Sahuara Bicycle Boulevard concept design

From the multitude of responses on this page, it appears this idea of a bike path should be scrapped immediately. No sense in spending anymore resources planning it out. The people who use the park overwhelmingly DO NOT want a bike path. The small sliver of greenspace is being used by countless dog walkers and disc golfers. It is serving its purpose. A bike path would be counterproductive to what has been created there. It would also be dangerous to have bike riders riding through flying discs. Does not make sense.

IF there is money to be spent, there are some trees that need dead branches taken down for safety (hole 10 fairway) and some trees that did not make it from the recent planting that could use a new starter.

KEEP LOMA AS IT IS PLEASE>

As a long-standing active participant in the stewardship of our local park, I am writing to strongly oppose the proposed construction of a bike path through the heart of our cherished green space.
This park is more than just a patch of land, it is a sanctuary. It is one of the few remaining areas in our region where families, dog owners, walkers, and disc golfers can safely gather, unwind, and engage in outdoor recreation. The community has maintained this space for years, I myself with countless volunteer hours from residents and our disc golf community going into its upkeep, cleanliness, and safety. It is a vibrant, peaceful environment that serves all ages 24 hours a day, every day.
Placing a bike path through the middle of it threatens everything we’ve worked so hard to build and maintain. The city has already spent hundreds of thousands on rebuilding the park with new irrigation, fresh grass, and new trees planted. Based on experience, these bike paths often attract not just cyclists, but electric and gas-powered bikes, many of which are operated at dangerous speeds and with very little regard for public safety or posted laws. Even now, many cyclists routinely ignore basic street regulations. How can we expect them to follow park rules? This proposal only opens the door to more lawbreaking, more risk, and less peace for the community that peacefully enjoys it every single day that this park has provided and continues to do so.
Where are families supposed to go now for safe recreation? Where will dog owners walk their pets, and where can everyday residents go for fresh air, calm, and community? The park is already serving those needs perfectly. Altering its design to accommodate high-speed bike traffic puts all of that in jeopardy. Not dimension that the city will spend again hundreds of thousands on this project and or use city personnel to be part of this.
This park is not a blank slate to be overwritten, it is a living, breathing part of our community. A bike path here would disrupt an ecosystem (that city claims to be very concerned of) of recreation that works beautifully and inclusively already. If the city truly values community input, we urge you to listen now: Find another route. there is no necessity for an extended route since there’s plenty around it. Preserve the peace. Protect the park. Thank you kindly!

I am part of the disc golf community and feel this is not a good plan. Not just because of the disc golf course but because there isn't much grass left in Tucson. We should keep what little we have. Also the school and many others use this space a bike path would be dangerous. I'm against the bike path.

Leave our neighborhood park alone. As many have commented it’s nice to see it being used as it was designed and meant to be. Neighborhood members have fought too hard to get the park useable and looking nice for the City to come in and tear it up. Opposed to the bike path.

As the former President of the Tucson Disc Golf Association (TDGA), I’ve been aware of this initiative for some time. We’re also aware of the large dog park slated for installation on the east end of the park, which will require a redesign of the disc golf course.

While I don’t anticipate the bike path drawing enough traffic to significantly interfere with disc golf play, I would be remiss not to express concern that additional changes to the course may follow. The disc golf community fully funded the existing course, and our hope is that any necessary modifications moving forward will be supported by the City.

The TDGA and its members are committed to partnering with the City to help build better park experiences for everyone. My hope is that, when the time comes, we can reach an arrangement that benefits all involved.

This is absolutely a waste of time money and effort to add in a bike trail where perfectly working today’s already exist. The park already has issues with cars driving through it constantly, and this can only make things worse. The disc golf park is well used and well loved. We don’t need more asphalt just to ruin a great park.

Why not leave Loma Verde Park alone, and instead use the future Alamo Wash Greenway to connect around the mall? It doesn't add more than half a mile for cyclists (which as a sometime cyclist myself isn't that big a deal).

