Updated on November 20th, 2024
The RTA’s current budget for wildlife crossings just won’t cut it!
The Regional Transportation Authority, or RTA, is drafting its next 20-year regional transportation plan for Pima County, “RTA Next,” and there is vast room for improvement! Specifically, the draft RTA Next plan allocates a fraction of the funding needed for wildlife linkage infrastructure—only around 55% of the current plan’s $45 million.
The current RTA plan paid for the Oracle Road wildlife crossings, as well as wildlife crossings on SR 86, Tangerine Rd, Silverbell Rd, and more. And we are not done yet!
There is much left to do to restore Sonoran Desert wildlife linkages and the $25 million budget proposed in September won’t cover the critical wildlife crossings needed over I-10 to reconnect the Tucson and Tortolita Mountains, let alone crossings also needed in areas such as the I-19 south of Green Valley.
RTA’s Citizens Advisory Committee and staff from all local jurisdictions recommend $50 million for wildlife linkages in the RTA Next plan, which was the number originally shown in the RTA Next budget.
How you can help now:
1) Respond to the RTA Next Survey (Deadline January 8th, 2025)
It takes just five minutes of your time! Your voice will directly support wildlife crossings.
We urge you to respond in support of wildlife linkages:
Q2. Which proposed line items (Nos. 1-50) in the RTA Next draft plan represent the highest priority for you? If any, please list up to five line items that you are most interested in as part of the overall plan.
→ RESPONSE: “Line item 43: Wildlife Linkages”
Q9. Of the $2 billion available for new investments, $25 million is proposed to be spent on Wildlife Linkage improvements. In your opinion, is this amount too little, too much, or just right?
→ RESPONSE: “Too little”
Q11. What do you believe is the single most important item that should be changed (added/deleted/modified) in the RTA Next draft plan to gain your overall support of the plan?
→ RESPONSE: “Funding for wildlife linkages must be increased to the full $50 million, as was recommended by the Citizens Advisory Committee and representatives from all local governments. I reject any plan that includes less funding for wildlife linkages, including any plan that considers the contingency as part of the $50 million.”
2) Share the RTA Next survey!
The more responses we get, the more likely it is that our message is heard! Please broadcast the RTA Next Survey and the importance of advocating for wildlife linkages across your networks.
For more actions you can take, check out our page on RTA and wildlife linkages.
To our volunteers! Your time spent on this is valuable to us! You can clock your hours dedicated to RTA Next, whether it’s time spent on the survey, public comment form, or attending public meetings, under “Other Activities.“
The Sonoran Desert thanks you for speaking up!
