We reported last week that the Grant Road widening project will start two years ahead of schedule, but that doesn't mean we're not in for a long haul.
It just means we start the long haul sooner.
The first phase of the six-phase project is scheduled to start in 2011, ahead of the earlier-projected 2013 launch.
For each of the six construction sections in the five-mile road project, the city will need about a year to buy up affected properties and for utilities to move their lines, and then another year for the road construction.
The work is expected to continue into 2024. Now that's a really long haul!
Those of you who hate orange-cone zones will either have a lot of maneuvering to do, or a lot of stress-reducing techniques to learn. But you still have a year to figure out your strategy.
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There may be some solace in the I-10-widening experience. Once construction was under way for a while on the project from Prince Road to 29th Street, some people felt like the years flew by after they got used to their detours or planned ahead for commuting through the project.
But that was a three-year project, not 13 years. It also encompassed the same area for all three years. The Grant Road project is like a long-running movable feast, starting on the west end, then moving east and west again, along the corridor between Oracle and Swan.
The work is to start on the west end in 2011, then move to the east end in 2015, and then back to the western end in 2021.
The stretch of Grant from Plumer Avenue to Sparkman Boulevard, including Tucson Boulevard and Country Club Road, will be the last built, according to the schedule.
That means coming from either direction, drivers will merge from three lanes in each direction to whatever construction configuration is set up, and then back to three lanes in each direction. That will be a congested area, with lots of merging, to say the least.
The project will likely mean people voluntarily detour to Fort Lowell Road or Speedway as alternate east-west routes.
Speedway is already three lanes in each direction, but it has a lower speed limit than Grant does.
Fort Lowell is two lanes in each direction, but the pavement condition is deteriorating.
To continue to use Grant Road will mean merging in and out of the construction zone, newly widened road and unimproved roadway for more than a decade.
Sit back, relax and enjoy the progress. What else is there to do?
Road Q
Question: "Are not bicycles supposed to follow the same rules of the road as cars? If so, one is to drive on the road and not the sidewalk. I work downtown and on a daily basis encounter one or more bicyclists riding on the sidewalk. Some days I see six or more in my four-block walk back and forth from the parking lot. Numerous times I have nearly been hit as they approach from behind soundlessly or rounding a corner," Janet Hart wrote.
Answer: Yes, bicyclists are required to ride in the street and not on the sidewalk. Obviously, the law is never followed 100 percent of the time by 100 percent of commuters.
State law says: "A person riding a bicycle on a roadway or on a shoulder adjoining a roadway is granted all of the rights and is subject to all of the duties applicable to the driver of a vehicle," except those things which "by their nature can have no application."
Road Runner answers road-related questions in this column on Mondays. Find Road Runner plus traffic cams and other transportation news at azstarnet.com/ transportation. Send your questions by e-mail to roadrunner@azstarnet.com or to P.O. Box 26807, Tucson, AZ 85726. Please include your first and last names.