I understand this is a difficult area to find a good route for the path. However, please leave the disc golf course, playground, all the trees, and as much of the turf as possible alone; this green space (and all the things that make it green) is used heavily by many of us as a peaceful and cool respite amidst all the concrete and asphalt (and noise).

**We the Residents Say NO to the Bike Path Through Our Loma Verde Neighborhood Park**

Dear City of Tucson Dept. of Transportation & Mobility:

Our neighborhood park is a peaceful, cherished space where disc golfers gather, children play, and neighbors walk their dogs. It’s one of the few quiet green areas left where we can safely enjoy the outdoors without heavy traffic or fast-moving vehicles.

Constructing a bike path through this small, narrow park threatens to change all of that. What a shame that would be! Increased bike traffic would make the area far less safe for kids and pets, and it would disrupt the calm, community-focused atmosphere we all value. There are better alternatives that don’t compromise the very limited green space we have.

The City of Tucson should be protecting neighborhood parks, like Loma Verde Park, for the people who already use and love it.

Loma Verde residents are strongly opposed to a bike path disrupting our small neighborhood park. Thank you in advance for considering an alternative route, one that will be a safe option for all.

We, too, are opposed to putting a bike path down the middle of Loma Verde Park. We walk our dogs in the park every morning, we take our grandkids to play in the playground. There are a pair of owls nesting in a tree on the east side. There are always quail, bunnies and other wildlife. As others have said - the park recently received a new irrigation system which affected the wildlife - it is just now coming back to the way it was. I suggest adding bike crossings to the major roads, Broadway, Speedway, 5th and Pima similar to that on Grant. We ride our bikes from our house to the loop and other than the scariness of crossing these roads, since the roads have been repaved, the ride is pretty nice. It also might make sense to add a bike path around the mall. Separating the bikes from the cars and would provide a pedestrian path. Please don't put a bike path in our park. Thank you, Kymber and Tim

This makes no sense and should not interrupt our park area that is a buffer from the mall traffic and nonsense. Reroute and avoid ruining the little peace and quiet we have left.

A bike path through the west side of the park would be a great addition to the park. It would accommodate the occasional bike but would also add a safety avenue for walkers. strollers and joggers. It will also add value to the homes along the corridor. Fantastic idea. A win-win for everyone! I would suggest not to remove the disc golf or playground from the area. These structures are frequently used.

I don't understand what's being shown here at all. Nobody should agree to this with this little information.

I am opposed to the plan to build a bike path through the Loma Verde Park. I have ridden my bike on the many bike paths in Tucson and have walked the Loop all the way around Tucson. I know what a bike path means for pedestrians. It is dangerous and would be especially dangerous on a little piece of green space that Loma Verde Park is. When I am on a bike path, I see that adults have a difficult time staying out of the way of cyclists and sometimes there are groups of cyclists who take over the area. As a parent, I would not want my kids to be playing in the park if there is a bike path. The bike path becomes the focus and the park loses it's purpose as a green space .

I have been a homeowner within the Loma Verde Neighborhood since 1994 and have raised my children with that park as a wonderful place to go play. I hope that every neighborhood family gets to have the same experience. Currently, I enjoy the green space when I go for walks with my dog, visit with my neighbors who are also out enjoying the green space. There are many disc golf users who are also have fun in Loma Verde Park. There are plenty of kids utilzing the park and I get to bring my grandchildren to it. We get to do this now after the park went through years of renovating the irrigation. The park lost valuable shade from trees getting cut down during this process. The park is starting to be enjoyed again and now a bike path is proposed?! No, this community park should not be sacrificed because of a bike path. This is a small park and if a bike path is added, it will lose that feeling of safety for people on foot especially children.

