The purpose of this report is to highlight lands acquired with 1997 and 2004 voter-approved bond funds, provide a historical record of Pima County’s land conservation efforts and consider how these properties contribute to Pima County’s long-term vision – the Sonoran Desert Conservation Plan. The report also provides a special feature on the evolution of conservation and land use planning in Pima County.

The 2009 Navajo Nation Long Range Transportation Plan is a twenty-year comprehensive plan developed and updated by the Navajo Division of Transportation in a five-year cycle. The plan identifies the Nation’s multi-modal transportation needs over the next 20 years and develops strategies to meet them. The plan provides long range planning policies and implementation strategies for the Navajo Indian Reservation Roads Program improvements. It is based on a comprehensive analysis of all pertinent factors and issues affecting the Navajo Nation’s existing and future transportation needs.

This version of the Major Streets and Routes Plan revises the original plan and the 2004 revisions. Looking ahead to pending updates to the classification systems of towns and cities in Maricopa County, the original MSRP stipulated a periodic review and modification of the street functional classification portion of the plan. This revision incorporates the following changes: (1) as anticipated, many of the communities in the County have updated either their general or transportation plans in the time since the adoption of the first MSRP; (2) a new roadway classification, the Arizona Parkway, has been added to the Maricopa County street classification system and the expressway classification has been removed; and (3) a series of regional framework studies have been conducted by the Maricopa Association of Governments to establish comprehensive roadway networks in parts of the West Valley.

The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of typical chemical winter maintenance practices on Arizona Department of Transportation pavements. A review of previous studies on the effect of deicing/anti‐icing chemicals did not yield definitive recommendations, especially for DIAICs typically used by ADOT. Researchers conducted a laboratory study evaluating the effects of magnesium chloride, potassium chloride, sodium chloride, and distilled water on eight different open‐graded rubber‐modified asphalt concrete mixes using the boiling test. All experimental factors were found to be statistically significant, and the researchers provide recommendations on which DIAICs should be used for different binder and aggregate types.

The Governor’s Executive Order in 2007 directed the Arizona Invasive Species Advisory Council to develop an invasive species management plan by June 30, 2008. This plan is based upon the framework recommended in the initial AISAC report and focused on five strategic concepts: Leadership and Coordination, Research and Information Management, Anticipation and Outreach, Control and Management, and Funding. In developing the plan, fifteen objectives and sixty-three recommendations were established to address invasive species needs in Arizona.

The Arizona Department of Transportation has been involved with railroad planning since 1976, with its first State Rail Plan Update issued in 1978. The most recent report, the 2000 Arizona State Rail Plan Update was an important starting point for this Inventory and Assessment in that the seven-year-old study provides the description and inventory of Arizona railroads as they existed at that time. There have been a number of important changes over the intervening years, and these are reflected in this 2007 Inventory and Assessment. In addition to the 2000 State Rail Plan Update, RLBA made use of the 2003 Maricopa Association of Governments (MAG) High-Capacity Transit Study and the 1998 Arizona High Speed Rail Feasibility Study. The information contained in this report was gathered from a number of sources, including the railroads themselves, ADOT, the Arizona Corporation Commission, MAG and numerous Arizona officials. A listing of persons who contributed to this Railroad Inventory and Assessment is provided under “Acknowledgements” inside the front cover. Information in this report also was obtained from the Association of American Railroads and from RLBA’s extensive data banks.

This study examines the feasibility of Turner Parkway and establishes guidance for the preservation of right-of-way to assure the functional integrity of the transportation framework. The Turner Parkway corridor is located 13 miles west of Loop 303 in northwestern Maricopa County. When completed, this parkway will be the first major, high-capacity, north-south facility west of White Tank Mountains.