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A week ago, more than 11,000 poured onto Tucson鈥檚 roads for the 42nd El Tour de Tucson, celebrating our city as a cycling paradise. It was triumphant, joyful, and profitable. And it throws into stark focus a question we鈥檝e been avoiding for far too long:

What kind of 鈥渃ycling mecca鈥� has some of the most dangerous streets in America for the very people it invites here?

Let鈥檚 acknowledge the good, because it鈥檚 real. Tucson鈥檚 beauty is undeniable. We have The Chuck Huckelberry Loop聽鈥� roughly 130 miles of largely car-free path encircling the metro area, celebrated by Pima County and even marketed as the 鈥渘umber one bike path in America.鈥� There are group rides almost every night of the week. Pros and amateurs alike move here or winter here for a reason.

But a mature city has to look beyond its brochure. When you do, the picture darkens quickly.

A recent Consumer Affairs analysis put Tucson among the very worst U.S. cities for people walking and biking. We rank fifth most dangerous for cyclists, with 147 traffic deaths in 2023聽鈥� eight of them cyclists聽鈥� translating to 1.47 cyclist deaths per 100,000 residents, more than four times the national average. Another investigation found Tucson also ranks fifth nationwide for dangerous driving overall, highlighting high fatal-crash rates, speeding and weak bike infrastructure.

At the local level, the City of Tucson reports that in 2023 we lost 12 pedestrians and 3 cyclists within city limits. By mid-2024, those numbers had already climbed to 17 pedestrians and 6 cyclists, prompting advocacy groups like Living Streets Alliance to demand stronger action. Across Arizona, there were 1,287 bicycle crashes in 2023, resulting in more than 1,200 injuries and 42 deaths.

On October 29, 53-year-old cyclist Edwin Alexander was killed when he and a cement truck collided on Twin Peaks Road in Marana, near Camino de Ma帽ana. Just a month before, Enrique 鈥淜ix鈥� Mercado was stabbed to death during the Tuesday Night Ride on The Loop near First and Wetmore聽鈥� one of at least five homicides along the Loop in the last three years. On the very trail system we hold up as our safest, most family-friendly cycling asset.

This is what a paradox looks like: a city that markets 130 miles of 鈥渃ar-free bliss鈥� while riders organize memorial rides and ghost bikes.

A culture reveals what it truly values not by its slogans, but by the structures it builds and maintains. On that score, Tucson is telling cyclists something brutally honest.

We allow 45鈥�50 mph arterials to slice through neighborhoods with little or no physical protection for people on bikes. We tolerate crumbling pavement, disappearing shoulders and high-speed tourist traffic on iconic routes like Gates Pass and the approaches to Saguaro National Park East. We look at narrow, guardrail-lined descents with no safe escape for a rider and somehow decide they are 鈥済ood enough.鈥� Meanwhile, studies point to speeding and distracted driving as key contributors to our fatality rates, yet meaningful, sustained enforcement remains sporadic.

If Tucson and Pima County are going to keep playing the 鈥渃ycling mecca鈥� card聽鈥� on tourism websites, in real-estate listings, in economic-development pitches 鈥� then they have a moral obligation to align reality with rhetoric. That means objective, measurable steps:

鈥⒙燫eal enforcement of speeding, impairment and aggressive driving on known cycling corridors 鈥� not just during El Tour week, but all year.

鈥⒙營nfrastructure that treats cyclists as citizens, not afterthoughts: continuous shoulders or protected bike lanes on high-speed recreational routes like Gates Pass and around Saguaro East; traffic-calming and protected lanes on key in-town connectors.

鈥⒙燘asic road maintenance on popular riding roads.

鈥⒙燗 serious safety program on The Loop itself: consistent lighting and sustained law-enforcement presence that targets violent crime without criminalizing people simply trying to exist outside.

Here is the hard truth: if we continue to promote Tucson as a cycling mecca while ranking near the top in cyclist and pedestrian fatalities 鈥� and while failing to make obvious, evidence-based changes聽鈥� then we are not just unlucky when the next rider or walker is killed.