Saturday, November 21, is the 43rd El Tour de Tucson, and El Tour expects close to 11,000 cyclists in and around southern Arizona for the ride. It is also the Saturday before Thanksgiving, which falls on November 26 this year. Anyone on the north side who is flying out that day, or meeting family at the curb, is driving into the ride's busiest hours.
The route itself stays well away from Oro Valley, Marana and the Catalina Foothills. The longer routes head past Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, along Old Spanish Trail to Colossal Cave, and through Corona de Tucson, Vail, Sahuarita and Green Valley. El Tour's executive director, TJ Juskiewicz, said in the event's October 1 road-closure notice that it is "important for motorists and residents on the east side and south side to know when and where we will be on November 21st." Tucson International Airport sits on that south side. The north side won't see a single cyclist, but the closures still reach its trip to TUS, and the hour you leave decides how much.
The Closures Shift Toward the Airport as the Day Goes On
El Tour's schedule moves through the day. The early closures are downtown and to the east, where the riders start. The afternoon ones sit along the southern roads near the airport, where the riders are by then. Starts at the Tucson Convention Center are staggered. The 102-mile Century leaves at 7 a.m., the Metric Century at 9 a.m. and the Half Metric Century at 10 a.m. Every route closes at 4:30 p.m. Here are the closures and delays that bear on an airport run, in order of start time:
| Window on Nov. 21 | Location | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| 4 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. | Stone Avenue, 6th Avenue and 18th Street to 14th Avenue | Closed both directions |
| 6:30 a.m. to noon | Aviation Parkway/SR 210, Broadway to Golf Links | Eastbound closed |
| 8 a.m. to noon | I-10 at Houghton Road | Westbound on-ramp and eastbound off-ramp closed |
| 8:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. | I-19 at Continental | Both off-ramps closed |
| 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. | I-19 at Sahuarita | Northbound off-ramp and southbound on-ramp closed |
| 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. | Valencia Road and Alvernon Way | Delays |
| 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. | I-10 at Valencia | Eastbound off-ramp closed |
| 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. | Aerospace Parkway and Nogales Highway | Delays |
| 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. | I-10 at 6th Avenue | Eastbound off-ramp closed |
The rows that start at 10 a.m. matter most to the north side. Most drivers coming from Marana or the northwest reach the south side on I-10 eastbound, and two of its exits are closed for most of the afternoon. The Valencia eastbound off-ramp closes from 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., and the 6th Avenue eastbound off-ramp closes from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Delays at Valencia and Alvernon and at Aerospace Parkway and Nogales Highway cover the same stretch of the day.
Before 10 a.m., the closures sit downtown and on the far east and southeast sides. From 10 a.m., they reach the roads closest to the terminal.
The Afternoon Closures Line Up With the Airport's Midday Rush
The airport has its own peak hours. Tucson International Airport says security waits are usually under 15 minutes, except early in the morning before 8 a.m. and at midday from about 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Tucson doesn't observe Daylight Saving Time, so from November until early March the busy times are an hour later. On November 21, that puts the midday rush at roughly 12:30 to 2 p.m.
Those hours fall inside every afternoon window in the table above. A traveler with a 1 p.m. departure meets the closed Valencia exit on the way in and the airport's midday crowd at the checkpoint. The airport's guidance for holiday periods already asks for more time. It recommends arriving two hours before a domestic flight around holidays, compared with the usual 90 minutes, and it says holiday security waits can run 20 to 25 minutes.
The early bank has an easier day. The A and B checkpoints generally open by 4 a.m., and around holidays, when airlines add early departures, TSA opens them earlier than that. Someone leaving Oro Valley before dawn for a 6 a.m. flight will be driving while the ride is still getting ready downtown. The first riders don't roll out of the convention center until 7 a.m.
The Recommended Route Runs Through a Construction Zone
For the ride itself, KOLD's October 14 report on El Tour closures gives two airport routes. Drivers coming from the interstates can take I-10 and I-19 to Kino Parkway and then Tucson Boulevard. From Tucson's north side, KOLD recommends Campbell Avenue to Kino Parkway. Campbell gives Catalina Foothills drivers a single street south through the middle of town, well west of the eastbound Aviation Parkway closure.
