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Arizona

Planning Context

Arizona DOT (ADOT) is working with its planning partners to develop a transportation system that will meet the needs of a rapidly growing state. The State has traditionally been rural, with an economy defined by the "3 C's of copper, cotton, and cattle." However, major trends have been moving the State toward urbanization -- two-thirds of the population now resides in the Phoenix and Tucson metropolitan areas. These demographic trends, which will continue and strengthen in the future, have major implications for transportation planning and programming

According to new materials being developed for the updated Arizona Long Range Plan, the State is expected to grow by almost an additional 50 percent over the twenty-year long-range planning horizon. This growth will significantly expand personal and business travel and demands for new investments in transportation. In addition, the State will face growth in tourist and retiree populations that will increase requirements for alternative modes of travel. Cross border freight flows will also grow significantly. Air quality conformity under the Clean Air Amendments is also a concern - there were eight PM-10 non-attainment areas.

At the time of the scan, the State DOT was moving toward a more performance-based approach from a statewide planning and programming approach that relied heavily on the Casa Grande Accord. The Accord is a negotiated agreement between the State, metropolitan areas, and non-metropolitan or rural areas, including four councils of government, to agree on resource allocations. The Accord resulted in redistribution of statewide transportation funds by region, with a funding increase for Phoenix and Tucson metropolitan areas (Statewide -- 50 percent, Phoenix (MAG) -- 37 percent, and Tucson (PAG) -- 13 percent). Participants viewed the Accord as a process with negotiated limits and regional allocations tied to long-range strategic planning and comprehensive plans, with assessment of needs and reliance on performance measures. At the time of this summary it was not known how the performance-based approach would be combined with the established percentages from the Accord.

As part of the Plan update, the Governor convened the Vision 21 Transportation Task Force, which completed a set of recommendations to improve the State's transportation system and position it to meet future needs. The Task Force presented recommendations to the Governor in December 2001. Key recommendations in the Vision 21 Task Force Report included:

• Require performance-based planning and programming
• Establish transportation system performance measures
• Develop and adopt a long-range statewide, multimodal transportation plan
• Coordinate land use planning and transportation planning
• Establish comprehensive financial management
• Increase dedicated transportation revenues
• Increase fuel taxes
• Establish a dedicated statewide sales tax
• Establish dedicated development fees

Additional information on the Vision 21 Task Force report is available on-line.

The vision and recommendations from the Task Force, along with recommendations from the MPOs, councils of governments, small area studies, and American-Indian reservations provided the "raw material" for the mission statement, goals, and objectives to the major plan update that is now underway.

The State Transportation Board is granted policy responsibilities and empowered to approve the State's Five Year Construction and any changes. The Board is responsible for establishing a complete State highway system; has the exclusive authority to issue revenue bonds to finance needed transportation improvements throughout the state; determines priority program planning for transportation facilities; and annually adopts the five-year construction program.

Although the Director is responsible for the administration of the Department of Transportation, the Transportation Board is granted policy powers and duties in addition to serving in an advisory capacity to the Director. The Board consists of seven members appointed by the Governor. Six members represent counties or specific transportation districts, while one serves at large. The Board is responsible for determining which State highway routes to accept into the State highway system and which to improve. The Board's authority includes:

• Establishing any portion of a State route or highway, including scenic roadways;
• Awarding construction contracts;
• Monitoring construction projects;
• Exercising exclusive authority to issue revenue bonds for financing transportation improvements throughout the state;
• As part of the planning process, determining priority program planning with respect to transportation facilities; and
• Annually adopting the five-year construction program.

The Statewide Transportation Planning Process and Financial Planning

Developing the Plan

ADOT participants described the following evolution in statewide long-range transportation planning:

• 1976 -- ADOT moved from a Highway Department to a DOT
• Prior to 1978 -- individual modal plans with 20-year horizons
• 1978 -- individual Modal Plans
• 1987 -- updates of Modal plans
• 1995 -- First Vision plan

The current Statewide Plan (STP) includes 33 project specific "significant" corridors, and provides details on multimodal projects (bicycles, pedestrian, highway, and transit) over the twenty-year planning horizon. The focus for a stakeholder focus group is on the vision and goals for the plan update described above. Also as described above, the intent is to move to a performance based planning and programming process for the State highway system, excluding segments in the metropolitan areas. The current plan only describes performance factors for the State highway systems.

The Arizona Department of Transportation is currently producing a statewide long-range transportation plan called MoveAZ. Both Federal and State law require the State to produce a plan that will provide a means to allocate funding to transportation projects throughout the state. The plan has three phases.

1. A strategic direction to guide Arizona\'s transportation investments for the next twenty years. This process includes developing a broad mission statement and a set of clear and concise goals and objectives.
2. An ongoing public involvement process, which overlaps with the other two phases and allows residents and businesses to participate in creating the plan.
3. Detailed technical analyses of transportation system needs, including evaluation of policies, programs, and projects, and creation of the final Plan.

MoveAZ will be used to evaluate specific new programs and projects the State is considering funding over the next twenty years and to distribute ADOT funds across a variety of programs.

The mission for the updated plan, MoveAZ, is to:

• Be fiscally responsible;
• Provide citizens with transportation choices;
• Emphasize accountability;
• Be responsive to change;
• Harmonize with Arizona's proud heritage and unique diversity;
• Encourage coordination of transportation and land use planning at the state, regional, and local level; and
• Address air, transit, rail, highway, and pedestrian travel.

