Transportation Programming Process

ADOT’s Priority Programming Process (PPP) produces multimodal and intermodal transportation projects based on performance measures that reflect the Department’s goals and policies and Arizona’s stakeholders’ needs. Priority Programming is an open process that allows the Department to communicate its project selection internally and externally, and provides for increased accountability through performance-based planning and programming.

ADOT is the responsible agency for constructing, maintaining, and operating Interstate, US Routes, and State Routes in Arizona. In addition to highway projects, the department assists in funding some local transit projects, and provides financial assistance to public airports for improvement projects. The department channels funds from a variety of sources to many different kinds of transportation improvements through the PPP.

Arizona is divided into several planning and development districts for the purpose of performing and coordinating comprehensive planning on a regional basis. Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPO) and Councils of Governments (COG) were established with the assistance of ADOT to coordinate transportation planning funds for local programs. MPOs are comprised of the Maricopa Association of Governments (MAG), Pima Association of Governments (PAG), Flagstaff Metropolitan Planning Organization (FMPO), Central Yavapai Metropolitan Planning Organization (Prescott) (CYMPO), and the Yuma Metropolitan Planning Organization (YMPO). All have their own comprehensive long-range transportation plans, and they work with ADOT and their funds to program projects in their Transportation Improvement Plan (TIP) and the ADOT Five-Year Transportation Facilities Construction Program. However, only MAG and PAG have their allocated funds dedicated from voter initiatives and cooperatively develop their transportation programs with ADOT. The other MPOs program projects based on funding for the other thirteen counties of Arizona. The most of the thirteen rural counties are divided into four COGs. They are comprised of the Central Arizona Association of Governments (CAAG), the Northern Arizona COG (NACOG), the South East Arizona COG (SEAGO), and the Western Arizona COG (WACOG). They coordinate with local agencies and organize local agreements to program projects into their TIP. The COGs also use funds allocated to the 13 counties of Arizona in the program.

The State Transportation Board (STB) has the authority for the state highway system and determines which state routes are accepted into the system and which routes are to be improved. Construction contracts are awarded by the Board, and the Board monitors construction progress. The Board also has the exclusive authority to issue revenue bonds for financing transportation improvements, and adopts the 5-Year Highway Construction Program. The PPP consists of these major phases:

Policies

Arizona State Transportation Board Policies, August 15, 2003, sets forth Board programming policies. The Board has adopted the following policies in regard to development of the Five-Year Transportation Facilities Construction Program.

Project Selection Process

ADOT staff identifies projects on the major corridors, while District Engineers recommend and suggest spot improvements, based on their knowledge of the specific circumstances and the input from various entities. The following procedures are used in evaluating and selecting projects:

This is a summary of the process that goes into the creation of the Arizona Five-Year Transportation Facilities Construction Program. Once the document is published and distributed, the whole process begins again for the next programming cycle. Thus, changes in priorities and the development of new projects are made during the development of the next Program.

PUBLIC TRANSIT
Existing Programs

Section 5303, Metropolitan Transportation Planning Program

Section 5303 funds are apportioned to ADOT to provide financial assistance to local bodies to support various types of transit planning. In order to qualify for metropolitan planning funding an agency must meet Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) eligibility.

There are currently five MPOs in the state of Arizona which include the Maricopa Association of Governments (MAG), the Pima Association of Governments (PAG), Yuma Metropolitan Planning Organization (YMPO), Flagstaff Metropolitan Planning Organization (FMPO) and Central Yavapai Metropolitan Planning Organization (CYMPO) that receive metropolitan planning funding.

The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) appropriated over $1.8 million annually to ADOT in FY 2009 to be made available to MPOs.

FTA apportions 80 percent of the Metropolitan Planning Program assistance to the states based on an urbanized area population formula established by statute. The state then allocates its funding assistance to the MPOs based on an ETA-approved formula developed by the state in cooperation with MPOs that considers population and provides an appropriate distribution. The MPOs as a matching pro rata must provide the remaining 20 percent.

Specifically, the Metropolitan Planning Program (MPP) provides financial assistance, through the states, to MPOs to support the costs of preparing long-range transportation plans and financially feasible transit improvement projects. MPP assistance should be used to conduct balanced and comprehensive inter-modal transportation planning and technical studies for the movement of people and goods in the metropolitan area.

Section 5304, Statewide Transportation Planning Program

Section 5304 funds are apportioned annually to the states for use in rural planning and research. Other eligible uses, at the state’s discretion, include statewide planning and other technical assistance activities, planning support for non-urbanized areas, research & development, demonstration projects, fellowships for training in the public transportation field, university research, and human resource development.

