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.

The Clean Air Act states that an area can be redesignated to attainment if specific conditions are met. This document demonstrates that all CAA requirements for attainment have been met, summarizes the progress of the area in attaining the PM10 standard, demonstrates that the Bullhead City area qualifies for EPA’s Clean Data Policy and Limited Maintenance Plan option, and includes a maintenance plan to assure continued attainment for ten years after the redesignation. This document includes a formal request to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to redesignate the Bullhead City, Arizona PM10 nonattainment area to attainment for the health-based 24-hour average and annual average PM10 National Ambient Air Quality Standard.

In addition, this document includes a formal request to revise the nonattainment area boundary, as currently defined in 40 CFR 81.303, to exclude three townships (108 square miles) in the east and south of the nonattainment area. The rationale for eliminating the three townships is that the land contains undisturbed desert terrain. The majority of the three townships is federal land managed by the Bureau of Land Management and state land managed by the Arizona State Land Department. Analyses included in this document show that ambient air quality measurements have remained below the NAAQS for PM10, and both the 24-hour average design value and annual average PM10 design value are below EPA’s LMP allowable limits. This document also demonstrates that the emission reduction control measures responsible for the air quality improvement are both permanent and enforceable.

This document consists of the attainment demonstration, maintenance plan, and redesignation to attainment request for the Douglas Sulfur Dioxide (SO2) Nonattainment Area. The purpose of this document is to demonstrate how the State of Arizona has met the National Ambient Air Quality Standards for SO2 and intends to maintain compliance with the NAAQS in the Douglas area. Air quality standards are divided into two types: primary standards based on health effects and secondary standards based on environmental effects such as damage to property, plants, visibility, etc. Both standards are established by EPA for criteria air pollutants such as sulfur dioxide.