(August 7, 2023) Need a deal: The long-running disagreement between the City of Tucson and the other local governments involved in the Regional Transportation Authority needs to be resolved, the Tucson Sentinel's Blake Morlock writes. If they don't, they're "on the road to ruin."

"At some point in the near future – I would argue by Dec. 7 – the whole RTA Board should have a public confab with the City Council and remove all fuzz," Morlock writes.

(August 14, 2023) RTA roadblock: Rising cost estimates and conflicting viewpoints have slowed progress on a massive 20-year transportation plan designed to build Pima County’s infrastructure, the Arizona Daily Star’s Nicole Ludden reports. Voters approved a Regional Transportation Authority ballot measure in 2006, with a half-cent sales tax projected to fund $2 billion in transportation projects. But revenue has been much lower than expected, leaving an estimated $500 million shortfall to complete projects promised to voters nearly two decades ago. (Tucson Agenda)

(February 20) Transit trouble: Another item on the agenda for the Tucson City Council is a discussion of City Manager Mike Ortega’s concerns about whether the city should participate in the next phase of the Regional Transportation Authority, in what Tucson Sentinel columnist Blake Morlock calls “zero hour” for their negotiations with the eight other local jurisdictions that make up the RTA. Ortega says he can’t justify participating if the city puts in more money than it gets back in projects. Ortega also thinks the RTA’s revenue projections are far too pessimistic.

(March 20) Transportation transparency: Pima County transportation officials are hosting a series of public forums this week to show community members how they’ll be spending money over the next five years to improve roads, upgrade buses and rapid transit and increase safety for pedestrians and cyclists, KGUN’s Sean Newgent reports. In-person meetings are taking place today from 4 to 6 p.m. at the Abrams Public Health Center (3950 S. Country Club Rd.) and tomorrow from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Wheeler Taft Abbett Sr. Library (7800 N. Schisler Dr.)

(April 26) Team work makes the dream work: Pima County Supervisor Rex Scott makes his case for RTA Next in an op-ed in the Sentinel. Scott says business owners want to see cooperation among local government bodies when they choose sites for their operations. He didn’t explicitly refer to the City of Tucson’s murmurings about passing their own sales tax and pulling out of the regional transportation plan, but he did say if any one jurisdiction decided to “go it alone,” that would leave out a third of county residents who live in unincorporated areas.

(May 14) Clouded vision: The Regional Transportation Authority board has a “clouded” vision for transportation, Rachel Wilson, a former member of the RTA’s Citizen Advisory Committee, writes in an op-ed in the Tucson Sentinel. If the smaller towns like Oro Valley and Marana don’t adopt a regional vision, such as recognizing that they need more roads while Tucson needs more road maintenance, the RTA model will “fail to achieve consensus and that will be a good thing.”