Foothills neighbors working with Pima County on improvements to Rudasill Road after crashes

CATALINA FOOTHILLS, Ariz. (KGUN) — Training for cycling championships about five times a week means Dean Marvin, 73, has to cycle past speeding cars on Rudasill Road. It’s the road he has to take when he exits his neighborhood in the Foothills.

However, there is no shoulder, which makes him anxious every time he rides his bike.

“I don’t feel safe with a car going five or ten miles an hour faster than me and being within a foot of me,” Marvin said.

The County said they’re adding a shoulder 5 to 10 years after the new development coming near Rudasill Road is built. It will include about 100 houses and 200 apartments. However, the County said adding a shoulder is contingent on funding.

Marvin said to deter drivers from speeding, the County should put speed cameras near the road.

“That would reduce the number of fatalities a great deal,” he said.

Neighbors said the Pima County Sheriff’s Department has enforced the speed recently with a radar.

KGUN9 News reporter Andrew Christiansen put in a Freedom of Information Act request to the Pima County Sheriff’s Department in November. In early January, they got back to him with the number of wrecks and crashes on Rudasill.

The data said there have been more accidents on Rudasill Road since Christiansen aired his first story last June.

Since then, the department said there have been two crashes. They account for two out of the four total crashes in 2023. In total, they said there have been 14 crashes and wrecks since February 2019, saying most of them were because of a left turn.

The County said they did put a temporary speed feedback sign on Rudasill, which told drivers their speed. They said they could put permanent ones after they reevaluate their policies and plans for the entire county.

Michael Coyle is another neighbor who lives on Rudasill and said the temporary speed feedback signs, which are now gone, worked to decrease the number of speeders.

“Speed feedback signs were placed before and after the S curve. They made a big difference. I think that’s clearly the most dangerous part,” Coyle said.

The County said they will be performing a traffic study on the intersection of Rudasill and First to evaluate whether the street needs a traffic signal.

The County said they’re also reinstalling “do not pass” signs but said passing cars on Rudasill is already against the law. They said the double lanes denote that.

“No passing would really remind folks that it’s pretty dangerous to pass another vehicle around here and it hasn’t ended well for a lot of folks,” Coyle said.

He said he’s worried hundreds of people who will be moving into the new development could speed on the road, which could cause more crashes and wrecks.

When asked about his message to the County Coyle said, “You can’t say we didn’t warn you. There’s a problem here and that’s only going to be exponential with more folks.”