I understand that there are funds for bike paths would like to suggest that the current bike paths be widened to give a safe space for walkers and horses. There are very busy parts of the Loop and I expect that usage will increase for the whole Loop. My hiking club started exploring the whole loop on foot as I did a few years ago. There is plenty of times we are dodging bikes and feel that we could have been severely injured if we did not get out of the way quickly. Now that ebikes are more popular, there is more cyclist traffic on bike paths. If you widen the loop for pedestrians, it will be a much safer and more enjoyable experience. Please do not ruin Loma Verde Park for our community to make another route for bikes. A bike path would make the area dangerous for adults and children on foot.

the only way this works is to make it an exit only traffic from the mall, no southbound traffic, move crosswalk to west side of lane with separate traffic control. during holidays traffic is too aggressive to have a uncontrolled merge for bicycles, traffic entering the mall by see's candy does not completely stop on red and accelerates aggressively after completing the turn. traffic patterns are completely different october-january gift giving season and need to be prioritized to keep the area safe for pedestrians heading to the bus stops as well as the new cyclists and existing drivers

this area of the project needs heavy community involvement, taking away more of our trees, destroying the new irrigation system, interrupting our neighborhood walking space and disc golf course is not an option. this area needs to have community involvement, disc golf management involvement as well as parks & rec management involvement

I'm very much opposed to a bike path through Loma Verde Park. The Park is a buffer between the neighborhood and Park Place. We already have to deal with the noise from the mall as well as extra traffic speeding down our streets which is a hazard. The Park is a place for children to play, families to walk dogs and Frisbee golf. Adding a bike path right through the middle of the park would ruin it for the neighborhood and those that enjoy the park today. I believe this also poses a safety concern with having "traffic" running right through the park. There is enough concrete in the area we don't need to destroy a park to add more concrete.

I oppose the plan to put a bike path through Loma Verde Park. Please find an alternate route for this section of the bike boulevard. Thank you!

I am opposed to the proposed Loma Verde Park segment of the Sahuara Bicycle Boulevard. When my husband and I bought our house in 1988 we were thrilled to have this narrow bit of green space -Loma Verde Park ( Sears Park as it was called then)-adjacent to our street. Four years later we asked the City of Tucson to install playground equipment. Which they did. This equipment is located at the most narrow portion of the park. Soon after this we collected the necessary signatures of neighbors in order to have speed humps installed on Chantilly Dr. In 1965 Sears was a stand alone store. Developer Joseph Kivel spent years in litigation to get zoning approval for his Park Mall. He ended up exchanging 9 acres to use as a city park “buffer zone” as part of the deal. Sears Park was the buffer zone between the Loma Verde neighborhood and bustling large concrete shopping mall ( Park Mall). Sears Park was renamed Loma Verde Park after Sears store was shuttered a several years ago. Bulldozing a 10 to 12 foot path down the middle of this narrow neighborhood green space does nothing to improve the Loma Verde Park or the neighborhood. It would actually be a danger to residents and visitors who want to utilize the park for their daily activities such as playground use, walking and running for fitness, dog walking, ball throwing , flying a kite. Also, Loma Verde Park has been home to a very active disk golf course for about 8 or 9 years. Would the bikers ring their bells or shout “ on the left” as they quickly ride by? Hopefully we could all get out of the way. As you can see there is already a lot of green space sharing happening in this small park. There is not enough room for a bike path.
Another downside to bulldozing Loma Verde Park is the recent completion of a new irrigation system, new grass to a major portion of the park, and at least 50 newly planted trees. This project, completed in the last five years, was a big investment by the city of Tucson.
According to a City of Tucson website another project is expected to be completed 2026-2028. Tucson Delivers Parks & Connections.
Project Summary: renovation to the playground and irrigation system

Investment: $348,750
Phase 1: 2020-2022–renovate
Irrigation system
Phase 3: 2026-2028– replace
existing playground and
add shade

Assuming the irrigation project was the one completed already then the planned playground structure and shade structure project will be underway in 2026. ??
In closing I think a bike path through Loma Verde Park should not be considered.

As a resident in the area I vehemently oppose putting a bike path through Lima Verde Park. Thank you for your consideration.

