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Council adopts major streets and routes update, removes two local segments after neighborhood pushback
Summary
Tucson staff presented the first citywide MS&R review since the 1980s and recommended major reductions in future right-of-way requirements. Council adopted the revised MS&R plan but amended it to exclude reclassification of specified Limberlost and Mountain Avenue segments after neighborhood concerns.
Transportation staff presented a full review of the Major Streets and Routes (MS&R) plan and supporting map, an update staff said was needed to reflect current travel patterns and the city’s Move Tucson and Complete Streets priorities.
Planning administrator Patrick Hartley told council the update recommends reducing or eliminating future right-of-way values on a large share of streets to remove barriers to infill development and better align street classifications with existing and projected traffic. Staff said the revision would reduce right-of-way requirements on roughly 43% of streets (measured along centerlines), maintain the MS&R right-of-way on 33%, eliminate requirements on 22% and remove 3% of streets from the plan — representing an overall reduction in right-of-way expectations.
Councilmember questions focused on how traffic volumes, federal functional classifications, traffic controls and spacing were used to decide whether a street should be arterial, collector or local. Staff said traffic counts came from the Pima Association of Governments 48-hour counts, historic values and projections; thresholds used in the policy were shared with council.
Neighbors from the Campus Farms and Tanque Verde areas raised concerns about specific proposed upgrades — notably Limberlost and sections of Mountain Avenue — and asked that those segments remain local. After discussion, Councilmember Bridal offered an amendment removing Limberlost (Stone to Campbell) and Mountain (Roger to Limberlost) from the proposed collector reclassifications; the amendment was accepted and the council adopted Resolution 24,014 updating the MS&R plan, with an explicit statement that adopted changes would not disrupt already-funded programs such as Proposition 411 and existing collector street repaving projects.
What’s next: the updated MS&R map will be used in future development review and planning work; staff said that repaving programs already underway will rely on the classifications in effect at the time they were approved.
