This Plan defines visionary, yet pragmatic, investment choices Arizona will make over the next 25 years to maintain and improve its multimodal transportation system. The Plan is not rigid or fixed. It is part of a continuous process of planning, implementation, operation, and preservation and will evolve over time to reflect and be responsive to future changes in needs, resources, and priorities. This Plan is strategic in nature, examining investment types for ADOT’s capital program; it does not examine nor recommend any specific projects.

The study was conducted in response to concerns from state leaders about the perceived shortage of construction workers and the impact that this shortage may be having on the industry’s ability to meet the growing residential and commercial demand for construction. The purpose of this study is to document the state of the industry, its workforce, and its capacity to prepare skilled workers to meet a growing demand.

The information in this report is based on telephone interviews with 700 registered voters. One random sample of 500 registered voters was selected from all registered voters living in Arizona. This sample was proportionately stratified so that voters in each of Arizona’s 15 counties were included in the sample. An additional sample of 100 interviews with registered voters living in Pima County was also interviewed. A third random sample of 100 registered voters living in the more rural counties also was interviewed. The purpose of selecting the two smaller samples was to create sub-samples of Pima County and rural voters that could be compared with the opinions of voters in Maricopa County.

The purpose of this analysis is to identify supplier gaps in Arizona based on secondary data as well as a statewide buyer survey. The buyer survey includes results from a web-based questionnaire, as well as personal interviews. The analysis is structured around twelve industries of opportunity identified in “Arizona’s Economic Future,” prepared by Economy.com in August 2002.

One of the ways that buyer supplier relationships in Arizona could be strengthened is through a statewide program that would provide resources to allow buyers and local suppliers to identify each other more easily to and provide better feedback to suppliers enabling them to compete more effectively with nonlocal vendors. This study includes reviews of three such programs: AZBusinessLinc used in Tucson; Connectory which is a similar program used in California; and FOCUS which is used for government procurement in California.

This report examined the effects of freeway development on land use and property values. A case study was prepared for the Superstition Freeway (US60) corridor in Mesa and Gilbert, Arizona. Among the findings were the following observations:
* New freeways provide substantial benefits to users in the form of travel time savings and reductions in costs associated with operating motor vehicles.
* Access benefits are transferred from highway users to non-users through changes in property values.
Freeway construction may have an adverse impact on some properties, but in the aggregate, property
values tend to increase with freeway development.
* Not all properties values are affected by freeways in the same way. Proximity to the freeway was observed to have a negative effect on the value of detached single-family homes in the US60 corridor, but to have a positive effect on multifamily residential developments (e.g. condominiums) and most commercial properties.
* The most important factor in determining negative impact on property values appears to be the level of traffic on any major roads in the proximate area, which implies that regional traffic growth is more significant than the presence of a freeway per se.
* Given the beneficial effects of freeway development on the value of certain types of properties, local
governments may benefit from appropriate planning and zoning decisions in the vicinity of a freeway
corridor.

Seeking to identify how Arizona Department of Transportation could accomplish the greatest service improvements with the most efficient use of funds, ADOT engaged ARCADIS to perform a Crash Data Collection and Analysis study and examine the possibilities offered by technological innovations such as Electronic Data Entry, Relational Database Management Systems, and Geographic Information Systems. The study resulted in a comprehensive report with three components: an examination of best practices in use in the United States today, a use case and gap analysis examining ADOT's current data work, and a technical memorandum outlining how changes could be implemented.

The Arizona Department of Commerce has the legislated responsibility to develop a 10 year economic plan for the State of Arizona that wants to accelerate solar adoption, and develop a solar electric industry within the state that would provide economic development. Arizona incentives for solar are mostly provided by the utilities. Technology improvements/cost reductions will allow central solar to compete with conventional baseload and intermediate generation. Implementing the roadmap initiatives will allow AZ to build upon its assets and policies to establish a leadership position in fostering solar.

This report profiles Yavapai County’s senior industries, beginning with a brief overview of senior industries components and a listing of significant findings of the study. In following sections, the report presents more detailed information on the age group characteristics of county residents, the spending patterns of seniors, the economic composition and relative size of senior industries, and the dynamics and requirements for growth of senior industries. In its conclusion, the report presents a menu of options for strengthening senior industries in Yavapai County. All analysis is based on the latest available demographic and economic data at the time of writing, as well as primary and secondary research performed by Morrison Institute for Public Policy in the fall of 2001.

The Governor's Strategic Partnership for Economic Development has identified 12 industry clusters in Arizona that collectively drive the economy. The term "cluster" refers to a geographic concentration of interdependent companies, suppliers, products, labor pool, and institutions that together constitute an important competitive advantage for a region. Tourism is recognized as one of Arizona's 12 industry clusters. In northern Arizona it ranks as the dominant cluster.

Much of the analysis in this report is based on the concept that industry clusters act as primary growth influences on local economies. Strong clusters produce goods or services that can be sold to consumers outside the region, creating a flow of revenue into the region. This influx of revenue stimulates economic activity in other areas of the local economy such as the retail, real estate, or constructions sectors.

This report profiles the tourism cluster in Coconino County with special focus on the Page area. It examines the cluster's composition, relative size, and importance to the regional economy, and it addresses the cluster's dynamics and requirements for growth. In its conclusion, it presents a menu of options for strengthening the cluster in the Page area.