Residents are excited about completion of 20-year Downtown Links project

DOWNTOWN TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — The downtown links project is finally nearing completion after first being approved in 2006.

KGUN 9 took a trip downtown to see how residents are feeling about the years of construction finally coming to an end.

"I feel like with the bridge, it’ll improve a lot of that transportation factor," said Omar Pauolo, a student at the University of Arizona.

The massive project in downtown Tucson will officially be complete this weekend with the opening of Maclovio Barraza Parkway.

Ernie Guthrie, a manager at Benjamin Supply, said, "it’s been a long time coming, and the planning’s been there for many years."

The parkway connecting Sixth Street and Broadway Boulevard will only be open to pedestrians and cyclists this weekend. Guthrie, who has lived in Tucson for 30 years, believes it will greatly improve traffic.

"It’s going to be a big improvement," he said. "We feel like the traffic flow from the southeast side is going to be extremely impacted to the benefit."

The improvement in traffic was a common theme among people in downtown Tucson. Pauolo described just how bad traffic can get.

"I think it gets bad at times. It makes it really hard during rush hour in the morning and after work, late in the afternoon," Pauolo said. "So I think this bridge will help a lot with just a lot of the traffic being loosened up for people to get around place-to-place a lot easier."

The opening of Maclovio Barraza Parkway completes the third and final phase of the 1.3-mile-long corridor connecting I-10 and Broadway.

The Tucson Department of Transportation and Mobility will be offering free bike repairs and other activities this Sunday from 10 a.m. until 1p.m. A ribbon-cutting ceremony will be held Friday, Feb. 17, before officially opening it to all forms of transportation.