The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) appropriated over $380,000 to ADOT in FY 2009 for technical assistance for a rural transit-planning program.

States are encouraged to develop a coordinated program of planning, research, training, and technical assistance, taking Sections 5304, 5311, and RTAP resources into consideration.

Examples of state planning activities include Transit Feasibility and Implementation Plan studies, development of statewide and regional rail planning strategies and multi-modal plans, as well as the identification of public transportation alternatives.

Section 5310, Elderly & Persons with Disabilities Transportation Program

The Section 5310 Program has over 150 contractors in the field, most of them private non-profit (PNP) agencies or groups. There are also some public agencies that function as grant recipients where no PNPs exist to provide the service. Moreover, Native American communities have been very active in the Program. At any given time these recipient providers represent over 400 vehicles on ADOT lien (for a useful life) of four years or 100,000 miles. Examples of Section 5310 providers are senior centers and programs for the physically, mentally (including seriously mental ill or SMI) and developmentally disabled (DO) populations. Successful applications for the grant program are initially adjudicated through a regional application evaluation and screening process, which includes ADOT and non-ADOT transportation professionals. The 5310 Program utilizes the assistance of COG (Council of Government) and MPO (Metropolitan Planning Organization) planning offices to screen applicants within the states nine planning regions. ADOT then makes the final decision regarding awards based on this input and available budget. Reviewers look at the proposals from the perspective of a number of evaluation factors including expressed need for service and/or equipment, population served, financial capability to support funding, existing fleet inventories, and previous performance.

The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) appropriated over $3.9 million to ADOT in FY 2009 in formula FTA and Surface Transportation Program (STP) funds through the capital assistance program. Eligible recipients include private non-profit and public agencies that provide transportation to the elderly and disabled. 80% federal funds and 20% local match funds are used annually for the purchase of over 100 van type vehicles statewide. The utilization of special transportation include medical appointments, nutrition appointments, adult day car facilities, education, training, shopping trips, employment, and service appointments (banking, social services, etc.)

Section 5311, Rural Transportation Program

ADOT's Section 5311 Program administrators provide technical assistance through local transit studies as well as training opportunities for rural transit administrators. The program assists in the maintenance, development, improvement, and use of public transportation system in rural and small urban areas.

The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) appropriated over $10 million to ADOT in FY 2009 to fund rural public transit systems to service communities with populations under 50,000. ADOT distributes a percentage of funds to cities, towns, and Native American tribes to operate these systems at the local level. Approximately 3.4 million miles of transportation service are provided annually to more than 1,000,000 passengers. Over 201,000 hours of service are provided by these systems to enhance the access of people in rural communities to health care, shopping, education, employment, public services & recreation. In some regions, the ADOT special needs and rural programs represent the only transit service available to local communities.

Participating 5311 Programs:

Section 5316 Job Access and Reverse Commute Program (JARC)

Job Access projects are targeted at developing new or expanded transportation services such as shuttles, vanpools, new bus routes, connector services to mass transit, and guaranteed ride home programs for welfare recipients and low income persons. Reverse Commute projects provide transportation services to suburban employment centers from urban, rural and other suburban locations for all populations. Eligible applicants include private non-profit organizations, State or local governmental authority, and operators of public transportation services including private operators of public transportation services.

The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) appropriated over $658,000 to ADOT in FY 2009 to assist the state and localities in developing new or expanded transportation services that connect welfare recipients and other low income persons to jobs and other employment related services. Additionally, the FTA provides ADOT statewide JARC funding for the small urbanized areas, which is approximately $369,000 in FY 2009.

Eligible activities for Job Access grants include capital, operating and planning expenses of services, equipment, facilities, and associated capital maintenance items related to providing access to jobs. Eligible projects include, but are not limited to:

• Late-night and weekend service
• Guaranteed ride home services
• Shuttle Service
• Expanding fixed route mass transit routes
• Demand-responsive van service
• Ridesharing and carpooling activities
• Transit related aspects of bicycling

Also included are the costs of promoting the use of transit by workers with nontraditional work schedules, promoting the use of transit vouchers, and promoting the use of employer-provided transportation including the transit benefits. In addition, mobility management activities are an eligible capital expense. These eligible expenses are defined as short-range planning and management activities and projects for improving coordination among public transportation and other transportation services providers. For Reverse Commute grants, the following activities are eligible— operating costs, capital costs and other costs associated with reverse commute by bus, train, carpool, vans or other transit service.

