The Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT) completed a comprehensive customer satisfaction assessment in July 2009. ADOT commissioned the assessment to acquire statistically valid data from residents and community leaders to help it identify short-term and long-term transportation priorities. The survey found that state residents feel: Safe on the state's highways; ADOT keeps the roads clean; ADOT keeps the landscaping well maintained; Satisfied with the Motor Vehicle Division; ADOT is moving in the right direction; Dissatisfied with condition of highway shoulders (should be improved); Dissatisfied with nighttime visibility of highway striping; Dissatisfied with the frequency of public transit where they live; and Dissatisfied with traffic flow on highways during rush hour. Both residents and community leaders said the transportation issues with the highest priorities were: Repairing and maintaining existing highways; Enhancing highway safety; and Relieving congestion on highways.

This study will prepare an updated Tribal Long Range Transportation Plan and a strategic plan for improvements over five-, 10-, and 20-year periods, incorporating both roadway and multimodal needs. Some key focus areas of the Plan are road maintenance and safety programs, as well as improvement plans for bicycle, pedestrian, and transit systems. It also Identifies updates to the Tribal Transportation Inventory and functional classification systems will assist in expanding the level and types of funding available for transportation projects.

A landmark assessment of infrastructure needs in Arizona was produced by the L. William Seidman Research Institute in May 2008 for the Arizona Investment Council (AIC): "Infrastructure Needs and Funding Alternatives for Arizona: 2008-2032", that addressed infrastructure needs in four categories: energy, telecommunications, transportation, and water and wastewater. The information from the AIC report is a major input to the report that follows. Other types of infrastructure — most notably education, health care, and public safety — also are analyzed here to provide a more complete picture of infrastructure needs in Arizona. The goals of this report are to place Arizona’s infrastructure needs into national and historical contexts, to identify the changing conditions in infrastructure provision that make building Arizona’s infrastructure in the future a more problematic proposition than in the past, and to provide projections of the possible costs of providing infrastructure in Arizona over the next quarter century.

The condition of Arizona’s infrastructure has a direct impact on economic productivity and quality of life. As economic competition expands domestically and globally, and as the knowledge economy evolves, the importance of a strong infrastructure increases. Education, in particular, is of growing importance. Arizona’s infrastructure challenges will require commitment and creativity to meet the needs and potential of 10 million people and to ensure a positive future for the state.