This weekend the City of Tucson announced an "improvement" to one of the intersections that is near my house, that I frequently drive/cycle on, and am intimately familiar with: the Tanque Verde - Wilmot - Pima triangle. https://www.tucsonaz.gov/newsnet/tanque-verde-road-wilmot-road-pima-street-improvement-project-begins-next-week

The city will "improve" the intersection by removing both of the triangles, and adding a 2nd turn lane to northbound Wilmot.

This "improvement" will have the following effect on people on foot: removal of safety island, increased crossing distance, more lanes of traffic to cross. All in all, increased danger and worsened safety.

This is a major bicycling intersection, where people on bikes traveling east on Pima turn left onto (northbound Wilmot-->) Tanque Verde (red, green lines on image). Bikes currently have the option of waiting in a car lane, shielded from the cars turning left from Wilmot by the island (red line).  Or an even safer option currently is for bikes to walk onto the island and cross at the pedestrian light (green line).

In addition, there are several apartment complexes nearby, and there is considerable foot traffic to the Circle K on the corner. Removing the safety islands and speeding up car traffic here is a really, really bad idea.

The effect to the "improvement" on bike safety will be to put bikes directly in the path of left turning traffic from Wilmot (yellow line, exaggerated by the acute turn angle).

The news release does not allude to any special bike infrastructure to protect cyclists.

Therefore this intersection "improvement" is expected to result in the following:
1. increased car traffic.
2. increased car speeds (thus increased danger for all non-drivers0
3. worsened pedestrian safety.
4. worsened bike safety.

I have not seen any studies that would indicate why this change is necessary. Car traffic on the 5 lane section of East Pima Street between Swan and Wilmot is rather sparse, while this is a major bike way connecting the University of Arizona and the University Medical Center to the Eastside, and the Eastside cycling destinations of Tanque Verde and Catalina Hwy/Mount Lemmon.

I fail to see how this makes any economical sense, while it will put lives at risk.