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BQAZ & Rural COGs. February 8, 2008 Central Arizona Association of Governments. Great need for future regional transportation improvements in Pinal County. Present population – 325,000 Build-out population, based on current land plans – 6 million
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BQAZ & Rural COGs February 8, 2008 Central Arizona Association of Governments
Great need for future regional transportation improvements in Pinal County • Present population – 325,000 • Build-out population, based on current land plans – 6 million • Entitled development projects – 840,000 dwelling units • Annual population growth, 2005-07 – 32,000 • Existing freeway capacity will not accommodate growth for too many years in the future • Some areas already slowed down due to congestion – San Tan area example
Many, many studies-plans already completed or presently in process • 12 land plans & studies currently underway, covering most of the County • All Pinal County jurisdictions have completed or are finishing Small Area Transportation Studies • 15 transportation plans-studies presently underway:
Transportation is expensive! Ballpark cost of building Pinal plans: $16-24 billion (excludes ROW, O&M, mass transit)
Where’s the money? Pinal’s potential requires sustainable transportation funding • Federal & state revenues expected to diminish under present funding formulas • Chicken-and-egg problem for local funding sources • County ½ cent sales tax will not create substantial revenues for many years • Under-capacity in regional transportation will slow growth, pushing substantial revenues from ½ cent tax even further in future • Same problem applies to other local funding alternatives • Rural COG’s – indeed, the whole state – needs sustainable, certain funding. This is why CAAG supports BQAZ
Maxine Leather Executive Director mleather@caagcentral.org For further information Central Arizona of Governments 1075 S. Idaho Road, Suite 300 Apache Junction AZ 85219 (480) 474-9300