TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — KGUN9’s Operation Safe Roads looks at streets in Southern Arizona -- and how to make them less dangerous.
The City of Tucson is working on improving pedestrian safety in several neighborhoods -- by changing parking laws to cut conflict between parked cars and pedestrians in cases where too many drivers are putting cars where they do not belong.
Tucson’s midtown neighborhoods are designed to be smaller scale and much more walkable but the city’s trying to stop drivers who just can’t resist the temptation to either hop over the curb or go through a curb cut and park, just where you want to walk.
Joan Hall is on the board of the Jefferson Park Historic District. She says, “The neighbors say it's really difficult especially if you're on a walker or wheelchair or you’ve got a baby stroller. When there's lots of traffic to and from the university, it's dangerous to walk in the street."
Jefferson Park is just north of the Banner-University Medical Center Complex. It is one of 14 neighborhoods where the city could outlaw right of way parking.
Parking on the right of way is legal now—-with some important conditions. You can read them in Tucson City Code Section 26-260.
You must not park between a sidewalk and the curb.
If there’s no paved sidewalk you must park in a way that leaves a four foot gap between your vehicle and the curb. Park Tucson Administrator Donovan Durband says that rarely happens.
So now the City of Tucson is considering banning right of way parking whether there’s a four foot margin or not. The proposed rule would apply to the 14 neighborhoods where residents need a parking sticker to park.
Speaking of the parking permits, Durband says, “The residents asked for these restricted zones so they'd have a place to park themselves on the street, because they were seeing overflow traffic from university campus from students and so forth or from people gone to the bars, you know, on Fourth Avenue downtown.”
Durband says because he’s meeting with neighborhood associations in all 14 neighborhoods that could be affected, it will probably be late in the year before the city’s done gathering input and is ready for the Tucson City Council to vote on the idea.
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Craig Smith is a reporter for KGUN 9. With more than 40 years of reporting in cities like Tampa, Houston and Austin, Craig has covered more than 40 Space Shuttle launches and covered historic hurricanes like Katrina, Ivan, Andrew and Hugo. Share your story ideas and important issues with Craig by emailing craig.smith@kgun9.com or by connecting on Facebook and Twitter.
