSON, Ariz (KGUN) — If you drive on North First Avenue you probably have something to say about it.
The City of Tucson wants to hear from you on the changes you want to see on First Avenue between Grant and River.
The experience you have on the road has a lot to do with your daily life whether you’re driving, walking or riding a bike. Now the City of Tucson is asking people what changes they’d like to see on North First Avenue.”
You can see plenty of traffic, and risky moves by pedestrians on North First Between Grant and River.
Ward 3 Council Member Kevin Dahl says, “It's a deadly Street. There's a four year period of 800 crashes, 12 fatalities. And so it's been scaled back from six lanes. It's going to be its current, four lanes, which is much better for businesses, there will be much less disruption, but there'll be safety improvements.”
Dahl says while the city decided traffic did not justify widening North First Avenue the City and RTA want to base other parts of the design on what they hear from people who use the road.
Anyone from the public can comment, but the city is also looking for 15 people to join a planning task force for North First.
Applicants should either:
-Live near First Avenue
-Own a business or property along First
-Use First for Daily Trips
-Or walk, bike or take buses along First,
You can apply through the website for Tucson’s Department of Transportation and Mobility. Applications close at the end of this month.
We asked some drivers what they’d like to see.
Troy Heffernan would still like to see more lanes.
“Widening is the main thing, during rush hour and particularly things like that it can get really bad and really backed up; which in turn makes people run red lights and do things they shouldn’t be doing which is an overall safety issue.”
Eric Becerra says, “There’s been a lot of pedestrian accidents as of lately that I’ve seen in the news so maybe it wouldn’t hurt to add a crosswalk or two.”
It will be awhile before suggestions turn into concrete results. It will probably take three years for construction to start and another one to two years for work to finish.
