The renewal of the previous 20 year (2006 to 2026) Regional Transportation Plan/RTA is coming up on a March 10 special election ballot in Pima County, for a half cents sales tax increase, called the RTA Next. The RTA original plan widened E. Broadway Blvd., built the Sun Link streetcar (almost 4 miles of track), created new Sun Tran bus routes and is still widening E. Grant Rd.
Just today newly elected Councilwoman in Ward 6, Miranda Schubert, a bicycle commuter, has come out against RTA Next in the Arizona Daily Star, page A13 and online:
https://tucson.com/opinion/column/article_b491c83c-8e26-4b73-9cf9-e25b8e5930a8.html
She says in her guest opinion that this RTA Next plan should be “measured by results not resignation” since it is the apparently the best they could come up with. She also states that” RTA Next devotes its largest share of funding to widening, rebuilding or constructing new roadways”, which will “make our city hotter and dirtier.” She envisons a different, “vibrant” Tucson, more walkable, with more bicycles and frequent public transport.
RTA Next says on their website that It is a proposed $2.67 billion investment plan that will support “reduced congestion, improved mobility, enhanced and expanded transit, environmental protections, bicycle and pedestrian improvements and pavement rehabilitation.”
More on RTA Next from their website: https://rtanext.com/
Ward 3 Councilman Kevin Dahl just held a forum on RTA Next on Jan. 22. Wards 2 and 4 will host one on Feb. 9 at the Ward 2 Council office. Ward 6 held a “Rethinking Transportation” forum on Jan. 7, with info on RTA Next.
If you couldn’t or can’t go to these in-person forums, RTA Next has two virtual sessions coming up on Feb. 3, at 12 noon and 5 pm. https://blogforarizona.net/event/two-virtual-rta-next-q-a-sessions/.
The League of Women Voters of Greater Tucson’s will have a forum online on Feb. 10. See our calendar for more details: https://blogforarizona.net/event/lwvgt-understanding-the-2026-to-2046-regional-transportation-plan-rta-next/
Early ballots go out on Feb. 11. RTA Next will be Propositions 418 and 419 on the ballot. Vote wisely on or before March 10, 2026.
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Thanks for the article. RTA Next is really not so next; it’s forward-into-the-past instead. With its voting weighted against Tucson’s transit, and for desert sprawl promoting transit, I will vote no on these two backward measures. The same absurd rule of Tucson getting 1 of 9 votes amongst the 9 jurisdictions (Green Valley, etc.), it will work against a really good bus system within Tucson.
Thanks Russell for your comments. My neighborhood abuts E. Broadway so we were against the original RTA Plan, but I think the Sun Link Streetcar has been successful, esp. running free now. We’ll see what the voters decide with the RTA Next, but it doesn’t have plans to extend the streetcar.