City of Tucson expanding lanes on 22nd Street Bridge

TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN — The cars were whizzing by, the traffic building up, and cars honked as Jesse Lugo walked on the sidewalk next to the 22nd street bridge. Out of the 52 years he’s lived in the nearby Julia Keen Neighborhood, he’s probably driven on it about a thousand times.

“Well the bridge has heavy congestion on it right now,” he described.

However, he’s looking forward to changes the City of Tucson is making to the bridge. The City plans on demolishing it before rebuilding it with three lanes in each direction instead of the current two.

“The heavy congestion now is certainly going to improve once we have three lanes going east and west,” Lugo commented.

The flow of traffic, he noted, is also going to be helped by changes like planned exits and entrances on 22nd that go to Aviation.

“A vital and most important transportation project that the City of Tucson needs in order to move traffic east and west,” he said.

The City said under their new plan, all vehicles will be able to use the bridge because they’re getting rid of a 15-ton weight limit that caused many heavier vehicles to have to take detours.

On each side of the bridge, the City of Tucson’s Department of Transportation and Mobility said there is also going to be eight foot multi-use paths for pedestrians and bikes kind of like the ones they already have but with extra space.

This change comes after the City once considered having the pathway in the middle of the bridge.

Andrew Christopher is the president of the Arroyo Chico Neighborhood Association and he said he wants pedestrians and bicyclists to be safe.

“The primary thing is pedestrian and bike safety. I think those are vastly improved from the previous versions of the plans,” Christopher said.

The City said construction is going to start early next year and is going to take about two-and-a-half to three years to finish. They said the bridge is going to be paid for with $25 million from the federal government and taxes that were approved by Tucson voters in 2006.

The City of Tucson held a public meeting on Wednesday where they informed the public on the updates.

As Lugo sat intently at the meeting. He was glad the City is bridging their plans with Tucsonans, who they allowed to give public input during 12 meetings, and eventually implemented into their current plan.

“This is going to benefit not only current individuals using the bridge, but future generations,” Lugo said.