Tucson - American Southwest - page 349

BY BUS Greyhound ( & 800/231-2222 or 520/792-3475; www.greyhound.com)
connects Tucson to the rest of the United States through its extensive system. The bus
station is at 471 W. Congress St.

349

VISITOR INFORMATION
The Metropolitan Tucson Convention & Visitors Bureau (MTCVB), 100 S. Church
Ave. (at Broadway) ( & 800/638-8350 or 520/624-1817; www.visittucson.org), is an
excellent source of information on Tucson and its environs. The visitor center is open
Monday through Friday from 8am to 5pm, Saturday and Sunday from 9am to 4pm.

CITY LAYOUT
MAIN ARTERIES & STREETS Tucson is laid out on a grid that's fairly regular in the
downtown areas but becomes less orderly the farther you go from the city center. In the
flatlands, major thoroughfares are spaced at 1-mile intervals, with smaller streets filling
in the squares created by the major roads. In the foothills, where Tucson's most recent
growth has occurred, the grid system breaks down completely because of the hilly ter-
rain.
The main east-west roads are (from south to north) 22nd Street, Broadway Boule-
vard, Speedway Boulevard, Grant Road (with Tanque Verde Rd. as an extension), and Ina
Road/Skyline Drive/Sunrise Road. The main north-south roads are (from west to east)
Miracle Mile/Oracle Road, Stone/Sixth Avenue, Campbell Avenue, Country Club Road,
Alvernon Road, and Swan Road. I-10 cuts diagonally across the Tucson metropolitan
area from northwest to southeast.
In downtown Tucson, Congress Street and Broadway Boulevard are the main east-
west streets; Stone Avenue, Sixth Avenue, and Fourth Avenue are the main north-south
streets.
FINDING AN ADDRESS Because Tucson is laid out on a grid, finding an address is
relatively easy. The zero (or starting) point for all Tucson addresses is the corner of Stone
Avenue, which runs north and south, and Congress Street, which runs east and west.
From this point, streets are designated either north, south, east, or west. Addresses usu-
ally, but not always, increase by 100 with each block, so an address of 4321 E. Broadway
Blvd. should be 43 blocks east of Stone Avenue. In the downtown area, many of the
streets and avenues are numbered, with numbered streets running east and west, and
numbered avenues running north and south.

12

2 GETTING AROUND

BY CAR
Unless you plan to stay by the pool or on the golf course, you'll want to rent a car. Luck-
ily, rates are fairly economical. At press time, Alamo was charging $180 per week ($230
with taxes and surcharges included) for an economy car with unlimited mileage in Tuc-
son. See “Getting to Arizona,” in chapter 3, for general tips on car rentals in Arizona.
The following agencies have offices at or near Tucson International Airport as well as
other locations in the area. Because taxes and surcharges add up to between 25% and
30% on car rentals at the airport, you may want to consider renting at some other loca-
tion, where you can avoid paying some of these fees. Among the Tucson car-rental agen-
cies are Alamo ( & 800/462-5266 or 520/573-4740), Avis ( & 800/331-1212 or