On May 1, a narrower, more pedestrian-friendly Scott Avenue will debut, featuring new lighting, parking, wide sidewalks, benches, trees and potted plants--all courtesy of Rio Nuevo:
Drawings show streetscapes for Scott Avenue. They are by Wheat Scarf Associates, landscape architects.
(photo: Xavier Gallegos)
Sidewalk work begins downtown for tree-lined pedestrian haven
by TEYA VITU
Tucson Citizen
01.12.2009
Sidewalks will be torn up this week on Scott Avenue south of Congress Street as the demolition phase continues to convert the downtown street into a tree-lined pedestrian haven. The street leading to the Temple of Music and Art has been largely blocked off to vehicle traffic since early December as Archer Western Contractors has been ripping up the street to replace the water line, said Fran LaSala, assistant to City Manager Mike Hein.
The new street surface will narrow from 48 feet curb to curb to 31 to 40 feet, depending on how much parking goes in each stretch of street, LaSala said. Conversely, the sidewalk area will be widened from a width varying from 6 to 10 feet to about 25 feet. The pedestrian band will include an 8-foot-wide sidewalk, flanked on both sides by eight- to 10-foot strips of trees and potted plants along with period light posts lighting the way and occasional benches allowing for rests. "There will be continuous shading up and down the street (from Broadway to the Temple)," said Lisa Ribes, designer at Wheat Scharf Associates, the Tucson landscape architecture firm that designed the new Scott Avenue streetscape. In a few places, the sidewalk will widen to 25 feet to form gathering places or little plazas, LaSala said.
The $4.1 million streetscape work, funded by Rio Nuevo tax increment financing, should be finished by May 1. Archer Western will then move to Congress and Broadway to rip up those streets to move and replace utilities lines and install streetcar tracks from Fifth Avenue to Interstate 10. "We should get steel in the ground by midsummer," said Doug Post, Archer Western's senior project manager. The Congress/Broadway and Scott work are both part of a $37 million downtown infrastructure project.