ADOT's long-range planning process uses three revenue scenarios:

1. Fiscally constrained.
2. Additional "reasonably available" sources are available.
3. Unconstrained (Vision) -- with performance based system needs.

The statewide long-range plan is developed cooperatively with direction from the MoveAZ Working Group, which includes representatives from the nine regional planning agencies in the state, the Arizona Transit Association, and Arizona\'s Federally recognized Indian Tribes.

As indicated in Figure 2, the regional planning agencies cover the entire state.

Figure 2: Arizona Regional Planning Agencies

Financial Planning and Fiscal Constraint

Key policies both of Vision 21 and MoveAZ will be important aspects of financial planning and fiscal constraint in the Arizona statewide transportation planning. Discussions during the site visit focused on the process underway for the updated plan to evolve toward a more technical and strategic planning process, with important implications for financial planning. The discussions also covered current procedures for developing the STIP, including:

• Allocation of funds;
• Programming of projects and project selection; and
• Fiscal constraint.

The STIP includes a three-year program for all projects (statewide, metropolitan, and non-metropolitan) and a five-year program that also includes and is limited to State initiated projects. The first three years of the five-year program constitute the statewide construction program. Some participants in the site visit said there was an interest in moving to a two-year STIP cycle. ADOT uses a six-year forecast period for revenues.

In developing projects for the STIP, ADOT uses the following steps:

1. Establish need
2. Conduct a study or project assessment which results in a scoping document
3. Complete full design

ADOT has a rigorous and sophisticated approach to monitoring program expenditures. This includes monitoring: project schedules, percent of projects let to contract annually, and monitoring cash flow to reflect concern about controlling debt levels that take twenty percent of current revenue for annual repayment. As part of monitoring, ADOT financial directors provide monthly expenditure reports to the agency's Transportation Board.

ADOT's annual July cycle to update the STIP follows the following steps:

• Apply Finance Management System to generate updated budget estimates.
• Meet with COGs and MPOs.
• Develop resource allocation divided by categories, including
  • Revenue sources (bonds, sales tax, local, etc.);
  • Jurisdictions (e.g., counties, towns, MPO/Association of Governments, statewide, etc.);
  • Or broad project type (e.g., transit or highway, with lists of highway projects and their funding source);
• State District Offices provide input into the construction program.
• Transportation Board confirms STIP budget allocations.

The current STIP is available on-line (PDF, 3.57MB).

The FY 2003 ADOT Financial Plan had a total program of $1.62 billion. Among the sources were:

• Federal Funds ($333 m. or 21 percent).
• The Arizona Highway User Fund (HURF -- $529 m. or 33 percent), dedicated to highway purposes; distribution formulas are set by statute.
• The Regional Area Road Fund (RARF -- $268 m. or 16 percent), based on a half cent sales tax option; for
  • Maricopa County (Phoenix area), funds are to be used primarily for controlled access facilities under ADOT direction;
  • Pima County (Tucson area), funds flow to a regional transportation fund;
  • Other counties, RARF funds are administered by County Supervisors.
  • Bonds ($278 m. or 17 percent).

ADOT makes extensive use of advanced construction and grant anticipation. About 20 percent of current revenue goes for debt repayment, which will play a role in determining where some future resources are directed.

Uses of the FY 2003 program include:

• Debt service (20 percent).
• Capital Budget (60 percent).
• Operations (6 percent).
• Maintenance (6 percent).

Arizona continues to rely on the ISTEA Pavement, Bridge, Safety, and Public Transit Management Systems for inputs and information to help guide the statewide construction program.

Use of Performance Measures

ADOT is at early stages of developing a comprehensive approach to performance measures in its current plan update (see above). The "Final Technical Memorandum" developed for the MoveAZ updated Long Range Transportation Plan focuses on several performance factors selected by ADOT to monitor the ability of the future transportation system to satisfy ADOT's goals. The work underway sets a framework the State can build on for future planning and programming of resources.

Examples of performance factors and associated performance measures include:

• Mobility and Economic Competitiveness (Percent of person miles traveled by level of service to measure how much travel is occurring at different levels of congestion and average delay per trip).
• Connectivity (Travel time savings in identified high-priority corridors).
• Preservation (VMT by pavement condition).
• Reliability (Incident-related non-recurring delay per VMT on State system).
• Safety (Accidents per 100 million VMT by functional class).
• Accessibility (Park-and-Ride spaces and Percent of State routes or Route miles that are bike suitable).
• Resource Conservation (Mobile source emissions, Fuel consumption, or MoveAZ plan projects that are also listed in regional transportation plans).

Additional MoveAz information is available on-line.

Observations from Arizona DOT

ADOT planners offered the following observations related to financial planning:

• The importance of improving the consistency in reconciliation of available transit funding estimates at federal, state, and local levels.
• The importance of moving to a multimodal plan from modal plans and to a technical process based on performance based planning and programming.
• The importance of further improving the ability to monitor expenditures and maintain construction schedules.
• The importance of further clarification of roles and responsibilities of ADOT and the MPOs in the statewide and metropolitan planning process, with implications for acceptance of how funds are allocated.

Contact

Dale Buskirk
dbuskirk@dot.state.az.us
ADOT
206S 17^th Ave.
Phoenix, AZ 85007