Arizona State and Local Government Documents Collection

This document is intended to give an overview of the Federal-Aid Program and its impacts on Arizona. There are four major sections in the report: (1) Overview of the Federal-Aid Program; (2) Arizona Federal funding highlights for the fiscal year; (3) Federal-aid Highway Program Characteristics; and (4) Federal-Aid Highway Program descriptions. The first section gives a general overview of how the Federal-Aid Program is financed, the authorization process and a discussion of the apportionment, allocation and obligation authority processes. The second section deals with Arizona Federal funding highlights the for fiscal year. The last two sections are devoted to characteristics of the core programs, including eligibility, limitations, apportionment formulas and descriptions of the funding categories.

The Arizona Department of Transportation was authorized in 1996 to administer a State Infrastructure Bank under a cooperative agreement with the Federal Highway Administration. The Highway Expansion and Extension Loan Program (HELP) was established. The financial statements present only the funds comprising the Fund and are not intended to present fairly the financial position or results of operations of the Department.

The HELP program is meant to be a funding tool to accelerate needed highway projects throughout the state. Board Funding Obligations are an important part of the HELP capitalization and the current stress on the State's General Fund has impacted our ability to use BFOs as a funding source for new loans. Though $140 million of BFOs are authorized by statute to capitalize the HELP, the State Treasurer was required to call all outstanding BFOs in April 2009. Consequently, the State Transportation Board and the Department have suspended the HELP program given the uncertainty of a long term funding source.

Since 1986, the Arizona Department of Transportation has used a comprehensive regression-based econometric model to estimate Transportation Excise Tax revenues for Maricopa County. These revenues, which flow into the Regional Area Road Fund (RARF), are the major funding source for the Maricopa County Freeway Program. This document contains the official forecast of expected values for the Maricopa County Transportation Excise Tax as developed by the Arizona Department of Transportation in cooperation with the Maricopa Association of Governments, Valley Metro and Valley Metro Rail.

The State of Arizona taxes motor fuels and collects a variety of fees relating to the registration and operation of motor vehicles in the state. These collections include gasoline and use fuel taxes, motor carrier fees, vehicle license taxes, motor vehicle registration fees, and other miscellaneous fees. These revenues are deposited in the Arizona Highway User Revenue Fund and are then distributed to the cities, towns and counties of the State and to the State Highway Fund, which is administered by the Department. These taxes and fees represent a source of revenues available to the state for highway related expenses.

The State of Arizona taxes motor fuels and collects fees relating to the registration and operation of motor vehicles. These taxes and fees include gasoline and use fuel taxes, motor carrier fees, motor vehicle registration fees, vehicle license taxes, and other miscellaneous fees. Revenues are deposited in the Arizona Highway User Revenue Fund and are then distributed to the cities, towns and counties and to the State Highway Fund. These taxes and fees are a major source of revenue to the state for highway construction, improvements, and other related expenditures.

This summary report overviews a State of Arizona and U. S. Department of Energy funded drilling project to determine if near-term hot dry rock (HDR) geothermal potential exists in the eastern portion of the White Mountains region of Arizona. A 4,505 feet deep slim-hole exploratory well, Alpine1/Federal, was drilled within the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest at Alpine Divide near the Alpine Divide camp ground about 5 miles north of Alpine, Arizona in Apache County (Figure 1). A comprehensive technical report, in two parts, details the results of the project. Part 1, Alpine1/Federal, Drilling Report, discusses the drilling operations,
logging program, permitting and site selection for the hole. Part 2, Temperature Gradients, Geothermal Potential, and Geology, summarizes the temperature gradients, heat flow, geothermal potential, and subsurface geology.

In March 1971, the Arizona Bureau of Mines—predecessor of today’s Arizona Geological Survey—published the first issue of Fieldnotes. For nearly 40 years, Fieldnotes, and its successor, Arizona Geology, showcased all things geologic in Arizona. From the onset, the quarterly magazine printed topical pieces on Arizona’s mineral resources, energy potential, and environmental geology. In Fall 1988, Fieldnotes became Arizona Geology, and the newsletter was retailored to meet the needs of Arizona’s exploding population. There was increased focus on articles describing geologic phenomena—flash floods and regional floods, earthquakes, landslides, volcanism, swelling and shrinking soils, earth fissures, and more—with the most immediate and adverse impact on the lives and properties of our fellow Arizonans. But that was then and this is now! As print publication costs rise through the stratosphere, we simply can no longer afford to print and mail 4100 copies of Arizona Geology quarterly. Arizona Geology is going digital. We are suspending the print publication immediately and we are moving from a quarterly schedule to three times annually.