The $50 million budget for wildlife linkages has been restored in the RTA Next Plan!

We want to thank you for the immense community support for this restored budget and for more wildlife crossing structures in Southern Arizona. So many of you showed up to open houses, replied to the RTA Next survey, rallied in support, shared letters to the editor, and spread the word with your friends and family.

All of this has played a key role in getting full funding for wildlife linkages on the ballot. As a reminder, there was nearly ten times as much community support for wildlife crossings than for any other item in the RTA Next draft. Thank you!

What’s next

On August 15, 2025, the Regional Transportation Authority (RTA) voted 6-2 to advance a $2.67 billion and 20-year RTA Next plan for voters to decide on the March 2026 ballot. This plan will ask the community to vote on a half-cent sales tax that will continue funding transportation projects through 2046. That now includes $50 million allocated for wildlife linkages, the amount recommended by the Citizens’ Advisory Committee and originally included in the RTA Next budget before it was slashed to $25 million in September 2024.

We expect the draft RTA Next plan to be considered by Pima County’s Board of Supervisors on September 2, 2025.

When the last RTA Next plan was voter approved in 2016, it helped to fund the Sonoran Desert’s first wildlife crossing bridge, the Ann Day Memorial Wildlife Bridge over Oracle Road, several wildlife underpasses, and research and programs that supported local wildlife and landscape connectivity in Southern Arizona.

These structures have provided safe passage for thousands of wildlife, prevented countless accidents due to wildlife-vehicle collisions and have played a key role in restoring landscape connectivity in our region.

However, there is still work to do. Here’s a short list of the critical wildlife crossing project areas that are still pending improvements here in Pima County, many of which were already approved under the current RTA Plan but weren’t funded (of the $45 million that was approved under the 2006-2026 plan, only $25 million was allocated due to a shortage in projected revenue).

• I-10/Santa Cruz River corridor with I-10 crossing near Avra Valley Rd (Marana and Pima County)
• Rattlesnake Pass over Twin Peaks (Marana)
• Sandario Road and Mile Wide Road adjacent to Saguaro National Park, Tucson Mountain Park, and Bureau of Reclamation Tucson Mitigation Corridor (Pima County)
• Silverbell Road, Goret to Cortaro Road
• 1-19 and Santa Cruz River corridors, south of Canoa Ranch (Pima County)