Construction on Camino de Mañana, one of the Regional Transportation Authority’s 35 major roadway projects, got under way in late August in the Town of Marana.

The prime contractor for the $35 million project is Borderland Construction Company Inc. Once completed, the 3.3-mile roadway will be a four-lane median divided roadway that connects the Dove Mountain area to the new Twin Peaks interchange at Interstate 10. The Twin Peaks interchange is also a RTA roadway improvement project.

The project team is working with area residents, school officials, and emergency personnel to accommodate their travel needs during the construction period. Construction alerts will be issued prior to any closures or major impacts.

For more information on this project or to be placed on the construction alert notification e-mail list, please contact Kimberly Gale at (877) 394-8245 or Kimberly@kaneenpr.com.

The Regional Transportation Authority has redesigned its Web site, available at www.RTAmobility.com. The new site has more entry points for the public and jurisdictions to access RTA project and event information.

The functionality of the new site allows for faster updates and easier access to RTA-related project news from each of the RTA member jurisdictions. The site contains meeting information for the RTA Board, RTA committees and other RTA events.

The RTA plan, which was approved by Pima County voters in May 2006 along with a half-cent sales tax to fund the plan, has roadway, transit, safety and environmental and economic vitality elements. The projects are primarily managed by RTA-member jurisdictions.       

The Regional Transportation Authority’s Sun Shuttle neighborhood transit service continues to expand.

Launched in May 2009 to serve Marana, Oro Valley, Sahuarita and Green Valley, four routes formerly provided by Pima County Rural Transit began operating Nov. 2 under the Sun Shuttle brand.

New Sun Shuttle schedule brochures are available at various locations in each of the communities and is available online at www.suntran.com. 

The brochures offer detailed route and schedule information effective Nov. 9 through Feb. 13. The brochures contain information on the new fare structure for all Sun Shuttle routes effective Nov. 2, including a reduced fare option for qualified passengers.

Marana now has four routes, including the new Route 410 serving Anway/Trico and Route 413 serving Marana along I-10. Route 430 serving Tucson Estates and Route 440 serving San Xavier are also new transit options for Sun Shuttle passengers.

Sun Shuttle now offers reduced fares for seniors, Medicare cardholders, disabled and low-income individuals. Full fare one-way cash fares remain unchanged at $1.25 for regular service and $2.50 for deviated service. 

Qualified low-income passengers with the proper identification are eligible for the $ .40 regular fare and $ .80 for deviated service. Seniors 65 years and older, persons with disabilities and Medicare cardholders are also eligible for the $ .40 regular service fare, but must pay the full fare deviated service price of $2.50.

To be eligible for the low-income fare, passengers must obtain a Sun Tran Transit ID from the City of Tucson Special Services Office, 35 West Alameda, Tucson, 791-4100. Deviated service passengers must obtain a valid ADA Paratransit Eligibility ID from the City of Tucson’s ADA Eligibility Office, 791-5409.

Additional information is available by calling the Customer Service Center at (520) 792-9222 [for individuals with TDD equipment, call (520) 628-1565]. Except on major holidays, the Customer Service Center is open weekdays from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.       

Sun Tran’s new bus storage and maintenance facility, partially funded with dollars from the Regional Transportation Authority, opened in mid-November at 3920 N. Sun Tran Blvd., just east of the intersection of Prince Road and Interstate 10.

This project was designed and constructed in three phases. Phase I, $8 million funded by the Federal Transportation Administration (FTA) and 1994 City of Tucson bonds, included the completion of Sun Tran Boulevard and the fueling facility in October 2005. Phase II involved building the maintenance and
operations buildings capable of operating up to 150 buses with funding of $32 million provided by the RTA and FTA.

Phase II includes a state-of-the-art facility with 17 bus bays to repair and maintain the fleet, a fare retrieval area, bus wash and dispatch center.
The building complex is the City of Tucson’s first “green” transit facility built to LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) specifications.
LEED is an internationally recognized green building certification system developed by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC).

LEED focuses on using less water, energy and resources, while creating less waste throughout the construction process. In 2006, the City of Tucson’s Mayor and Council adopted LEED Silver standards for all new City-owned buildings and renovations over 5,000 square feet. Sun Tran’s Northwest Facility is LEED Silver registered, which is only the third City-owned facility to be completed using the USGBC specifications for green building.

Specifically, this facility features solar panels for power generation, the use of natural lighting to save energy, the use of reclaimed water and water efficient features to reduce water consumption, and a comfortable state-of-theart work space for employees.

When fully built, Sun Tran’s new Northwest Facility will have the capacity to operate and maintain 250 buses. The current Park Avenue facility, only designed for 150 buses, had maintained 230 buses in the fleet. Sun Tran now operates out of both facilities and will do so until the Northwest Facility’s 25 acres are fully built in mid-2011.

Phase III, currently being designed, will expand the maintenance building and construct an administration building for regional transit operations with $16 million in funding from American Recovery and Reinvestment Act stimulus funds. Construction is scheduled to begin in mid-2010.