I am all for creating a safe path for people who choose to ride bikes. sadly by creating a bike path along the edge of Park Place Mall is destroying a safe space for the neighborhood that is currently there. The residents of the neighborhood already have to deal with the constant noise and traffic that is expected if you live in such close proximity of the mall. Taking away our one area of retreat for our children and our pets is unfair. not only to mention that the bike path also attracts an area to be attacked by people who target busy areas. searching just for a few moments online I came across so many instances where bike paths have higher crime rates. I have lived in this neighborhood for four years. for the most part its quiet and uneventful. you add a bike path through here our quiet neighborhood will be invaded. its already a busy part of town- now to bring so many bikes right through the only safe place our families can go in their neighborhood. nor to mention but the bike paths that I have in person seen tend to be dirty and not well maintained- now we have to accept our clean neighborhood that we have worked so hard for will be slowly littered, taken over by crime, our children made targets- not fair- especially when there are other ways to make a safe path without impeding on our lives. please reconsider another route not through our homes

Dear Mayor Romero and Members of the City Council,
I am writing as a resident of the Wilshire Heights neighborhood to express my concerns about the proposed route of the Sahuaro Bicycle Boulevard through Loma Verde Park and our neighborhood. While I support the city’s efforts to enhance cycling infrastructure, the current plan threatens the environment, safety, privacy, and community enjoyment of a highly utilized park, particularly by disc golfers, and requires reevaluation.
Loma Verde Park is a vital community hub, heavily utilized by families, children, and especially disc golfers who rely on its dedicated course as a recreational space in Tucson. The proposed Sahuaro Bicycle Boulevard’s path through the park risks disrupting this vibrant activity by increasing bicycle and pedestrian traffic across areas used for disc golf, potentially creating conflicts between cyclists and players. Construction, such as paving or widening pathways, could damage the course’s layout, native desert vegetation, and wildlife habitats, including those supporting local birds and small mammals. This high-traffic park cannot afford to lose its functionality or natural character. I urge the city to conduct a comprehensive environmental and recreational impact assessment and explore rerouting the boulevard to avoid Loma Verde Park entirely.
In Wilshire Heights, the Sahuaro Bicycle Boulevard’s route raises significant safety and privacy concerns. Our narrow, residential streets, such as Del Valle and Colonia Ave. are home to families with young children who walk or bike to Loma Verde Park. Designating these streets as a bicycle boulevard could increase cyclist traffic, posing risks at intersections and driveways, especially for children crossing to access the disc golf course or playground. Homes along the route may also face reduced privacy due to increased visibility from passing cyclists and potential loitering. I request that the city implement robust safety measures, including speed-limiting signage, enhanced crosswalks, and traffic-calming features like speed humps, and address privacy through landscaping or barriers in consultation with residents. Also an enhanced police patrol presence would be a priority considering the impact of increased traffic through the area.
Assessing the number of proposed speed humps along Del Valle will directly impact the traffic presence on our street of 15th and Colonia in the Wilshire Terrace area. Currently, there are no speed humps on 15th and traffic is heavy to avoid the speed humps on E Wilshire Terrace. In addition, traffic speeds through the neighborhood and flies around the corner of 15th and Colonia. Many small and young children, along with seniors at an assisted living facility live here. If the amount of speed humps proposed are installed on Del Valle, this will lead to further traffic increase concerns and speeding. I am extremely concerned that an auto/ped incident will occur as drivers actively avoid Del Valle. If this project does go through, I expect and demand speed humps be installed on 15th street and Colonia Ave. I would expect installation at the intersection of 15th and Del Valle, the corner where 15th turns into Colonia Ave and then at the intersection of Colonia
Ave and North Wilshire Dr. See included map of areas I would expect to see speed humps to mitigate potential auto/ped incidents. (appears I cannot include the map in this comment section. Hopefully, my description is enough).

