AUGUST 2004
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The Transportation Issueby Ken Scoville
The earliest paths, especially in desert regions, have been along the banks of the waterways. El Camino Real was the “Royal Road” from Mexico to California. It was the first route into Tucson as it followed along the edge of the Santa Cruz River, on the high ground just west of the flood plain. Father Kino and a host of Spanish explorers followed this route, which would eventually be named Main Street (and later, Main Avenue) as a nod to the desire to become an American city. As best as can be discerned by the archaeological evidence and oral history traditions, the royal highway would be the western boundary for the Presidio with the entrance being Calle de la Guardia, later to be called Cemetery Street and finally Alameda. The village of Tucson as part of Mexico would evolve north and south along this route with residences and commercial ventures intermingled, but the physical barrier of the Santa Cruz would begin to direct future growth eastward in earnest as the Arizona Territory became a reality in 1863. Main Street and Meyer would be important pathways of commerce, but with the march eastward for more and cheaper land, Calle de la Alegria (later to become Congress Street) would be the top of the heap for commerce and business success. Stone Avenue is the line of demarcation between the oldest part of the Old Pueblo, with streets running at angles or dead-ending because of earlier landmarks and plazas. Pennington was originally Calle del Arroyo as it followed along a wash and Alameda continued eastward with the destruction of the Presidio.
The railroad became the desert “seaport”, with new goods and new residents arriving in quantity, with the predictability that was never possible by stage or teams of wagons. The rails would become a defining boundary to Downtown on the east that would not stop growth in the long run but add a whole host of new transportation issues and make Congress “the” street of commerce and the focal point for change. Land use decisions and transportation issues go hand-in-hand in theory, but the co-dependency of these two issues has too often been ignored in the Old Pueblo. In practice, land use and transportation have evolved in a piecemeal manner at best. Congress Street is a microcosm that displays the relationship between land use decisions and transportation issues with greater density bringing more people to the pathway and more delay. As this pathway became the commercial corridor after the start of the 20th century, the mule trolley gave way to the electric trolley; the horse and buggy became history with the paving of Congress in 1914. This project also began the tradition of merchants wondering if their business would survive to enjoy the benefits of these improvements. The arguments about sprinkling the streets with water to keep the dust down would end but the Pandora’s box of road improvements would be ongoing. The commercial importance of Stone and Congress would be affirmed in 1929 with the completion of Tucson’s first high-rise. The golden age of commerce along the pathways of Congress and Stone in the 1950s would end a decade later in a ghost town effect as the eastward march continued with El Con Mall and free parking. Urban renewal, which was approved by the City Council in 1965, and the interstate freeway system (beginning as the Casa Grande Highway in 1960 with the formal designation as I-10 approximately five years later) would obliterate or change the earliest pathways within their purview. Historic buildings and narrow pathways would be swept away and Congress west of Church would be the “Gateway to The City” with massive changes through the renewal zone. Eventually six lanes from Granada to the interstate were dedicated by Mayor Lew Murphy in July of 1983. Building on conversions of two-way streets to one-way in the 1960s and early 1970s, this was the final step in encouraging the quick movement of traffic through Downtown. The return of two-way traffic to major Downtown streets will improve the quality of life for businesses, pedestrians, and motorists who want to get to and around Downtown. The desire to enjoy and live Downtown by following our original pathways is being encouraged, while the impulse to drive through will be redirected to pathways developed later for that purpose.
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o much has changed in the Old Pueblo, but most of the original pathways still exist even through centuries of changing human activity. The current plan to have Stone Avenue and Congress Street become two-way streets is just the latest effort to make these early pathways again be vital for a reinvigorated downtown. One-way streets can move traffic through an area but do not promote the commerce and pedestrian activity necessary if Rio Nuevo is to be successful. Transportation facilitates the exchange of ideas and materials and makes a variety of human endeavors possible. The physical features of an area, along with a multitude of cultural features, define the pathways that follow.
The 1862 Fergusson map is the earliest record of pathways that responded to these physical features and landmarks. East of Stone, a grid was imposed for future growth as the town site was established in 1872, setting the boundaries at Speedway, 22nd Street, Main Avenue, and First Avenue. This plan and resulting map provided a predictable future for transportation as well as real estate speculation. Physical features and landmarks as determinants of Tucson’s geography would yield to business interests and the desire to be an American city, but a new angle would be imposed on the grid with the arrival of the railroad in 1880.
Tucson-Mexico Passenger Rail Project – UPDATE
he Tucson-Mexico Trade Office’s project to establish a passenger rail line from Tucson’s Historic Depot down into Mexico is still moving forward. Director Augustine Garcia and his staff are working diligently to get the program off the ground and, as Garcia has put it, they won’t take “no” for an answer.