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 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/
No RTA Next: https://nortanext.com/?_bhlid=e1148688c2263eef777fc8eb025eb99d1c22c250
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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Ex Tucson officials say to vote no too in today’s AZ Daily Star (print edition page A13):
https://tucson.com/opinion/column/article_e7867fac-a699-493b-ab9a-f1a94f3ff4b3.html. I suspect two of these writers are former City Transporation head Jim Glock and planner Albert Elias, both of whom supported the original RTA plan and have come out publicly against RTA Next.
Correction published today in Star: writers of this op-ed were: Jerry Anderson, Gayle Hartmann, Robin Hiller, Molly McKasson, Bonnie Poulos, Bruce Wheeler and David Yetman. Jerry is former Councilman Ward 3, Molly for Ward 6, Bruce for Ward 1; Gayle ran for Ward 6, Robin was Molly’s aide, Bonnie applied for Ward 3, and David is an author/TV host (his name does not appear in Star’s print edition page A10).
More officials against this RTA Next: https://www.tucsonsentinel.com/local/report/012826_rta_campaign_funding/former-tucson-transportation-planners-oppose-rta-next-proposal/ (Jim Glock, former COT transportation head and Albert Elias, former COT planner, brother of the late D5 Pima County Supervisor Richard Elias).
Tucson Agenda just posted about the citizen’s group “No RTA Next/Tucson Deserves Better” against Propositions 418 & 419 on the March 10 ballot: https://nortanext.com/?_bhlid=e1148688c2263eef777fc8eb025eb99d1c22c250
I will be voting NO. I think RTA Next is far too conventional and leans into making Tucson even more car centric and hostile to public transport. Nor have I ever thought the decision mechanism in the intergovernmental agreement was fair to Tucson taxpayers.
Thanks Michael for your input. My husband and I use public transport (Sun Tran and Sun Link) and he’s a bike commuter like Miranda. We don’t think road widening has improved much with the current RTA over the last 20 years. And yes, City of Tucson only got one vote on that RTA board.
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’s road widening, 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.
Funny. When the RTA first passed I was attending a Continuing Education Units class and the instructor made the observation that the RTA passed but find anyone to have voted for it.
RTA passed in MAY 20O6 but remember there were serious allegations that Brian Crane of Pima County Elections Dept. had flipped the results. Even a lawsuit followed but AG Terry Goddard later certified the RTA vote outcome as valid.