Moreover, routing the boulevard through Wilshire Heights prioritizes cyclist connectivity over residents’ quality of life. The increased traffic could exacerbate parking challenges and disrupt the quiet, family-oriented character of our neighborhood. I encourage the city to consider alternative routes, such as wider, less residential streets nearby, the road around Park Place Mall, and keep the main pathway OUT of residential and park areas to better balance the needs of cyclists and residents.
Finally, the planning process has not adequately engaged the community. Many Wilshire Heights residents and Loma Verde Park users, including disc golfers, were not sufficiently informed about the Sahuaro Bicycle Boulevard’s route or its impacts. Transparent dialogue is essential to ensure infrastructure projects reflect community priorities. I respectfully request that the city hold targeted public forums for Wilshire Heights residents and park users, extend the public comment period, and incorporate our feedback into revising the boulevard’s route and design.
I support improving Tucson’s cycling network but believe the Sahuaro Bicycle Boulevard’s current route through Loma Verde Park and Wilshire Heights jeopardizes the park’s role as a heavily utilized recreational space, particularly for disc golfers, and our neighborhood’s safety, privacy, and cohesion. Thank you for considering these concerns. I look forward to your response and am eager to participate in future discussions.

This crossing needs additional space on the North side of Broadway for bikes to wait to cross when headed South. Currently the only space is the gravel hill leading up to the Pyramid Credit Union. A 10' extension of the sidewalk to run along the East side of Chantilly would do it.

The crossing light that is proposed at Speedway/Sahuara is the single most important piece of this boulevard. Having ridden this route before, this crossing is the most dangerous and inconvenient point north of Broadway. Adding a crossing light at Speedway would make this a useable option that would without a doubt add riders from my neighborhood near Sewell Elementary.

This is a bad idea. The park is already crowded with dog walker and disc golfers. It and risk to people getting hurt.

Loma Verde Park is a narrow strip that is not large enough to support this project. We don't need more concrete poured into this already narrow strip of green. As others have stated, keep the bike path on already paved roads. Tucson is a very bike-friendly city with plenty of bike lanes. We don't need to sacrifice limited park spaces to pave more lanes. Leave Loma Verde Park for pedestrians, pets and the disk golfers who use it every day.

Although 14th street seems to be tucked away in a quiet neighborhood, it is all but that. With Abbie School at the east end of 14th, twice a day cars and buses drop off and pick up students. Also, there are staff and service vendor vehicles contributing to the volume. Many cars use 14th Street assuming it is an access road to Park Place.
The proposed route of the Sahuara bicycle boulevard, as is routed through Loma Verde Park. is an invitation for yet more 14th Street vehicular traffic between Craycroft and the Loma Verde Park parking lot, not to mention additional bike traffic. It is also creates additional potential vehicular/bike accidents with the attraction of an entryway to the bike boulevard at Loma Verde Park. On top of that, the bikeway can potentially contribute to neighborhood crime.
As a 48 year resident of 14th Street, I am fully aware that when changes like this bike boulevard are made to our neighborhood there are negative consequences to pay for. This proposed bike route will bring unwanted vehicular and bike traffic and activity to an already too active 14th Street.
I urge the City to abandon the Loma Verde route portion of this project.

Use existing streets. The internal neighborhood street are pretty calm. Why would you think of putting a twelve foot wide bike path through a 50 foot wide park. Use existing roads!

Put your bike path somewhere else. Use what is already paved. You guys never listened to Cat Stevens ( where will the children play)or Joni Mitchel ( they paved paradise). Don't pave the green space. How about unpaving somewhere and putting a park in.

