Silverbell Road Corridor
The Silverbell Road Corridor is identified by the City of Tucson as an approximately 12-mile stretch of roadway from Grant Road to the south to the Lambert Lane extension in Marana to the north. Silverbell Road, in the foothills of the Tucson Mountains, is mostly a two-lane, strip-paved road from just north of the Grant Road intersection to Cortaro Farms Road.
Traffic counts along Silverbell were taken in October of 2004. Between El Camino Del Cerro and Sweetwater Drive, the traffic volume was 12,003 vehicles per day. Between Sweetwater Drive and Goret Road is was 12,185 vehicles per day. Just north of Grant Road in the four-lane portion of Silverbell Road the volume was 19,344 vehicles per day. Approximately 70 percent of the traffic on Silverbell Road at Grant Road has its origin or destination outside the City limits - from unincorporated Pima County and the Town of Marana.
As for population and housing permits along the Silverbell Road Corridor, in the past 15 years 23,733 residents have been added to the Silverbell Corridor. Only 2,036 of those new residents are City residents. Of the 30,892 residents in the corridor, only 13% are city residents. From 2000 to July of 2004, the new housing permit data is as follows:
- Town of Marana - 2,493
- Pima County - 856
- City of Tucson - 400
The numbers above illustrate the need for regional approaches to solving transportation problems along the Silverbell Road Corridor. The traffic impacts of multi-jurisdictional growth surely can't be solved by any one entity.
To address issues along the Silverbell Road Corridor, the City of Tucson, Pima County and the Town of Marana held a public meeting on November 17, 2004 at the Silverbell Golf Course Club House. Nearly 200 people attended the public meeting. Leaders from the City of Tucson, Pima County, and Marana, along with staff from all three jurisdictions, gave a brief presentation of issues along Silverbell Road and took questions and comments from the public in attendance.
At the meeting, it was decided that a Citizens Committee would be formed to help address the issues along the corridor and to seek solutions. Please see the above links for the questions and comments brought up at the meeting, and for the names of the people who have committed to serving on the Citizens Committee. If you have a question or comment about issues along the Silverbell Corridor that you do not see addressed in the above links, please feel free to email us. Every email will receive an individual response, and comments of general interest will be posted to the Silverbell Website.
Answers to the questions posed at the public meeting will be posted as they become available.
