TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — Tucson drivers are waiting for the neighborhood street repairs promised when they passed Proposition 411.
If you’ve ever ridden down a Tucson street you know you’re in for a pretty rough ride. Tucson voters agreed to tax themselves to put more money into fresh pavement, but now some neighborhoods are asking, ‘Where is that pavement and how do I find out where I’ll actually see it?”
To smooth out all those rough, car busting, butt busting streets, Tucson voters approved Prop 411. It extended an existing half cent sales tax for ten years and promised to apply that money to smooth out the streets.
In Midtown’s Garden District, Neighborhood Association President Lois Pawlak says she was expecting to see workers fixing streets in the southeast part of her neighborhood by now.
“The year’s gonna be over. Nobody's talked about paving those roads, and it just makes you wonder, what are they doing? Not saying they're not doing anything, but without communication. You have no idea what they're doing.”
KGUN reporter Craig Smith asked: “And when you ask you get what if anything?”
Lois: “Nothing. Yeah, we just get the same old story. You're on the list. Your road has been graded as really low(condition). And that's about it.”
Some neighborhoods have had some street repair but Tucson Transportation and Mobility says lining up contracts and allowing for things like utility work can affect when road repair begins.
The city depends on websites to show where work is planned but Lois Pawlak says she’s looking for a timeline and not finding one.
Amanda Valenzuela with the city says websites show phase one projects, and what the city calls the initial list—-roughly the first year of projects.
She says an independent committee meets with transportation planners and creates the project list.
Craig Smith asked: “Is the list pretty much locked in or can somebody make a case for moving up a little bit?”
Amanda Valenzuela: “The list is approved. However, members of the community are welcome to attend these commission meetings. They are open to the public. Any member of the community can come and address the commission, talk about their neighborhood, see whether they think it might, need to be pushed up with that list, and then that could potentially be prioritized more.”
Valenzuela says if you don’t want to work through the website you can call Transportation and Mobility to ask about when your streets might be repaired. She says neighborhoods where work is happening soon will get notices a few weeks in advance.
