Email Newsletter: November 5, 2008

The Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT) is holding a series of workshops throughout the state in November 2008 for the ongoing “bqAZ” or “Building a Quality Arizona” framework planning process.

Your input is needed to help shape Arizona into a more desirable home for future generations! Thirteen Community Workshops are scheduled between November 10 and 20, 2008. Please visit www.bqaz.gov for a complete list of workshop dates, times, and locations statewide.

Let Your Voice Be Heard

Arizona has and will continue to grow dramatically. The current slow down in the economy gives us an ideal opportunity for all Arizonans to come together to create a transportation vision and plan that will preserve the quality of life that we hold dear. This blip in the growth cycle allows us to pro-actively put in place a vision that will serve Arizona’s needs well into the future.

“Transportation is personal. People rely on transportation choices everyday as an integral part of their lives. Transportation decisions affect how we get to and from work, how we get our kids to and from school, how we shop, play, travel and recreate” says Victor Mendez, Director of the Arizona Department of Transportation.

Arizona’s Strength is its Citizen-Driven Tradition

When you attend the November meetings, you will learn about three scenarios for your region that consider the inter-connectedness of transportation as it relates to smart growth planning principles. The scenario planning goals include:

• Foster safe and efficient mobility
• Achieve sustainable development patterns; meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs (definition of Sustainability by the US Environmental Protection Agency)
• Reduce greenhouse gas production
• Support energy independence security
• Improve overall quality of life
• Provide various types of transportation options (such as transit)

Now it’s your turn to provide your opinions. You are urged to attend one of the many Community Workshops scheduled across the state in mid-November to hear presentations that provide you an overview of the process to date, outline the issues and opportunities facing the region, and describe the three possible scenarios for future transportation within your region.

What Will the Scenarios Look Like?

The upcoming workshops are your opportunity to roll up your sleeves and discuss potential scenarios to improve the state’s transportation infrastructure in the 2030 and 2050 timeframe. Regional scenarios will be presented for discussion that include a transportation network that addresses future projected regional growth and needs while offering choices for residents to debate. For example, is the best way to handle projected growth within the region through more freeways or should there be a mix of buses and new roadways?

The scenarios were developed by people participating in the process to date as well as the following:

• Input from stakeholders and the community
• Small Area Transportation studies and local or regional transportation studies
• ADOT Statewide Transportation Investment Strategy
• Critical Needs Report developed as part of the bqAZ process
• Rural Transit Needs Study, Freight Study and other relevant studies
• Statewide Travel Demand Model that projects potential future transportation needs
• Input from regional technical advisory teams that are working closely with ADOT on this study
• Scenario assumptions

Following is a brief outline of the assumptions used to generate the three scenarios that will be presented for your region.

• Each scenario includes multimodal transportation options, but to varying levels.
• All scenarios address sustainable or smart growth principles, but to varying levels.
• Builds upon the baseline (today’s current situation) condition of statewide transportation system. This includes state, local and regional existing projects and maintenance, plus committed (funded) transportation projects.
• Includes selection of appropriate project elements that address each scenario’s philosophy from the Statewide Transportation Investment Strategy and Critical Needs Study (which identified potential transportation improvements statewide) that address each scenario’s philosophy.
• Land use that the regional transportation system supports is consistent with current local and regional plans--except Scenario C, which encourages increased land use densities in certain areas.
• Each scenario is independent of the others.

Scenario A - Personal Vehicle Mobility

This scenario assumes a continuation of the existing approach of focusing on transportation solutions (primarily roadways) that assume people will continue to choose to drive their cars as their primary mode of transportation. However, this scenario also includes significantly more transit than is currently available today.

Key Assumptions

• Transportation planning and infrastructure improvements will be similar to today (2008).
• Personal vehicles will continue to be the primary travel choice.
• New technologies, such as clean, affordable and abundant fuels, will be developed for vehicles and available to the average consumer.
• This scenario also contains significant transit improvements.

Scenario B - Transit Mobility

This scenario shifts the focus from personal vehicles to a heavier emphasis on public transit, walking, and bicycling for regular daily trips in response to increased cost of owning and operating personal vehicles (fuel, insurance, and vehicle maintenance costs) and socioeconomic trends such as an aging population, environmental considerations, and a desire for a wider range of transportation choices.

Key Assumptions

• Transit, walking, and bicycling becomes more prominent choice for regular for regular trips in response to increasing fuel costs and limited improvements in alternative energy technologies.
• Personal vehicles remain an important mode of transportation.
• Includes a major emphasis on the use of public transit and increased walking and bicycling for regular daily trips.

Scenario C – Focused Growth

This scenario envisions a change in community development patterns toward more compact instead of spread-out development. It shifts the focus from personal vehicles only to transportation improvements emphasize local travel using transit, bicycling, and walking. This scenario responds to a growing trend toward a non-auto-dependent lifestyle that encourages a mix of land uses close to one another.

Key Assumptions

• Combines a mix of technology improvements, increased public transit use, and increased walking and bicycling.
• Transportation system improvements are located to maximize preservation of local and regional environmental, cultural, and scenic values.
• Transportation improvements encourage more compact growth patterns in towns and cities and increasing local travel using transit, bicycling, and walking.
• Continued use of personal vehicles as a primary travel choice with increasing use of advanced technology vehicles.
• Land use will be consistent with Smart Growth principles as embraced by the State of Arizona (major towns and cities become denser).

Make Your Personal Mark on Arizona’s Future

You and your neighbors are invited to attend the bqAZ Community Workshops being held across the state in November, 2008. Please visit www.bqAZ.gov for the schedule of times and locations, and plan to attend and contribute your ideas and insights. Questions - Call Kristin Bornstein, ADOT Communication and Community Partnerships, 602-368-9644 for more detailed information.

Thirteen Community Workshops are scheduled between November 10 and 20, 2008.  Please visit www.bqaz.gov for a complete list of workshop dates, times, and locations statewide .