Tucson Standard

Some parts of Tucson are less safe for drivers than others, and the City has one particularly dangerous grid area in its sights for improvement.

The Tucson Department of Transportation and Mobility has started planning for a project that would improve traffic flow on Sixth Street from Campbell Avenue to Country Club Road, and on Fifth Street from Country Club Road to Wilmot Road, a release from the City earlier this year said. 

The City has been seeking suggestions since March, and apparently the solution of choice is to change the streets from four lanes to three lanes.

"There's been a lot of research on changing from four to three lanes like what's being considered here, and it will decrease crashes from 19% to 47%," Ryan Fagan, City project manager, told KGUN9 this week. 

Owners of businesses in the corridor have long been aware of the safety problems for drivers.

"I don't know what it is [but] right here on Rosemont and Fifth there tends to be a lot of accidents," Tanya Barnett, owner of Midtown Vegan Deli and Market, told KGUN9. "I think people are running the red lights."

Another person who works in the vicinity called Fifth Street "a death trap."

"If Fifth is narrowed to one lane instead of two that would cause more of a back up, but on the flip side it would be a lot safer," Brenda Kazen, a counselor at Rincon High School, told KGUN9.

That's the objective Fagan and others want to achieve. 

"The primary reason to do this is safety; three lane roads have a great safety record," he said.