Our $2.1 billion regional transportation plan turned 1 year old May 16, and your tax dollars already are at work.

We’re heartened by the rapid progress this early in the 20-year plan.

Five projects have been completed, 49 are in the planning, design or construction phase and 37 more were to be approved this week.

Also commendable is the RTA’s quick response to immediate needs.

Monday in Marana, for example, commuters were waiting to board buses even before the ribbon cutting on a new Park-n-Ride, a critical addition that gives commuters an alternative route during the ongoing three-year Interstate 10 widening.

Our region’s environment also will benefit as the RTA projects unfold.

Wider, safer bicycle paths, improved sidewalks and pedestrian crossways and a streetcar between downtown and the university all will encourage alternatives to those single-occupant vehicles.

New Sun Tran buses will use biodiesel or compressed natural gas.

More and more people already are turning to public transportation because of the I-10 project and rising gasoline prices, Tucson Mayor Bob Walkup said Monday in a meeting with the Tucson Citizen Editorial Board.

That’s important for a city our size. Walkup and other RTA board members predicted that the advent of the “modern streetcar” – a smidgen of light rail to run between downtown and the university – will spur even more use of public transit.

Even former skeptics have come to support the 20-year plan, as evening bus service has been expanded, sidewalks repaired, pedestrian crossings and intersections improved and transit services funded for Pima Council on Aging volunteers.

Over the next year, 24 bus pullouts are expected to be built, decreasing traffic backups behind buses.

And a citizens committee is preparing to tackle the alignment of Grant Road for expansion to six lanes – the biggest project in the plan.

The half-cent excise tax imple- mented July 1 raised $47.6 million through April 30.

The RTA is also continuing to pursue grants, impact fees and other funding mechanisms to amplify improvements to our overworked transportation network.

We’re excited by the progress, especially because Tucson voters rejected four previous plans for transportation improvements.

The RTA’s inclusion of citizen input and citizen members on planning committees has resulted in great transparency and more public buy-in for these projects.

Now the agency needs only to keep up the good work for 19 more years.

Tucson Citizen Editorial Board blog: Check each day for our thoughts on the issues facing Tucson.

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 24th, 2007 at 12:01 am and is filed under Opinion. Tags for this post: Opinion-World, page-b01, World. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.