Governor Hull established the Transportation Vision 21 Task Force in February, 1999, to serve the purpose of evaluating current practices, resources and infrastructures, and recommending and prioritizing the goals, funding, and specific plans that will establish a vision for transportation in Arizona for the 21st Century. See Executive Order 2000-16 for the complete text establishing the Governor’s Transportation Vision 21 Task Force.
Highlights of Executive Order 2000-16:
- The Task Force has been appointed by the Governor, and will serve at the pleasure of the Governor for up to two years.
- The Task Force shall identify critical, long-range transportation needs in both rural and urban areas of this state. The Task Force shall develop preliminary estimates of the long-term (minimum of twenty years) cost of implementing a comprehensive, multimodal, long-range transportation system plan and compare the estimated cost to estimated revenues from existing federal, state and local transportation funding streams.
- The Task Force shall identify and recommend planning approaches and funding strategies to be used to establish a comprehensive, fully integrated, multimodal system that serves the future transportation needs of all of Arizona. The Task Force should consider all aspects of transportation, including but not limited to, public roadways, highways, bus service, passenger rail service, aviation, bicycle and travel reduction programs. The Task Force’s strategies or recommendations should address both rural and urban transportation issues, as well as freight concerns throughout the state.
- The Task Force shall study and recommend guidelines and procedures for prioritizing Arizona’s transportation needs and expenditures in relationship to the responsibilities of the Arizona Transportation Board, the Arizona Department of Transportation, local governments throughout the State and local planning agencies.
- The Task Force shall review the structure and responsibilities, with regard to transportation planning, of the State Transportation Board, the Arizona Department of Transportation, local governments throughout the state, and local planning agencies, and include any recommended changes in its final report.
- The Task Force shall submit an interim report on or before December 15, 1999 and a final report to the Governor by December 31, 2000. Both reports shall contain "consensus" findings and recommendations of the Task Force. The reports will be made available to Arizona’s congressional delegation, the members of the Arizona State Legislature, state, county, and local transportation departments, the state’s universities and the private sector, including community and citizens groups.
To accomplish its charges, the Task Force will have a minimum of three working committees, made up of members of the Task Force:
- Committee I: Define and Identify Actual Needs, Resources and Revenues
- Committee II: Governance
- Committee III: Planning and Programming Process
Committee I: Define and Identify Actual Needs, Resources and Revenues
- Multimodal project definitions/costs
- Revenue Forecasts
- Analysis of existing revenue sources
- Proposal of future sources to create a reliable funding stream
This committee will identify critical regionally significant long range needs and projects in both rural and urban areas for the multimodal transportation system for Arizona in the 21st Century. We will be examining the projected transportation revenues for the entire state of Arizona and evaluating the adequacy of projected revenues to meet the multimodal transportation needs in Arizona for the 21st Century.
Citizen comments in support of the development of a multimodal transportation plan will be encouraged throughout this process.
Committee II: Governance
- Entities: Local Government, Regional and State Transportation Authorities
- Federal & State Law responsibilities of various entities
- Evaluate structure, role, responsibility of each entity
This committee will focus on the structure, role, responsibility, and interrelationship of each of the transportation planning and delivery entities established by state and federal law. We will evaluate the structure, role, responsibilities and interrelationships of each entity as it relates to multimodal transportation infrastructure.
Citizen comments in support of the development of a multimodal transportation plan will be encouraged throughout this process.
Committee III: Planning and Programming Process
- Evaluation of current transportation planning processes at the local, regional, and statewide levels for all types of transportation
- Evaluation of project selection, prioritization, and development
- Evaluation of effectiveness of the public input process
- Evaluation of current multimodal transportation planning documents
- Determine deficiencies within current processes
- Recommend improvements and modifications to existing processes
- Develop a foundation for preparing a long range (minimum 20 years) multimodal transportation plan for Arizona
This committee will rely, in part, on presentations from the local, regional, and state transportation planning and delivery agencies regarding their areas of responsibility. The committee will be evaluating the processes used in preparation and application of transportation planning.
Citizen comments in support of the development of a multimodal transportation plan will be encouraged throughout this process.
Task Force Meetings:
The task force intends to be as inclusive as possible within each of its charges, and therefore will provide ample opportunities for the public to contribute throughout this process.
Regular meetings of the full task force will be held at the Arizona State Capitol, 1700 West Washington, Phoenix. The full task force will typically meet in the afternoon on the second Thursday of a given month, with some exceptions.
Committee Meetings:
The task force committees intend to be as inclusive as possible within each of their charges, and therefore will provide ample opportunities for the public to contribute throughout this process.
Committee meetings may be held at the Arizona State Capitol, 1700 West Washington, Phoenix. Committees will typically meet on the second or fourth Thursday of the month they are schedule to meet, with some exceptions.
Task Force and Committee Meetings:
- Each meeting will be open to the public.
- Meeting notices and agendas will be posted a minimum of 24-hours in advance, and discussion will be limited to those items on the agenda.
- All or a portion of full task force meetings may be broadcast live to selected sites on the Northern Arizona University statewide interactive broadcast system to help facilitate information sharing throughout the state. Committee meetings will not be broadcast.
- Meetings that are broadcast may be replayed on local cable television networks.
- There may be limited opportunities for verbal public input during regular meetings.
- Public meetings will be identified throughout the duration of the task force to encourage and facilitate citizen participation and comment.
- Written public comments are encouraged and may be submitted at any time.
Public involvement will provide the foundation for the task force and committee work. The focus is on multimodal transportation planning: bicycle, transit, passenger rail, roadways, aviation, travel reduction programs, etc. The task force will actively seek public input to determine what the public envisions as the multimodal transportation system needs for Arizona into the 21st Century. Our public involvement plan will define more specifically how/when public input will be encouraged throughout the duration of the task force.
We envision an aggressive pursuit of public involvement during three phases of this process: in the beginning, at the mid-point, and towards the end. Public input meetings will be held throughout the state to encourage the maximum public involvement possible. In addition, written comments are encouraged throughout this process and may be submitted at any time.
Phase I: This first phase involves holding public input meetings during the first several months of this process. The purpose of each meeting will be to gather public input on all aspects of Arizona’s transportation needs. This information will be used by the task force and its committees throughout the entire process.
Phase II: The second phase of public involvement will include informing the public what the task force has learned from the public meetings and during its initial studies concerning the statewide multimodal transportation needs for the future. Alternative strategies on "how" Arizona can get from where we are today to a comprehensive transportation system of the future will be discussed.
Phase III: The purpose of the third phase of public involvement will be to inform the public of the task force and committee activities, deliberations, and possible recommendations. The task force will be seeking public input to help direct the final workings of the task force and its committees.
The task force intends to reach out to constituents who have not traditionally been significantly involved in multimodal transportation planning. Identified constituents include, but are not limited to: elderly citizens, disabled citizens, citizens in lower socioeconomic areas, students and minorities.
Each task force member will attend at least two public meetings: one within their geographic area, and one outside the metropolitan areas. Task force members will be expected to attend the public involvement activities in their region whenever possible.
Regional planning entities, such as Metropolitan Planning Organizations and Councils of Governments, are encouraged to promote activities of the task force to their member entities and to interested constituents within their region.
