Cyclovia Tucson’s director Daniela Diamente answers questions about the 2011 event, which has a new route heading through South Tucson and will be a month earlier this year, March 27:

What’s happening with Cyclovia Tucson planning?

We are going down south. South Tucson. The idea is to continually move Cyclovia around so that it is a Tucson thing and not just a certain neighborhood thing.

We have a unique opportunity to expose people to different neighborhoods. There are some really cool neighborhoods that seem like they are really far away. It is the same distance of a route that we did last time, it is just going the opposite direction.

We are going to be using the space in and around Armory Park and the Children’s Museum and partner with them for a bunch of kids activities there. We are probably going to be closing down Scott and having a music festival.

Has the route been finalized?

It has not been finalized. It is pretty good, but we need to go to TPD and the department of transportation people to say, ‘all right, this is what we want to do’ and get feedback there.

You changed the dates? Why?

We definitely specifically chose a different date than the weekend we had done it previously because we are not going to physically connect with the bike swap meet and we didn’t want to compete. People were like, ‘Hey you know it is competing with the swap meet and the Urban Assault.’ So it was like, ‘all right let’s move it to a date where it is its own thing.'”

I am really excited that we are not on the same weekend as all the other bike things. This is about more than just biking. We haven’t set an exact time, but we are talking about going later into the afternoon and with the cooler weather, that will be possible.

Is it easier to plan the second time around?

In some ways it has been a little more difficult. I think that has been because  it kind of feels like we are reinventing the wheel at times. We’ve done it before, but we are changing everything about it.

When you change the route, it is not just the roads you are going to be on it is the partners you’ll have.

Now it is seeking out those other partners. Everyone we have approached has been super excited about it, but it is doing that sort of foot work that needs to be done again.

How much does it cost?

What we figure is about $20,000 is bare bones, we can cover everything and have some publicity. Any more money that comes in the more we can enhance it.

Any plans to do it more than once a year?

It is definitely on the table, but it isn’t realistic yet. Unfortunately, right now it comes down to a financial thing.