Priority Programming Process

The statutory power to prioritize individual airport and highway projects is placed on the State Transportation Board, a seven-member panel appointed by the governor. Members of the panel serve six-year terms and represent different geographical regions of the state. This panel not only presides over the establishment of priorities, but also awards all highway contracts.

A committee appointed by the ADOT director assists the Transportation Board in setting priorities. The committee, known as the Priority Planning Advisory Committee, consists of the deputy director as chairperson, representatives from the Intermodal, Operations, Aeronautics, Motor Vehicle and Administrative Service Divisions. They are guided by a number of policies that are established by the board. The current policies address the following commitments:

Board policies are reviewed periodically and updated as needed to meet ever-changing transportation needs. A copy of the board policies are available from the ADOT Transportation Planning Division.

The highway construction program is a product of input from citizens, local governments, planning organizations, chambers of commerce, the business community and ADOT professionals. All of these parties are involved with our transportation system in one way or another.

The ADOT planners and engineers rely on a number of technical measures to identify highway needs. These measures include the ADOT pavement management system, accident studies and route corridor studies.

Highway improvement needs identified through public input and technical studies typically far exceed the revenues available over the Five-Year Construction Program. This leads to the next and most difficult phase of the programming process; prioritizing highway improvement needs.

There are many different ways to prioritize a project. The methodology proposed in the rating system compares basic performance data (i.e., accident rates, current and projected traffice volumes) about each project against all other submitted projects. The rating system can also contain fixed performance targets for some categories based on how well the overall roadway system is currently performing or how the state would like the system to perform. This system is an objective tool that incorporates a number of roadway characteristics.

Other criteria are also used to prioritize projects. Among these are the significance of the route, route continuity, cost effectiveness measured by the project cost per motorist served and recommendations of our experts in the field; the district engineers.

Criteria are considered in the ranking of candidate projects for each program category. The highest ranked projects are then considered for inclusion in the construction program to the extent that funding is available.

For projects already in the program, necessary engineering resources are allocated to meet target construction dates. However, unanticipated problem areas or events outside the department’s control may require program adjustments. These changes are made on the basis of revised estimates of project development time.

The Maricopa County section of this report contains a life-cycle program for construction of the controlled-access system in Maricopa County Regional Freeway System (MAG Proposition 300 Freeways). This section also contains a Regional Transportation Plan projects (Proposition 400). The concept of a life-cycle program refers to a programming approach, which includes not only the usual five-year programming period, but also recognized the need to allocate funds through the full life of major funding sources. As a result, the MAG Life-Cycle Freeways Program covers the full period of the Maricopa County one-half cent transportation excise tax and extends through the fiscal year 2026.

For over two decades, ADOT has had two primary transit grant programs. Both are 100 percent federally funded to date, administered by the Public Transportation Division and nationally administered by the Federal Transit Administration (FTA). Aimed primarily at rural and special needs transportation providers, these are the Rural Public Transportation Program or Section 5311 (49 USC & 5311) and the Elderly and Persons with Disabilities Transportation Program or Section 5310 (49 USC & 5310). In earlier years these programs were known as Sections 18 and 16 or 16b2, respectively.

Traditional "formula" grant support by the FTA provides the Rural Public or Section 5311 Transportation Program approximately $3.4 million annually in federal capital and operating assistance. The Elderly & Persons with Disabilities or 5310 Program provides approximately $1.5 million annually in capital assistance only, typically in the procurement of rolling stock (e.g., wheelchair lift-equipped and non-lift vans). (See "Additonal Programs" for STP Flexible Funds, which augment formula FTA funding).

Both programs are competitive-application based, with the 5311 Program’s applicants being primarily public agencies such as cities, towns and counties. Currently, 16 such public entities participate in the Rural 5311 Program.

Section 5310 providers are senior centers and programs for the physically, mentally and developmentally disabled (DD) populations. Annually, ADOT is able to award from 80 to 90 vehicles.

Successful applications for both of these grant programs are adjudicated through an application evaluation and screening process, which includes ADOT and non-ADOT transportation professionals.

The 5310 Program utilizes the assistance of the COG planning offices and MPO social service planners to screen regional applicants. ADOT then makes the final decision regarding awards based on this input and available budget. Reviewers of both programs 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 annual grant cycle for Sections 5310 and 5311 programs typically occurs from January of one calendar year through April of the following year when prior year vehicle deliveries begin (5310) and new applications for operating (5311) or capital (5310 and 5311) funds are received. Funding availability is based on the federal fiscal year starting in October of each year. Capital procurement for 5311 occurs at the local level with ADOT oversight.

To date all Section 5310 rolling stock has been purchased centrally through ADOT’s Procurement Office or the State Procurement Office (SPO), with guidance from ADOT’s Public Transportation Planning Division and Equipment Services office.

Starting in 1997, via the Priority Programming process, an additional $1.5 million and over $925,000 in STP "Flex Funds" was programmed for ADOT’s special needs (5310) and Rural Public (5311) transit programs, respectively, for utilization primarily in the rural areas of the state.

In 1998 this programmed funding was configured to permit the initiation of flow of funds later in calendar year 1999. Assisting in the above grant programs is the Transit Automated Prioritization System (TAPs), an outgrowth of ADOT’s earlier Public Transportation Management System (PTMS) efforts. TAPS is a vehicle inventory database, which assesses a variety of factors including previous Sections 5310 and 5311 recipients vehicle age, condition and mileage, and gives the Division an additional oversight tool by providing a picture of overall fleet health for any given grant year. For ADOT’s funded systems, local applicant fleet data is collected at the time of the proposal submittal to the department and during annual vehicle inspections.

The Public Transit Division has administrative responsibility for FTA Section 5313 (rural &qote;new start" and other predominately rural transit) planning funds. FTA Section 5307 capital and operating funds for small urban-communities between 50,000 to 250,000 - transit systems are funded through an ADOT preliminary review and approval process. For larger urban areas in Arizona, the Maricopa and Pima County regions Section 5307 (and other grant) application and federal submittal process is administered by MAG and PAG respectively with only peripheral advisory involvement on ADOT’s part. The Public Transportation Division additionally has administrative oversight responsibility over the formulation of Section 5303 urban transit planning funds, which are allocated to MPOs.

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 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:

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.

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.

After release by the board, the Tentative Program is distributed widely throughout the state to local elected officials, transportation agencies and other interested parties. Public Hearings are then conducted to obtain input from anyone who wishes to comment on the program.

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.