Despite increasing opposition from neighbors, Pima County Supervisor Sharon Bronson said moving forward with the creation of a divided urban path on the south bank of the Rillito River is the right decision.
“I think we have moved beyond whether or not we should do this and at this point need to talk about how we mitigate this for walkers to make sure they have a safe and good experience,” Bronson said.
Bronson, who sometimes rides the river path, said having people use the Campbell bridge to cross to the other side of the river park is a safety issue. Opening up the south side between Campbell and Mountain Avenues to all users will eliminate some of the danger.
According to Bronson, the plan for the river park dates back to 1982 and has been consistently approved by the voters.
With more than one million people living in the Tucson region, Bronson said we have to provide alternate ways for people to get around.
“I think it is incumbent upon us as policy makers to encourage alternate modes and multiple use,” Bronson said.”We have to accommodate all users in a way that is safe and responsible.”
She did say though, that cyclists need to respect all the other people using the path.
“I am not sure everybody is doing that,” Bronson said.
Residents who oppose the path are encouraging people to write the county and Bronson’s office in an effort to kill the project.
Check out the rest of the posts about the plans.
Editor’s note: The path runs behind my neighborhood.
I keep juxtaposing the county’s insistence on pushing this project through while caving on the Gorman trailhead. I’m not for or against… I just think it’s a little odd.
Way to go, Sharon!
It’s Red Star’s understanding that the Gorman debacle ended up being a (County Supervisor) Ray Carroll thing (he essentially told cyclists to sit down and shut up, for some Ray Carroll political reason). Counties as large and demographically diverse as Pima tend not be as monolithic as one might think.
It’s Red Star’s understanding that the Gorman debacle ended up being a (County Supervisor) Ray Carroll thing (he essentially told cyclists to sit down and shut up, for some Ray Carroll political reason). Counties as large and demographically diverse as Pima tend not be as monolithic as one might think.
This is something that I had not considered.
Yes, way to go Sharon Bronson! It is probably best to extract as much utility from the *existing* county parts of the bike path as possible for as many people as possible. That means change and costs, and resistance. In other words work-out what you already got and defer silly grandiose schemes such as Huckleberry’s urban loop and His “Tucson” velodrome (as close to Phoenix as He can get it).