Traffic & Concrete: How Much Is Too Much? (video)
We know that wide streets are dangerous and that more concrete will heat up our city, so why are we laying down more concrete? This is my second "I Got Issues" video.
Tucson has a traffic problem.
There are an enormous number of vehicles on the East/West corridors through Midtown, particularly Speedway, Broadway and Grant — throughout the day. What happened to rush hour? In addition to the volume of drivers, far too many drivers are speeding, tail gaiting, running red lights or just plain being aggressive.
American lifestyles have changed dramatically since the Wall Street crash, the related housing crash, the COVID pandemic, the corporate penchant for mass layoffs and the rise of the gig economy.
Many people are scrambling between multiple low-wage, gig economy jobs and perhaps also going to school or doing school pick-ups and drop-offs with their children. Far too often, these people don’t even know now many hours they will work next week. They live with financial and housing insecurity. These stressed out, hurried people are driving a lot more than their parents did. That was back when there were more fulltime jobs, kids attended neighborhood public schools or rode the public school bus, and charter schools and private school vouchers didn’t exist.
Two other parts of our “new normal” lifestyle that contribute to traffic and pollution are delivery and drive-throughs. I live on a street that doesn’t go anywhere, but still … big delivery trucks and meal delivery drivers go by throughout the day1.
Speedway Blvd. in Midtown has a string of dinky corporate coffee2 or fast food drive-throughs, with massive concrete traffic-control infrastructures and no shade (for the concrete or the workers). Drive-throughs are like the single-use plastic of corporate architecture. These are bad for the environment and add to traffic congestion. Also … how much coffee are we drinking in this town? Chain coffee drive-throughs are everywhere! Perhaps this is also part of the traffic issue.
These layers of “new normal” stress contribute dangerous behavior and more traffic, in my opinion.
A recent Tucson Agenda article pointed out that our poor driving habits make Tucson a very dangerous place for pedestrians and cyclists.
Fast traffic + freeway-width roads + giant vehicles + reckless driving … so, yeah, it’s dangerous out there.
If Tucson is set on making so many roads six lanes wide + wide bike lanes, we need pedestrian bridges, “green” concrete and shade. I’m serious.
When I lived in the Pie Allen Neighborhood, we lobbied for pedestrian/cycling bridges when Broadway was widened and Aviation Parkway was connected. Besides the snake bridge over Broadway, there are a couple of other bridges south of it. They’re wonderful!
In my video, I talk about the Tucson Agenda article, road widening, infrastructure and accessibility.
Video Transcript
Another one of my issues is infrastructure.
There was an article recently in the Tucson Agenda about the how dangerous Tucson streets are.
And if you drive or walk or ride a bike around here, you've probably noticed it's really difficult. There are so many drivers that are driving too fast. They're tailgating. They're turning left in front of everybody. There's a lot of road rage.
I think it's really dangerous for the people who are walking and on bicycles.
And so in the Tucson Agenda, they had a map that was created by the Living Streets Alliance, and it showed traffic fatalities in different locations either related to cars, bicycles or pedestrians. [All of the fatal accidents on the map included at least one car.]
And so one of the things they talked about in that article was how dangerous wide streets are and fast streets.
And I'll add to that equation, giant vehicles.
And so these things make our streets all more dangerous for pedestrians and cyclists.
And so one of the things that they talked about in there was maybe strategies the city could use to slow traffic down or to minimize it. And so they wouldn't be quite so dangerous for pedestrians and cyclists.
And so I would like to throw on the table the idea of the Grant Road widening.
Right now, Midtown Tucson is just a wasteland, not only with the short term rentals, but also with the Grant Road widening, which has just been flat for months now with nothing happening.
You know, that's slated to be wider. That's slated to have the Michigan louies.
That area is slated to have a whole lot more concrete than the city should be putting down, you know, in 2024.
Yes, this [RTA project] was passed like a very long time ago.
But I don't think that it suits our current lifestyle [or climate].
And if you look at the idea of these wide streets are dangerous and more concrete is going to, you know, increase our heat island, maybe we can rethink Grant Road.
You know, the other thing I'm concerned about with the Grant Road widening is what sort of businesses are going to be along this giant stretch of concrete going through Midtown and crossing the top of Ward 6? Is it going to look like what's going in on Speedway in Midtown, which I think is atrocious?
And so what we ... what we have there are ... I don't know how many Starbucks ... but Starbucks, Dutch brothers, our beloved local Coffee Times, Dunkin, Canes, you name it.
There's all these little ... basically ... drive thru restaurants along Speedway.
So when we widen Grant Road, is it going to look like Speedway in Midtown? Because there again, we have way too much concrete at those drive thrus.
Some people, you know, they're waiting in line for a very long time, or sometimes it's a delivery driver waiting in line for a person to have their coffee delivered.
You know, think about the environmental impact of not just all the driving and the concrete and the waiting in line, but the fact that there's no shade at these places. And so it's a big environmental impact.
The other thing that you can think about is ... you know ... we have crazy traffic right on Speedway with each one of those little, little drive thrus.
You know, it's not like a strip mall or a regular mall. You're not going to ten stores.
You're going in and out of all those little ins and outs on Speedway. That [type of infrastructure] creates more traffic. That creates more potential for accidents. And so we need to think about infrastructure. Yes.
You know, I'm glad that the the Tucson Agenda published that article.
I'm also glad to see that map by the Living Streets Alliance.
But I'd like to make a pitch for, you know, kind of acting on what's going on in Midtown right now.
Another part of infrastructure that's also discussed quite a bit is accessibility. And I would like to make a pitch for better sidewalks, better lighting. We have a lot of senior citizens in Tucson.
People who are living here and people who are winter guests. And so now, you know, there's a lot of poor lighting.
I've known a few friends who've had very bad falls in dark areas. One of my friends fell in a parking garage in Tucson, and they've had serious injuries, you know, to themselves.
And so we need a little better lighting so people can get around without stumbling over curbs or or, you know, stepping in a hole in a parking lot because the parking lot has not been kept up.
And so, you know, let's think about bike paths. Yes, I'm all in on bike paths.
But let's also think about, you know, wheelchair ramps and sidewalks and some safety lighting when we also think about infrastructure [and accessibility].
Just ask my dog how often this happens. She keeps track. Yes, I order some things online but I shop local first.
I heart Coffee Times.
Yes, use some of the street width for all those things AND a lot of trees too. Mayor Romero should be willing to help with those.