Major roadway section of Downtown Links now open

Overpasses, underpasses, tunnels, pedestrian bridges, and four new travel lanes. This is Downtown Links, the $76 million roadway improvement project to provide a continuous route for traffic on State Route 210 between Broadway Boulevard and the Interstate 10 Frontage Road.

“We’re here to celebrate a project 30 years in the making,” Tucson Department of Transportation and Mobility Director Sam Credio said at an opening celebration for the major roadway portion of the project on Feb. 17.

Once the remaining sections are completed, the Downtown Links project will make good on the long-standing promise to connect Barraza-Aviation Parkway with the interstate. Project elements on the final roadway include:

HAWK pedestrian crossing signal at the newly completed section of Downtown Links near Sixth Street.
  • A new four-lane road linking Broadway and Sixth Street
  • A new bridge, including a multi-use pedestrian bridge
  • A Sixth Street underpass beneath the railroad underpass
  • Extensive drainage improvements

The section opened to traffic, from Broadway at Barraza-Aviation Parkway to Sixth Street, has been named Maclovio Barraza Parkway, after the late labor leader. Downtown Links is a roadway element project in the 2006 voter-approved RTA plan.

Working together to create connections

Discussions and planning for a roadway to connect Barraza-Aviation Parkway to I-10 began in the 1980s. With the Arizona Department of Transportation on board, the initial proposal was to create a bypass around downtown for motorists getting on and off the interstate.

“The original concept was to build a freeway through the city of Tucson,” Tucson Mayor Regina Romero said. For many in the community, however, the scope of the state’s design was problematic, including at-grade crossings at Fourth Avenue and the potential loss of historic structures.

ADOT eventually parted ways with the city on the project, which began a long series of community discussions about the future of the connection. Community conversations and planning began again in earnest with the inclusion of the project on the 2006, voter-approved RTA plan.

“For the RTA, it has been totally worth it,” Pima Association of Governments Director of Transportation Services Rick Ellis said in his comments at the opening event, acknowledging the many years of planning and public involvement that went into the project.

“It’s important to recognize that this project was the result of collaboration and community involvement,” said Farhad Moghimi, RTA’s Executive Director. “We came together to find a solution that worked for everyone, and the end result is a roadway that creates better connections.”

In total, the project went through nearly 30 alignments before the current roadway was settled upon.

Crews broke ground on the downtown portions of the project in summer 2020. A previous roadway improvement phase of the project on St. Mary’s Road west of the railroad tracks that Downtown Links will connect with was completed in 2014.

The final leg of the project includes some complex improvements. These consist of extensive drainage enhancements, intersection construction, and a vehicle and multimodal underpass beneath the Union Pacific Railroad train lines.

Construction of the roadway west of Stone Avenue connecting to St. Mary’s Road near Church Avenue will complete the multi-year project.

Work on Downtown Links is expected to wrap up in late 2024.

What remains

Crews broke ground on the downtown portions of the project in summer 2020. A previous roadway improvement project on St. Mary’s Road west of the railroad tracks that Downtown Links will connect with was completed in 2014.

The final leg of the project includes some complex improvements. These consist of extensive drainage enhancements, intersection construction, and a vehicle and multimodal underpass beneath the Union Pacific Railroad train lines.

Construction of the roadway west of Stone Avenue connecting to St. Mary’s Road near Church Avenue will complete the multi-year project.

Work on Downtown Links is expected to wrap up in late 2024.

Follow the project and find maps detailing the work here www.downtownlinks.info. A drone video of the project can be viewed here.