The city placed large rocks along two Interstate 10 underpasses on Tucson’s west side that they hope will discourage loitering.
The city says the unwelcoming landscaping that started this week is intended to improve safety for pedestrians and drivers using West Speedway and West Congress Street where they go under I-10.
The Tucson Department of Transportation and Mobility (DTM) is working with the Arizona Department of Transportation on the “pilot safety improvements,” Andy Squire, the city’s spokesman, said Friday in an email.
The project has been adding large patches of rocks in the underpasses to keep the areas “clean and safe,” Squire said, as it’s the city’s obligation per their intergovernmental agreement with ADOT, as the underpasses are technically state property.
The program is intended to address activities that are “not related to moving through the underpass,” Squire said in the email.
“The underpasses are designed to allow for vehicular and pedestrian movement under the I-10 freeway and are posted as no trespassing areas by the State of Arizona in order to keep the underpass areas clear and allow for this movement to occur safely,” he said.
“The work being done will include improved landscaping and lighting to encourage pedestrians to utilize the sidewalk areas to move through the underpasses and provide greater visibility for drivers, cyclists, and pedestrians moving along these arterials underneath the freeway,” Squire said.
The work on both underpasses is expected to be completed by the end of the week.
If the rock landscaping is effective, Squire said, the city “will move forward with similar efforts at additional underpass locations along the I-10 corridor.”
