Sandy Luna's flower shop, Buds and Blooms, sits just off the corner of Stone Avenue and Sixth Street. For years that corner had construction on one side or another. In May, Luna told KOLD that the opening of the Sixth Street underpass meant "people will actually find the area where we are located instead of just going around and not finding the place."
Getting around that corner is no longer necessary. On Nov. 2 the City of Tucson announced that Downtown Links Phase III West-End is complete. That was the last piece of a corridor tying Barraza-Aviation Parkway to St. Mary's Road, and it includes a Sixth Street underpass that replaces the old street-level railroad crossing. The road was planned for cars. Its western end is best seen at walking speed, and the people who live beside it made sure of that.
Six Years at One Corner
Downtown Links has been part of the commute for so long that its timeline is easy to lose track of. Here it is in order.
| When | What happened |
|---|---|
| August 2020 | Construction begins on the Downtown Links Improvement Project |
| February 2023 | The eastern segment, the new Maclovio Barraza Parkway from Broadway to Sixth Street, is completed |
| August 2025 | Utility coordination around a fiber-optic cable pushes expected completion from late 2025 into the first quarter of 2026 |
| May 18, 2026 | The Sixth Street underpass partially opens with one lane each way and a sidewalk on the south side |
| July 2026 | Lane striping is finished and every lane on Sixth Street is open to drivers |
| Nov. 2, 2026 | The city announces Phase III West-End is complete |
KGUN and the Tucson Sentinel both put the project's cost at $76 million. The money came through the Regional Transportation Authority plan that voters approved in 2006.
Over most of those six years, people learned to steer around the work. Kevin Rountree, general manager at Corbett's, told KOLD that he started downtown in 2024 and could not remember a time without construction. "I feel like it's been forever since we've seen that other side," he said.
What the City Built It For
The official goal is traffic. In the city's announcement, Mayor Regina Romero described the project as "diverting traffic from our downtown core and creating a safer environment for pedestrians and local patrons." The Regional Transportation Authority describes the corridor as 1.3 miles of four-lane road designed for 30 mph, with bike lanes, sidewalks and a separate multiuse path.
Some of the work is out of sight. An underground box culvert was built to help relieve flooding downtown, and a new Sixth Street overpass sits alongside the underpass. For drivers, the main change is the underpass. It carries traffic beneath the Union Pacific tracks and links Church Avenue to Sixth Street, so cars no longer wait at a crossing arm.
The Part Residents Insisted On
The features that make the west end worth walking were not guaranteed. Vice Mayor and Ward 1 Council Member Lane Santa Cruz said so in the same city release: "Residents fought to keep the 9th Avenue Deck Plaza and the bike and pedestrian connections in this project, and their persistence paid off. Today with this final phase completed, people can walk and bike across the railroad safely."
Those connections tie into routes that already existed. According to KVOA, the project's features include a link to the 9th Avenue bike boulevard and a multiuse path. The project's own update says the paved path connects directly to the Stone Avenue bicycle and pedestrian bridge.
The Deck Plaza sits at Sixth Street and Ninth Avenue, near Citizens Warehouse. When its design was revised in 2021, the goals stayed the same: gathering spaces at several scales, native plants and water harvesting, materials suited to the setting, and a gateway into downtown for people on foot and on bikes.
A Short Loop Through the Art
The art along the route is meant to be handled, triggered or seen up close. Each piece was paid for through a percent-for-art program that sets aside part of the construction budget, with the Arts Foundation for Tucson and Southern Arizona managing the process. The Public Art Archive lists four pieces as on view. Taken in this order, they make an easy loop starting from the plaza.
- Grand Pianophone, by Gregg Payne, on the Deck Plaza at 587 N. 9th Ave. It is an outdoor instrument of tuned aluminum chimes, played by hand, covering a chromatic scale from low C to high F. An internal silicone damping system helps it keep its tone outdoors.
- SPHERE, by Cork Marcheschi, in the median of the Sixth Street underpass at 201–207 W. Sixth St. A square frame made of aluminum plates holds solid glass spheres ranging from three-eighths of an inch to 10 inches across. Pinholes let small points of white light through, meant to look like a starburst.
- Now Is The Time – Maclovio Barraza Memorial, by Casto Solano, at 509 N. 7th Ave. A Cor-Ten steel sculpture made with community input, honoring Barraza's work for civil liberties and for better conditions for workers in Tucson and across the Southwest.
- Wet Wheel, by Joseph O'Connell, on Barraza Memorial Parkway just south of Sixth Street. A giant bicycle wheel arches over the mixed-use path with no spokes. When a cyclist rides through, jets of water form the spokes and give the rider a quick spray. Pedestrians can set it off too.
The archive's dates follow the construction. Wet Wheel is listed as 2023, the year the eastern segment opened. The Barraza memorial is listed as 2025. The Grand Pianophone and SPHERE are both listed as 2026, so they arrived with the final phase. Anyone who rode through Wet Wheel years ago can now walk or bike the full route it was built to welcome.
The Name on the Parkway
The memorial on Seventh Avenue explains a name many Tucsonans read every day without thinking about it. The Pima County Public Library notes that the parkway was originally named for the old Aviation Highway, which ran southeast from town toward Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, where Tucson's airport once was. Barraza was added to the name in 1994 in honor of Maclovio Barraza, a union leader for copper miners in Arizona and New Mexico who died in 1980.
The Barraza family was among the hosts of the city's ribbon-cutting, along with the Tohono O'odham Nation, the Arts Foundation for Southern Arizona and the Regional Transportation Authority. The city set the celebration for Friday, Nov. 6, from 9 to 11 a.m. at the Deck Plaza. The city's announced program lists performances by the Barbea Williams Performing Company and the folklorico and mariachi groups from Roskruge Bilingual K-8, along with the formal dedication of the Sixth Street Underpass.
Where the Corridor Meets El Tour
The next big date for this part of town comes on Saturday, Nov. 21, when the 43rd El Tour de Tucson starts and finishes at the Tucson Convention Center. Organizers say the 2026 routes have a few tweaks to avoid construction and are still subject to permits. According to the event schedule, Platinum and Elite riders on the 102-mile route leave at 7 a.m., the general 102-mile field at 7:05 a.m., the 62-mile ride at 9 a.m., and the 32-mile ride at 10 a.m.
KOLD's closure list includes several streets close to the Downtown Links corridor:
- Aviation Parkway, eastbound lanes and some intersections, Broadway Boulevard to Golf Links Road, 6:30 a.m. to noon
- Cushing Street, both directions, Stone Avenue to El Paso Avenue, 6 a.m. to 8 p.m.
- Stone Avenue, both directions, from Sixth Avenue and 18th Street to 14th Avenue, 4 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
- Fourth Avenue, both directions, 15th Street to Broadway Boulevard, 4 to 11:30 a.m.
Closures can start as early as 6:30 a.m., and after 4:30 p.m. riders go back to following the regular rules of the road. On race morning, the bike and pedestrian crossings by the Deck Plaza are another way across the tracks for anyone headed downtown on foot.
Nancy Mancuso studied art and architecture in London, and she pays close attention to how public works and public art change the way Tucson feels from block to block. If you've visited the Grand Pianophone or ridden through Wet Wheel and want to talk about it, Nancy Mancuso would be glad to hear from you. Let's Connect.
