Welcome back!

There has been a lot of talk about the expansion of Houghton Road on the east side of Tucson.  Plans have been laid, meetings have been held and finally ground is being broken.  Previously, Houghton Road was more of a rural arterial from the east side of Tucson to the Interstate.  About 10-15 years ago homes were built at Rita and Houghton and Rita Ranch was born.  Since then there has been a lot of development and Vail has become large enough to consider becoming its own city; what a far cry from the “outpost” that it used to be.

Traffic on Houghton can get very backed up due to the fact that it is only a two-lane road.  However, plans have been made to turn it into a 4-lane or 6-lane divided parkway.  There will be 6 lanes on the southern portion of the road and 4 lanes at the northern section where there is enough development to preclude creating more than 4 lanes without having to seize private property.

When does the construction start?

Construction is slated to begin in the spring of 2009 with the widening and raising of the intersection at Houghton Road and Mary Ann Cleveland Way.  Here are the improvements that you can expect to see there:

• Reconstructing and widening the existing intersection to accomodate the future widening of Houghton Road.
• Dual left-turn lanes
• Exclusive right-turn lanes
• Upgrading traffic signals

This should be completed by the fall of 2009.

How long will the entire project take?

This project will be ongoing until 2021.  AT the current time, plans have been laid for the construction phases up to and including 2019.  Here are the sections in order of their scheduled work:

1. Houghton Rd & Mary Ann Cleveland Intersection – 2009
2. Irvington Road to Valencia Road – 2010
3. Broadway & Houghton Intersection – 2011
4. Valencia Rd to Mary Ann Cleveland Way – 2011
5. Union Pacific Railroad Bridge – 2012
6. Escalante Rd to Irvington Rd – 2013
7. Speedway Blvd to Broadway Blvd – 2014
8. Broadway Blvd to 22nd St – 2015
9. 22nd St to Escalante Rd – 2016
10. Union Pacific Railroad to I-10 – 2018
11. Tanque Verde Rd to Speedway Blvd – 2019

My thoughts were that #7 and #9 should be switched to provide the smoothest traffic transition possible.  I made that comment at our most recent meeting (2/24/09) and was told that others have raised that same concern.

If you would like more detailed information about the Houghton Road project, please visit www.houghtonroad.info.  I will also continue to update my blog as the process moves forward.

Technorati Tags: 2009 Irvington Road, East Tucson, Houghton Road, Mary Ann Cleveland, Rita Ranch, road construction, road expansion, Tucson AZ, union pacific railroad, union pacific railroad bridge, Vail, Valencia Road