Detours around 22nd Street Bridge project could last three years, leaving businesses worried

TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — At So Fresh-n-So Clean Barber Shop on 22nd Street near Tucson Boulevard, barber David Lopez is used to the sound of clippers and shavers. He’s been cutting hair there for about a year and the shop has been there overall for four years.

However, he’s also used to the sound of rushing traffic just feet away from the shop.

“It’s always traffic passing by so that’s always been really good for us,” he said.

However, he’s worried the new 22nd Street Bridge project is going to disrupt that traffic. The City of Tucson says crews will demolish the bridge, then rebuild it. Construction could take up to three years.

“It’s going to help out with traffic and congestion,” Lopez said. “What we’re concerned about is that we’re going to lose a lot of that traffic that is coming back and forth.”

He’s been worried about it since he heard about the project. That’s why he was at a City of Tucson-sponsored meeting about the project a few weeks ago.

Looking at a map of all the detours cars will have to take because of the project, he realized many of the detours go around the barber shop and not directly past it.

For example, if you’re at Alvernon and 22nd and want to get to Park and 22nd, you’re going to have the option of using Broadway to go around. But that means you won’t be driving past the shop.

“They’re probably just going to detour and just go the opposite way, find another barber shop that is more convenient for them,” Lopez said. “A lot of people are going to miss, they’re going to skip us.”

Dylan Michaud, the sales manager at Tucson Hot Tubs, which is in the parking lot next to the barber shop, shares the same fears as Lopez.

He also believes the project is going to take away traffic that goes past the business he works at, which could mean fewer customers.

“We really do rely on a lot of people just seeing our business driving by, just regular walk-ins like that,” Michaud said.

The Main Street Business Assistance Program, which is working with the Regional Transportation Authority, is meeting with businesses and offering free resources like a custom detour map for their websites, plus marketing and social media help. The map would let people know how to get to a specific business, with directions, and could be shared on websites and social media.

Michaud said even though a map could help, it’s the detours that are going to truly impact them. He also says Tucson Hot Tubs is already not getting as strong of a reach on social media as he would like.

“So it’s going to be a struggle actually reaching people to let them know, 'Hey, this road is closed,'” he said. “It’s not easy getting all of our content out to everyone in Tucson.”

The Main Street Business Assistance Program told KGUN it works with businesses within a quarter mile of the upcoming project, but it is also willing to help out businesses slightly outside of that range.

However, as Lopez recently told KGUN as he snipped hair off of a customer, he is hopeful regulars and new customers will be the ones to get him through the three years the project could last.

“Our goal is just to survive until this is over,” Lopez said.

Construction on the 22nd Street Bridge project is expected to begin in early 2025.