When I first moved to AZ, Tucson, I had a lot of problems with a very strange and DANGEROUS thing they do with major commuting roads, the lane between opposite directions of travel is sometimes used for turning, sometimes it is closed for turning because it is used for traffic headed into town, and sometomes it is closed because traffic heading out of town is using it.
I discovered it is affectionatly called a suicide lane. There was one running past The U of A's northern property, a major access point to the U.
Just imagine how many accidents occured on that one at the begining of each semester when people who had never heard of such a thing would get in the suicide lane!!
Here in Tucson, it is cheaper to build a road across the dry river beds than it is to buils a bridge over the river bed. As a result, when it rains the road is flooded; after it stops raining the road may still be flodded and closed; there may be no water over the road and it's still closed. Plus, theer might not be any rain in sight but the road is flooded.
The net result is that normal traffic flows become major stop and go traffic.
If you are riding on a road with a sign that says the road may be flooded ahead, that means there is gravel and sand on the road.
In parts of Phoenix homes were built on land that has rights to water to flood the property.
So, you rarely have to water your lawn.
Here in tucson, some homes have septic tanks. In some places you actually have water rights to your land and homes have their own well.
Here in Tucson, there are roads that neither the counrty or city maitain. It seems as if developers were not required to build a road when they subdivided lots. The land was set aside for the road, but no road was built.
I live in between Tucson and Marana AZ in Pima county. Since I'm not in a city, when I buy from stores not on a city, I do not pay city sales tax. But, if I buy anything in a city, or hire a service froma city, I have to pay city sales tax if the service is performed at my house, even if what I bought is shipped to my house.
The medical system here is OVERLOADED! Doctors offices over book. Places that do medical tests over book. If you go to your doctor's office to go over test results, the place that did the tests did not send the test results to your doctor's office.
It is almost impossible to find an independently owned pharmacy. All of the other pharmacies will not call you if they have a problem filling one of your prescriptions.
If you have to go to an ER, count on spending hours there unless you have heart attack symptoms.
If you are on pain medication, you must bring it with you while you are at the ER, in the ER, or admitted to the hospital. You cannot count on the nurses bringing you pain medications when it is time for you to take them.
It took me about two years to get used to living here (I'm from New England). Fortunately, I love sinshine, blue skies, and having green plants all year round.
Oh. We have cameras at major intersections. Speed through the intersection, pix and a ticket. Try and beat the yellow light and not make it, pix and a ticket.
If you look at buying a house in an area with open land, zoning is only temporary here. If the land is single family ranch, minumum of 1 acre or so, a developer can get it rezoned for 3-4 houses per acre.
Best from tucson
Bob
