Early results Tuesday night show Pima County voters approving the RTA Next transportation plan, deciding to extend a half-cent sales tax to fund regional road and transit projects for the next 20 years.
Preliminary results show voters passing Propositions 418 and 419, the two measures that make up the plan.
As of 8 p.m., results showed 61.15% of voters have said yes to Prop. 418, which asks voters to approve the new transportation plan, while 58.92% have voted yes on Prop. 419, which would authorize the sales tax to fund it.
The Pima County Recorder’s office has counted 194,277 ballots and are reporting a 29.2% voter turnout with more numbers to come in the next few days.
Ward 5 council member Selina Barajas said the success of RTA Next means street improvements for her constituents.
“It shows that these long-awaited investments will come to fruition, but also that we’re going to continue to advocate for those initiatives like complete streets and and the transit expansion, multimodal safety, those amenities that we’ve been waiting for a long time, especially on our south and west side,” she said.
She said the benefits of RTA Next would transcend the city proper.
“I also think about folks that can’t afford to live in the core area of the city that have to live outside the city boundaries to utilize our amenities and to contribute to our city economy,” she said.
Barajas, along with Vice Mayor Lane Santa Cruz, wrote in an early February op-ed for the Arizona Daily Star that they supported the plan because it offered immediate investment that working families needed.
The campaign supporting the measure, Connect Pima, says it creates 48,000 additional jobs and $11.9 billion in economic benefits. It included members from the Arizona Chapter of the Associated General Contractor of America, the Chamber of Southern Arizona and Southern Arizona Home Builders Association as well as the mayors of Tucson and Marana.
Mayor Regina Romero responded to the results late Tuesday.
“Tucsonans have voted to invest in ourselves at a time when it’s especially crucial for us to do so. These funds will bring tangible benefits to our City, from improved roads and bicycle and pedestrian safety to a new bus rapid transit system and major infrastructure upgrades like Mary Ann Cleveland Way,” she posted in a statement on Instagram. “Whether they walk, bike, ride or drive, Tucsonans are going to appreciate the safer and more functional City we’re building through this initiative. Many Tucsonans want the same things for our City regardless of how they voted this evening, and I look forward to working with them to make sure this initiative benefits all of us.”
Vanessa Cascio, executive director of Living Streets Alliance, says the results were disappointing but not surprising.
“The pro-RTA campaign had a campaign run with $2 million dollars and had a level of visibility that we could never match,” Cascio said. “In some ways it’s not surprising when we look at the numbers just based on promotion that was run and considering that this was a special election.”
Opponents to the measure have called it a vote for car-oriented growth that expands roadway capacity in ways that encourage more driving. They pointed to the undelivered measures from the last plan, and say it does not invest in a robust transit system.
Living Streets Alliance joined other organizations including Watershed Management Group and Friends of Tucson Mountain Reserve, to form Tucson Deserves Better, a committee opposing the passage of RTA Next.
Albert Elias, the vice president of the Living Streets Alliance board, said that while the plan isn’t all bad, they’re hoping to see more accountability and reception as it moves forward.
“I think the key is to have the RTA be more responsive to the community and be aware of things that are important like transit and safety especially on many of our corridors and just being able to improve the quality of our roads,” Elias said.
Go deeper
RTA Next vote explained: What Props 418 and 419 mean for Pima County
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RTA Next will extend the regional transportation funding approach voters first approved in 2006. That May, voters in Pima County approved a transportation proposal for the region over the next two decades, as well as a half-cent sales tax to fund it. That included a plan for 35 roadway projects, 200 new lane miles and 40 additional intersection safety improvements.
Then life, including the 2008 recession and then the COVID-19 pandemic, happened over the next two decades. Construction costs skyrocketed, tax revenues fell, and the RTA funding didn’t go as far as the regional authority initially intended.
Now Pima County residents will continue paying the tax to fund a new list of projects. RTA Next also includes funding for seven roadway projects that weren’t completed under the previous plan.
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