Tucson News NowRTA program seeks to help businesses around street car project

RTA program seeks to help businesses around street car project

Business owners who have concerns about all the construction that will take place once the Modern Street Car project starts, will be getting some help and guidance.

RTA officials said about 900 businesses were located within a quarter mile radius of the street car project.

Officials involved with an RTA program called "Main Street" aimed at helping small businesses in the path of construction projects.

Officials involved with the program were reaching out to all those businesses, and handing out information, and offering workshops that would teach them how to turn road construction into business opportunities.

The Modern street car project would link Fourth Avenue and Congress Street to University Blvd. and Main gate Square on the University of Arizona Campus.  It was a 3.9 mile stretch linking downtown, to the campus scene.

"It's going to provide the connectivity that downtown and the University have needed for years," said Jane McCollum, with the Marshall Foundation, that represented all of the businesses located in the affected areas.

Some business owners were concerned about how the construction would impact their bottom line.  Officials said some lanes would be shut down, and parking spots eliminated to make room for construction equipment.

The good news was the construction would take place in small phases, not all at once, and officials estimated it would move very quickly.

To prepare businesses for this construction phase, and to help them get through it, an RTA program was offering free consulting services and guidance for business owners to take advantage of.

"It could be something related to social media or something to do with their websites.  You can work on marketing related stuff, you can work on financial related things," said Britton Dornquast, program manager of Main Street.

He added that experienced consultants with many different specialties, who worked in the private sector would be on hand to provide free guidance and services to businesses located within a quarter mile radius of the Modern Street Car project.

The first workshop was scheduled to start next week, while construction was slated to begin early next year.

Officials estimate more than 3,000 people will ride the street car everyday, and said that would boost business for everyone in the area.

They also estimated the project would help create almost 1,500 jobs in the long term.

For more information, or to sign up for business assistance, you can log onto  http://www.rtamobility.com/MainStreet.aspx.