Bulldozing through the narrow 50 foot wide (at 13th St) Loma Verde Park which was provided prior to the building the Park Place Mall as a buffer zone for the home owners should not be now used as a bike path route. Van Buren, Chantilly or 14th St - feel free to ask those folks but the park should be off limits - it is used regularly by youth for games and Frisbee in the area. We walk this park most mornings and the disk golfers generally wait patiently while we walk past the T's - adding a 2nd major activity in this narrow park is poor planning to say the least. The neighborhood roads are paved for use - we do not need more paving in the neighborhood - the whole of Park Place Mall is paved. Leave what little green space we have alone - Thank you very much for paying attention to our historically neglected area but no thanks for thinking to add a transportation route through a buffer zone park - you are defeating the purpose. See you at the next Parks & Rec meeting....

We attended the event this morning at Loma Verde Park regarding the proposed bicycle route.
We DID NOT know that these plans included tearing up our neighborhood park.
We are 30+ year residents of this neighborhood. Many of the residents worked very hard to restore Loma Verde Park after many years of neglect. The park was dying. The irrigation no longer functioned. There were dozens of trees that died and had to be cut down. It was a literal desert, full of goathead weeds and it was attracting drug abuse. Most people didn't want to spend time at the park. I was one of the residents who worked to get the city to install a whole new irrigation system. Once that was finished, new grass was planted and then 50+ new trees were planted. There is a disc golf course that spans a good portion of the park and it is used daily. People take their children to play on the playground again. Many people walk the park daily. As another resident mentioned, there are two schools that are next to the park.
Even as cyclists who use The Loop, we do not want our neighborhood park destroyed for a new bicycle route. There are other possibilities for a bicycle route through this area. The Park Place Mall is nearly empty. There is a road around the perimeter of the mall that could be reconstructed to accommodate bicycles. I'm sure there are other options that don't include tearing up a neighborhood park that was just recently restored!

To the officials at the City of Tucson Department of Transportation & Mobility,

We recently learned of a proposed bicycle boulevard through our neighborhood. As stated in the notice you mailed us, the route “will use low-volume neighborhood streets to expand the city’s bicycling network…"

However, the proposed route through our neighborhood would not use a low-volume street, and it would also carve up a beautiful city park, the Loma Verde Park. In addition to that, it would run next to two schools; the Abbie School, which serves autistic children and those with learning disabilities, and Sky Islands Charter School.

Very often we see the children from the Abbie School enjoying physical activities in the Sears Park. On a daily basis, we see people, enjoying the play structure with their children, others eating lunch on the picnic table, walking their dogs, playing Frisbee with friends or dogs or walking in the park for exercise.

Because of the Abbie School which is located at the end of our street, 14th Street is NOT a low-volume street. Every morning cars and buses go rushing by in order to get children to school on time or for parents to get to their own job on time. Then it’s back down 14th Street after they drop the off the child. This process is repeated every afternoon as the cars and buses go to and fro again down 14th St. to pick up the children after school. Evening and weekend activities are often held at the school also. Even your own Sanitation Dept. vehicles go lumbering up and down14th Street to make special weekly pickups at the school. Service vehicles visit the school as well.

With the proposed bike route,14th Street could also be used by bicyclists coming off of Craycroft to connect with the route, causing more congestion and danger to bicyclists who would be in competition for use of the street by vehicular traffic going back and forth to get to the Abbie School.

Your project is titled “Traffic Calming + Safety Improvements.” We believe the proposed project would create a lot less “calming” for our neighborhood (which you also have to take into consideration) and would endanger the safety of school children as well as bicyclists.

We strongly urge you to respect all the residents in our neighborhood by not building this proposed bicycle boulevard here. We live here every day of the year. No bicyclist would be using our neighborhood as much as we do. Please leave us be in peace to enjoy our beautiful park by not carving it up for a few bike rides, and by not congesting our neighborhood any further.

Thank you for your attention to our plight. We hope to hear from you soon.

Sue Gyuro

Questions: The Chuck Huckleberry Loop, to be used by walkers and bicyclists, cost the taxpayers a lot of money. Isn’t that enough? Isn’t the east west route down Rosewood St. enough for bicyclists? How many people actually use those routes every day? How about we fix the huge potholes in the streets used by thousands of Tucsonans every day, before we spend more money on bike routes?