The corner of Broadway Boulevard and Country Club Road. Listen:
The Tucson City Council will vote Tuesday on a proposed plan to widen Broadway Boulevard between Euclid Avenue and Country Club Road.
The version of the widening plan that's up for vote won't have much effect on the property owned by GLHN Architects and Engineering.
“We may lose a little bit of our trees," said Bill Nelson past president and owner of GLHN. "But in essence, the latest drawings show very little impact.”
When Nelson's company relocated to the office just west of Country Club on Broadway in 1998, he and the other owners were well aware of the issue that could one day confront them.
"We actually did one of the very early, preliminary studies in the '80s on Broadway," Nelson said.
Another study that helped create the vision of Broadway has been held for nearly 30 years.
“In 1987, there was a study that was presented to the mayor and the city council that was partly funded by the U.S. Mass Transit Administration,” said Jennifer Toothaker, the project manager for the planning phase of the Broadway widening for the City of Tucson.
That study was commissioned to look at the feasibility of light rail on Broadway. It ultimately envisioned Broadway as an eight-lane road, with a lane in each direction devoted to mass transit.
“At the time, they were expecting our downtown to be growing a lot earlier,” Toothaker said.
But the slower-than-expected growth of downtown means the plan for Broadway expansion has shrunk.
Broadway Traffic Map
“What has been decided on is a six-lane cross section instead of an eight-lane cross section," said Beth Abramovitz, the project manager for the design and construction phase of the Broadway widening for the City of Tucson.
The final version will also include six-foot-wide bicycle lanes and sidewalks, but will have minimal medians and landscaping.
Private property owners must make way for progress
The non-essential features were cut so the city could minimize the amount of private land it needs to complete the proposed project.
“The [land] acquisition portion of this budget is about 60 percent of the overall budget," said Abramovitz.
Land acquisition is not only the priciest part, it's also a part that can have a big impact on affected property owners since most of that land is parking lots.
“A lot of the businesses are already talking about how they need more parking," said Abramovitz. "They’re already under-parked. Some as much as 30 percent under-parked for the business they’re doing today.”
The City of Tucson has been purchasing property along Broadway in the hopes that it could us it to alleviate much of the parking concerns with that land.
“If we have taken all of someone’s parking, but the city owns parcels east or west of, say, a little strip mall, we can offer those city parcels up to the business owners," said Council Member Steve Kozachik, who represents the affected area. "Just because they’re losing the Broadway frontage doesn’t mean they’re without options.”
The city hopes it can work out purchases or trades with landowners in order to complete the deal, and the nature of those agreements could still shape any approved deal.
“You can take most of this to the bank once we adopt it, but there will still be tweaks based on what the individual property owners say,” said Kozachik.
Kozachik said he thinks the proposal will be approved by the City Council Tuesday night. Property owner Bill Nelson hopes he's right, though he'd like to add a caveat.
“I would hope that there is a yes vote, with the comment that the design team is to consider the gateway aspects of the Broadway corridor design,” said Nelson.
He would be willing to give up more land if it means the road gets back some of the beautification amenities like landscaping and wider medians.
Nelson said he sees parallels between this stretch of Broadway and the portion of Tucson Boulevard near Tucson International Airport that recently underwent a beautification project.
“It is the principal gateway into downtown. It needs to reflect that," he said. "That has to have some bearing on the design.”
Though at this point, after nearly 30 years, Nelson said he'll be content to see the project start construction, no matter his disagreements with the design.
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