December 23, 2008

Arizona Department of Transportation Building a Quality Arizona Project
www.bqaz.gov

Your input is needed to help shape Arizona into a more desirable home for future generations! Twelve 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.

The Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT) is making progress on a Statewide Transportation Planning Study developing a long range vision for future transportation needs in Arizona. “Building a Quality Arizona” or bqAZ focuses on needs in the year 2050 and is a statewide collaborative process to identify the full range of options to address future needs.

Community workshops were held across Arizona in the spring of 2008 to gather community input used to build scenarios that were presented at the November 2008 workshops.

Missed a community workshop? Participate online!

(Michele Beggs with ADOT leads a discussion about personal vehicle mobility in the Mohave-La Paz Focus area.)

We understand that life can get busy with work, school, chores, and family. That is why ADOT has made it easy to participate in the Statewide Transportation Planning Study. By visiting the “Building a Quality Arizona” or bqAZ Web site at www.bqaz.gov, you can review all the information presented at the most recent community workshops and provide your input. There is no need to rearrange your schedule to attend a public meeting, just log onto www.bqaz.gov.

Online participation is available for each of the four Regional Studies: Northern, Western, Eastern, and Central. You can choose which Regional Study you would like to participate in depending on where you live, work, play or wherever you would like to provide input. It’s easy.

Online participation will continue through January 31, 2009.

Each Regional Study includes three “scenarios” that propose different ways of addressing Arizona’s transportation needs in the future. Maps and narrative are provided that explain each of the scenarios.

Participants are then asked to provide feedback on the scenarios. The objective is to understand which of the scenarios best meet your goals and desires about moving, either by automobile or transit, within your community and throughout the state.

The three scenarios address three different philosophies of how to move people and goods in the future. They are called - Personal Vehicle Mobility, Transit Mobility, and Focused Growth. Within each region, different maps show how the region addresses the intent of the three scenarios described below.

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.

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.

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 emphasizing 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.

More information regarding each scenario can be found on www.bqaz.gov.

Be a part of the solution.
Choices. Connections. Lifestyles.
Participate today for a quality tomorrow.

November Community Workshops: Valuable Feedback Received

Participants were invited to contribute to the creation of a future plan that addresses transportation options that will affect future Arizona generations. ADOT and local/regional partners hosted a series of community workshops across the state in November 2008 to present future transportation “scenarios” to the community for feedback. Participants reviewed and provided input on the scenarios, which were developed based upon input from the spring 2008 workshops. Citizens appreciated the opportunity to be a part of the study.

For more information regarding the study please contact Kristin Bornstein at 602-368-9644 or by email at kristin@kdacreative.com. Please visit www.bqaz.gov to participate.