The Coalition for Sonoran Desert Protection’s shares its concerns, and that of the community, with the RTA Next draft plan
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, February 19, 2025
Contact: Kate Hotten, kate.hotten@sonorandesert.org, (520) 388 9925
TUCSON, Ariz. — A draft of the RTA Next regional transportation plan is under fire after a change to its budget resulted in a 50% reduction in funding for environmental elements, from $50 million to $25 million. After several months of pressure, the Coalition for Sonoran Desert Protection hopes to see that reduction reversed.
Carolyn Campbell, a local environmental leader and board member of the Coalition for Sonoran Desert Protection, said, “We spent over five years in meetings of the RTA’s Citizens’ Advisory Committee, and that committee was in full support of the $50 million in funding for wildlife linkages. Anything less flies in the face of that process and what our desert needs.”
RTA Next is a 20-year and $2.46 billion draft plan for transportation projects in the region. It is overseen by the Regional Transportation Authority or RTA board, which includes representatives from all local jurisdictions and tribes as well as the Arizona State Transportation Board.
The drafting of RTA Next has been a lengthy and contested process. In September 2024, the RTA board shared a new draft that showed for the first time the $25 million environmental budget. The new and reduced environmental figure is now one of the lowest amounts budgeted for any of the draft plan’s projects.
“We have had dozens of people tell us that they commented, attended an open house or responded to the RTA Next survey to tell the RTA how much wildlife linkages mean to them,” said Kate Hotten, the co-executive director of the Coalition for Sonoran Desert Protection. At a recent gathering of support near the county’s only wildlife bridge, community members held signs reading “I vote for wildlife linkages” and “We can’t wait 20 more years”.
This part of the RTA Next budget will fund research and construction of structures to keep motorists safe while also helping wildlife move freely. The focus is on where dangerous collisions with wildlife are most common, as well as where wildlife is particularly disturbed by roads, as shown in data from Pima County, Arizona Game and Fish Department and other groups.
“In the last few years we have seen four black bears killed on I-10 near Vail, one colliding with a semi-truck and causing traffic delays,” says Jessica Moreno, the group’s Conservation Science Director. “And a mountain lion in the Tucson Mountains, which was the only breeding female there at the time, was killed on Picture Rocks Rd.”
Pima County has been a leader in road ecology. In 2016, construction was completed on N Oracle Road of an underpass and bridge for wildlife. The bridge is the only one of its kind in southern Arizona. But Campbell points out that there are many wildlife crossing projects still needed in the region, including across Interstate 10 near Avra Valley Road.
“Wildlife bridges are becoming more common in other parts of the state and throughout the West. In 20 years, if we still have just this one on Oracle Road, we’ll be far, far behind,” said Hotten.
Moreno adds that, “It makes sense to time these solutions with existing improvement projects. If we don’t have enough funding now, we’re making this work more difficult and expensive in the future.” The Oracle Road crossings were built at the same time as the road’s widening work.
If finalized by the RTA board, the RTA Next plan will go to vote in November 2025. “Just as our roadway budgets incorporate landscaping and artwork, they should also include a budget for wildlife crossings,” says Moreno. “The Sonoran Desert can’t wait another 20 years.”