That route also heads straight into the state's largest active road project in central Tucson. The Arizona Department of Transportation's I-10: Kino to Country Club project is rebuilding the I-10 and Kino Parkway interchange. It is adding a new interchange at Country Club Road, removing the Palo Verde Road interchange and widening I-10 to three general-purpose lanes in each direction between east of Park Avenue and Alvernon Way. Sundt-Jacobs holds the design-build contract, and ADOT expects to finish in summer 2028.
ADOT's current traffic alerts for the project list several restrictions that will still be in place on ride day:
- Ajo Way between Bernard Drive and the Kino Parkway/Ajo Way access road is narrowed to one lane in each direction, 24 hours a day, through early 2027.
- Palo Verde Road at the I-10 underpass is down to one lane in each direction, 24 hours a day, through mid-January.
- Irvington Road at the I-10 underpass is down to one lane in each direction, 24 hours a day, through mid-January.
ADOT notes that its schedules can change with weather and asks drivers to allow extra time through all of its work zones. Nearby, the City of Tucson's 22nd Street Bridge Revitalization Project has closed 22nd Street between Cherry Bell Stravenue and Tucson Boulevard. The closure began in March 2026, and the city estimates completion in November 2028. Drivers who usually cut across on 22nd will find it closed between Cherry Bell and Tucson Boulevard.
One east-side project is finished. The Regional Transportation Authority and the City of Tucson celebrated the opening of the Valencia Road corridor from Kolb to Houghton with a ribbon cutting on October 9. Construction cones won't slow that stretch on ride day, though the Kolb and Valencia intersection is still listed for El Tour delays from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Once You Reach the Terminal
The airport has two checkpoints, and the concourses behind them don't connect after security. Coming in on the terminal roadway, you reach the B gates first. Alaska, American and Delta passengers use the B checkpoint at the west end of the departures level. Frontier, Southwest, Sun Country and United passengers use the A gates at the east end. If you're dropped at the wrong end on a busy holiday Saturday, you'll have to walk the length of the terminal to the other checkpoint.
Parking was already filling two and a half weeks before the ride. When the airport's live availability page updated at 9:55 p.m. on November 3, it showed these rates and occupancy levels:
- Hourly: $4 an hour, $18 a day, 48 percent full
- Daily: $15 a day, 91 percent full
- Garage: $15 a day, 84 percent full
- Economy Covered: $9 a day, 61 percent full
- Economy: $6 a day, 29 percent full
Those figures were a single evening's reading, and they change through the day. Even so, on an ordinary Tuesday in early November the Daily lot had less room than any other, and Economy had the most. The airport's parking page updates the percentages live, so it's worth checking before you leave home.
If you're picking someone up, the airport runs a free cell phone waiting lot at 2270 East Airport Drive, and drivers must stay with their vehicles. Arrivals in the afternoon fall inside the I-10 off-ramp closures, so the waiting lot can save you from circling the terminal while a flight lands.
Downtown Holds the Rest of the Weekend
The ride takes up more than Saturday. The El Tour Expo & Fiesta runs at the newly renovated Tucson Convention Center on Thursday, November 19, and Friday, November 20. On ride day the grounds host the Dragoon Brewing Finish Line Beer Garden, entertainment on the Stewart Title Main Stage and an outdoor ceremony for the top finishers. This year also brings the first Bicycle Industry Summit, held with El Tour from November 18 to 21, with keynotes, panels and roundtables.
The street closures downtown start before the ride. Cushing Street between Stone and El Paso closes at 6 a.m. Friday and stays closed until 8 p.m. Saturday. On Saturday, closures on 15th Street, 4th Avenue and parts of 6th Avenue begin at 4 a.m. Anyone planning a Friday dinner near the convention center, or a drive to the airport that cuts through downtown, will run into the ride's setup a day ahead.
El Tour labels every closure time as subject to change. The current list is on the El Tour de Tucson closure page, and ADOT posts live highway conditions at az511.gov. On Saturday, November 21, a departure before 10 a.m. avoids most of what this table shows, and a midday departure takes on all of it.
When the holiday travel is over and your guests fly back into TUS, bring them north to see the Tortolita foothills after dark, when the city's traffic is far behind. Saguaro Ranch welcomes visitors who want to see the quiet side of Tucson for themselves. Schedule a Private Visit.
