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Groundbreaking on the bridge was originally set to begin this spring and would have closed a portion of East 22nd Street for up to three years.

However, following recent concerns raised by community members during an , then again during a at Tucson City Hall, the project has been officially put on pause, according to Erica Frazelle, a spokeswoman for the city’s Department of Transportation and Mobility.

“The Department of Transportation and Mobility (DTM) and the City of Tucson have placed this project on hold to allow further review of the design based on the feedback we have received at the multiple public outreach meetings,� she said Thursday in an email. “The project will resume following additional public outreach meetings, with dates yet to be determined.�

Common concerns by community members have been the risks the new designs would pose to pedestrians and cyclists, as well as environmental effects from emissions that the increased start-and-stop traffic would bring.

The is no. 19 of 51 projects outlined in the , a 20-year, $2.1 billion regional transportation plan which was approved by Pima County voters in 2006 and since been funded by a half-cent sales tax.

was intended to increase traffic capacity and improve freight access. The bridge was originally built in the 1960s, and it currently is unable to be used by large vehicles due to its 15-ton weight restriction.

The expectation of increased traffic was met, as driving in Tucson has become increasingly more dangerous in recent years. As of Nov. 1, Tucson police say there have been 83 traffic fatalities this year, 26 of which were pedestrians and six were cyclists. That’s up from the 78 traffic deaths at the same time last year, in which over half of all traffic deaths came from pedestrians or cyclists, police say.

The expectation of city construction hold-ups that members of the community have raised held up, too. In 2018, residents got a taste of just how difficult it is to get safe pedestrian and cyclist pathways built when project budgets are tight. That’s when the city gutted safety measures for cyclists and pedestrians from the Downtown Links Project.

The primary concern for residents since its inception has been the design of the new bridge itself. And that concern, no matter how many times renderings have changed, remain today.

By 2009, designs included a separated bike and pedestrian path on a suspended bridge below the roadway, which supporters said would allow for a safer, better-connected route to Aviation Bikeway.

Project plans changed in 2021, however, due to inflation in construction prices amidst the pandemic.

Last year, the project was awarded a from the U.S. Department of Transportation as part of the Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity program which spawned out the federal Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.

On top of this, Tucson was already pushing for a better bike culture and its surrounding infrastructure. Through , which extended the half-cent sales tax for an additional 10 years, as well as , a $900,000 federal infrastructure investment to “connect south side neighborhood needed services and economic opportunity,� according to a February 2023 news release from the office of Mayor Regina Romero.

The latest designs for the now-paused project call for the increase from four lanes to six, with three traveling east and three heading west. Instead of a suspended bridge beneath the roadway, new designs place a protected lane for pedestrians and cyclists going down the middle of the bridge, separating them from the busy streets with a 42-inch concrete partition.

If built, the 22nd Street Bridge would be the only road in Pima County to have this feature.

To enter and exit the bridge, pedestrians and cyclists would have to employ two HAWK signals on both ends to stop traffic. Earlier designs in which the protected lane was employed had the idea of building a separate bridge which would let walkers and cyclists off underneath; however, that concept was excluded from recent versions.

Upcoming public outreach meetings have yet to be scheduled, Frazelle said Thursday. Heading to the will allow anyone to sign up for their mailing list and receive updates on the project and upcoming meetings, she said.