Question: "Who is responsible for paving UA roads? From what I can tell, no one is. · I think First Street down Greek Row is my favorite when I'm looking for a bumpy ride."
÷ Jonathan Wilson, engineering senior
Answer:
There is no one entity in charge of all of the streets at the UA, says UA spokeswoman Sharon Kha. "It goes street by street (as to) who's responsible for paving it," said Kha. This probably has a lot to do with the poor quality of our roads.
There are several roads on campus not owned by the UA, but by Tucson, said Kha.
In the 1960s, for example, East University Boulevard used to run along the entire length of the UA Mall before those sections became UA property, said Susan Bartlett, university campus planner. That process has picked up in the past 10 years, Bartlett added.
So there are a lot of crappy streets around here that the UA can't touch. As soon as they are vacated to us, "we can then do what we want to on the streets ÷ make them more narrow, make them more pedestrian-friendly, do landscaping, more campus design work," Bartlett said.
Jaime Gutierrez, director of community relations, said that as soon as the UA takes control of a street, the university can begin repaving and control who gets to park there.
I believe the reason why the city neglects its streets is because it knows the UA will eventually own them anyway. I should say that this is my own opinion and not the shared opinion of Bartlett, Gutierrez or any UA representative I talked to.
However, "We've recently taken over many of the streets from the city," said Al Tarcola, director of Facilities Management. Tarcola also said Facilities Management is currently in the process of writing a proposal to Senior Vice President of Business Affairs Joel Valdez that would lay out a plan for the repaving of all the roads under UA jurisdiction. Tarcola hopes that groundwork will begin within the year.
So, Mr. Wilson, enjoy the ride on Greek Row while you can. Case closed.
÷ Investigation by Detective Kris Cabulong
If you have an unsolved UA-related mystery, e-mail the campus detective at catcalls@wildcat.arizona.edu