As designated by the Governor of the State of Arizona, the ADOT Multimodal Planning Division administers JARC funds for all rural (less than 50,000 population) and small urbanized areas (50,000 to 199,999 population) regions of the state. All projects funded under this program must be derived from a locally developed, coordinated public transit-human services transportation planning process. The Federal funds are available for the year appropriated plus two years (total of three years).

Section 5317 New Freedom Program

The purpose of the New Freedom grant program is to encourage services and facility improvements to address the transportation needs of persons with disabilities that go beyond those required by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Funds are available to support the capital and operating costs of new public transportation service targeted toward people with disabilities or public transportation alternatives that go beyond those required by the ADA.

The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) appropriated over $291,000 to ADOT in FY 2009 for New Freedom Program recipients in rural portions of the state. Additionally, the FTA provides ADOT with New Freedom Program funding for small urbanized areas which is approximately $172,000 in FY 2009.

Eligible recipients include private non-profit organizations, State or local governmental authority, and operators of public transportation services including private operators of public transportation services. Activities that could be funded under the program include, but are not limited to:

• Purchasing vehicles and supporting accessible taxi, ride-sharing, and vanpooling programs; including staff training, administration, and maintenance.

• Providing Para transit services beyond minimum requirements (3/4 mile to either side of a fixed route), including for routes that run seasonally.

• Making accessibility improvements to transit and intermodal stations not designated as key stations.

• Supporting voucher programs for transportation services offered by human service providers.

• Supporting mobility management and coordination programs among public transportation providers and other human service agencies providing transportation. These activities are considered a capital cost and are defined as short-range planning and management activities and projects for improving coordination among public transportation and other transportation service providers.

As designated by the Governor of the State of Arizona, the ADOT Multimodal Planning Division administers New Freedom funds for rural areas (less than 50,000 population) and small urbanized areas (50,000 to 199,999 population) regions of the state. All projects funded under this program must be derived from a locally developed, coordinated public transit-human services transportation planning process. Federal funds provide for up to 80 percent of capital projects and 50 percent of operating projects. The Federal funds are available for the year appropriated plus two years (total of three years).

Aviation Needs Identified

Aviation needs are identified in a fashion similar to the highway process. There are however a number of factors and technical measures that are unique to aviation planning efforts. With the exception of the Grand Canyon National Park Airport, airport facilities are not owned and operated by ADOT. As a result, heavy reliance is placed on the airport managers throughout the state to identify needed airport improvements. Projects are often drawn from master plans prepared for individual airports and from the National Airport System Plan.

The ADOT Aeronautic Division assists the various airports in identifying needs through the development of a State Aviation Needs Study, the Regional Airport Systems Plans and special aviation studies that may be conducted during the planning period. In addition, ADOT maintains an airport priority rating system that draws from an extensive database of airport conditions.

Airport needs sometimes exceed available revenues, making it essential to prioritize projects.

Aviation Needs Prioritized

Aviation needs are prioritized based on the Airport Priority System. Included in this system are ADOT board policies, importance of the project to the airport, importance of the airport to the citizens and provisions from the priority programming law (A.R.S. §28-6951). A copy of the Board’s Aviation Policy can be found on the Aeronautics Web site.

The airport project rating system is a weighed scale. Points are awarded according to the following factors:

• Project is on main runway
• New Construction
• Number of aircraft on wait list
• Annual passengers enplaned for scheduled air service
• Annual aircraft operations
• Annual aircraft operations to capacity ratio

The total points awarded to each airport are used to rank all project requests. The highest ranked projects are then considered according to funding availability.

Tentative Program is presented to the Board

Once all highway and airport project requests have been prioritized and matched with available funding, the Priority Programming Advisory Committee presents a tentative update of the Five-Year Program to the State Transportation Board. The board authorized release of the Tentative Program for review by the public.

Public Hearings on Your Views

After release by the board, the Tentative Program is published on the Priority Programming Web site for local elected officials, transportation agencies and other interested parties from February to June. Public Hearings are then conducted to obtain input from anyone who wishes to comment on the program. The Tentative Five-Year Transportation Facilities Construction Program will go through final approval by the State Transportation Board in June and is forwarded to the ADOT Director for signature. The final approved Program is distributed to the Governor and published to the website June 30.

In an effort to gain wider participation and make it more convenient for the citizens of Arizona to convey their comments to the board, hearings are scheduled in three areas of the state; Phoenix, Tucson and Flagstaff. Hearing locations are established in January of each year when the Transportation Board sets its annual meeting schedule. It addition, written comments are accepted and all comments, written or verbal, are considered before the program is adopted in final form.