Chuck Huckelberry Loop

Virtually every local government jurisdiction participated in the development of the 137-mile Chuck Huckelberry Loop, Tucson’s multiuse, off-street path that has garnered numerous national and local awards, including an MPA Common Ground Award.

The Loop winds throughout the Tucson metro area touching Pima County, Marana, Oro Valley, Tucson, South Tucson, the Tohono O’odham Nation and the Pascua Yaqui Tribe. It is the longest off-street path of its type in the country.

The Loop runs along and over all the major river systems or waterways in the area: the Rillito River, the Santa Cruz River, the Pantano Wash, the Julian Wash Greenway and the Harrison Greenway. It also links a number of feeder washes including the Tanque Verde Wash, the Cañada del Oro Wash, and north and south of the Santa Cruz River.

Voted the Best Recreational Trail by USA Today in 2021, the Loop has become a major economic driver for the region and enhances its reputation as a bicycle-friendly area that boasts the El Tour de Tucson annual cycling event and other events throughout the year.

“The Loop is fast becoming a key economic driver, offering expanded recreational opportunities throughout the region; attracting biking enthusiasts, bird watchers, and other tourists; an alternate transportation mode; im proving air quality; providing a safe, accessible exercise option for the com munity,” Pima County said in its nom ination of the project for the Com mon Ground Award in 2012. “More than one-third of the metropolitan population lives within a half mile of the Loop or Loop Links.”

The Loop has also received privatesector support with funding. Busi nesses now locating along the path are creating additional economic devel opment opportunities.

The Loop was named for former Pima County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry in 2018. Huckelberry, an avid cyclist, was instrumental in the development of the Loop. He was honored at an Oct. 22 event at the Loop as he recovered from injuries he suffered in an accident while on his bicycle in Downtown Tucson in Oc tober 2021.

Since 2007, MPA has awarded proects that are examples of what collaboration can accomplish. The following projects are 10 that are the prime examples of how MPA’s role has helped pave the way for projects that involve multiple jurisdictions and multiple interests.

“ These 10 Common Ground Award Winners have had a large impact not only on the real estate and development community, but all of Tucson,”

Credited by many as the most important development to jumpstart Downtown Tucson’s revitalization, the $197 million Sun Link Tucson Streetcar was named an MPA Common Ground Project of the Decade in 2014.

Sun Link, which is operated by the City of Tucson through Sun Tran, is the first fixed-rail transit system in Southern Arizona and is widely considered the largest and most complex construction project in the city’s history.

The four-mile route begins at the Mercado District west of Interstate 10 and passes through Downtown, the Fourth Avenue business district, University Main Gate Square and UArizona on its way to the Arizona Health Sciences Center north of Speedway.

“Sun Link is integral to the creation of a region-wide seamless transit system and provides easy connections to Sun Tran, select Sun Shuttle routes, and UA CatTran,” Sun Link said in its nomination for the Common Ground Award. “More than a historic transit system, Sun Link connects the more than 100,000 people who live, work, study and play within walking distance of the streetcar corridor.”

The Sun Link project is part of the ongoing $2.1 billion Regional Transportation Plan approved by Pima County voters in May 2006. The project is primarily funded by the Regional Transportation Authority – or RTA − and through federal and other regional funds. The City of Tucson and RTA co-managed the project with key partners including UArizona and the Arizona Department of Transportation. The Federal Transit Administration Region 9 monitored the project along with a project management oversight team.

Jim Campbell, a commercial and residential developer who oversaw the Plaza Centro/Cadence project downtown, said at the time of the award that his development would not have occurred without the streetcar.

“Plaza Centro is the first private-sector, ground-up development in Tucson in 30 years and there was a reason for it – the streetcar,” Campbell said. “There is a reason that housing at The Cadence is in such demand, and retail space at Plaza Centro is 100% occupied – the streetcar.”

Pima Community College’s Center of Excellence in Applied Technology is the first in a long-term PCC strategy to unite the various interests in business, education and government for the overall good of the region’s economic development.

The Center of Excellence in Applied Technology at the PCC Downtown Campus provides educational opportunities for students while working to meet the demand for a skilled workforce for companies looking to locate in Tucson.

Additional centers of excellence are planned in information technology, health professions, public safety and security, hospitality leadership and the arts. The Applied Technology center focuses on advanced manufacturing, transportation technology and infrastructure.

“Instructors with extensive real-world experience will teach a curriculum that has been developed in handin-hand coordination with business and industry,” PCC Chancellor Lee Lambert said in the project’s Common Ground Award nomination. “Additionally, communityservice providers and industry associations will have access to be strategically located at the (centers of excellence) for better connectivity to our students.”

In developing its long-term strategy for the centers of excellence, PCC cited research in 2018 that middleskilled jobs accounted for 53% of the state’s labor mar- ket, but only 47% of the state’s workforce was training in those areas.

“Pima Community College recognizes that we as educators must adapt quickly to meet employers’ needs,” said Greg Wilson, dean of applied technology at PCC. “Our vision for the center of excellence is that in partnership with our community, we will provide high-quality, in-demand programs that cultivate an agile workforce.”

Don Theriault, president of Tucson-based Industrial Tool, Die & Engineering Inc., said the Advanced Manufacturing building will make PCC the top school in Arizona for state-of-the-art facilities and training.

“PCC is leading the state of Arizona and this will to be a cutting-edge place for learning advanced manufacturing and robotics,” said Theriault, a leader of the local industry group Southern Arizona Manufacturing Partners.

“Our Center of Excellence in Applied Technology will address the region’s need for skilled workers who will form the foundation of a stable, prosperous community,” Lambert said. “By providing a work-ready talent pool for employers, the CoE will enhance metro Tucson’s attractiveness to companies seeking to establish or expand operations at a fast-growing crossroads of national and international commerce.”