Although board members insist it was something they planned to do anyway, the Regional Transportation Authority answered their critics by taking a pledge to do what they promised.

Seeking voter approval on May 16 for the $2.1 billion, 51-project plan to improve roads, public transit, pedestrian safety and the local environment, members of the RTA board gave their word to finish everything, on time, no matter what. To guarantee that happens, the transportation authority board voted to create a 21-member citizens accountability committee to oversee their progress.

In taking the pledge, they agreed to provide an annual public report on the half-cent sales tax revenue collected, submit to an independent public audit of expenditures, and offer a yearly five-year improvement plan to describe each project and its funding, and go back to the voters if anything needs to be changed by more than 10 percent.

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Since the regional transportation plan was unveiled, there has been opposition to the plan itself and the added sale tax. Incorporating 35 road improvement projects scattered throughout the metropolitan area, including major widening of Grant and Houghton roads, the regional plan also funds expanded service and routes for SunTran, pedestrian safety improvements, 250 miles of new sidewalks and 550 miles of new bicycle lanes and paths.

The organization “Tucson Needs a Real Transportation Plan!” has been critical of the board’s lack of direct voter accountability, the $100 million dedicated to constructing a trolley line from the University of Arizona to the still-proposed Flandrau Science Center and lack of funding for road maintenance.

“It doesn’t help that the RTA misleads the public by saying that a change in the plan requires another vote, when that is simply not true. Nor is there accountability when the City of Tucson, which has half of the region’s population, has only one member on the ten-member RTA board. The legislation must be changed to ensure that changing projects requires voter approval and that there is fair representation on the RTA Board. Otherwise, we’ll get stuck with another Rio Nuevo bait and switch,” the opponents wrote.

Commenting on the criticism, Pima County Supervisors and RTA Board Chairman Ramon Valadez said, “This is our way of letting the voters know that what they’re voting on is what’s going to happen,” he said.

“I understand that some might see this as a response to criticism about the progress on various Pima County road projects, but prior to comment from outside, I said this should be a priority.”

Valadez said, “We’re using the best estimates possible and there is a fund set aside to handle unanticipated expenses. This says we’re going to do our best to make this happen.”

Applications are now being accepted for the oversight committee, which will include eight members representing the eight local jurisdictions, including the cities of Tucson and South Tucson; towns of Marana, Sahuarita and Oro Valley; the Tohono O’odham and Pasqua Yaqui tribes and Pima County. In addition, the committee will include 13 other at-large members.

Members will serve staggered four, five and six-year terms, “which will allow for continuity and independent oversight for the entire duration of the 20-year project,” Valadez said. “They are there to be our watchdogs, because we want this to be for the community and not imposed on the community.”

Tucson Mayor Walkup, another signatory of the pledge said, “By putting it in writing, we’re saying, ‘Hold me accountable.’ That’s why, when they gave it to me to sign, I said I wanted to read it first, because things like this come back to you.”

He said, “At the very beginning of this process, we talked about what we’d have to do differently to energize the community in a meaningful way. What we found was that people wanted accountability and a system designed to eliminate the big gorilla that Tucson can be in situations like this. We knew we needed a system where everyone’s voice is heard and every community has equal strength and an equal stake in the outcome.”

Although creation of a regional transportation authority will transfer some responsibility from the city, Walkup said it’s something that needs to be done if specific problems, such as transportation, are going to be resolved. “There’s nothing new about this. We have an independent regional airport authority that serves a valuable function.”

A regional transportation authority will accomplish the same goal. “The issue is regional, so expanded regional responsibilities are essential,” he said. “This is something where the obvious benefits outweigh any negative possibilities.”

Contact Philip S. Moore at pmoore@azbiz.com or (520) 295-4238.