The United States Department of Transportation Federal Transit Administration requires that each state adopt policies and procedures to be used in administering the FTA Sections 5310, 5311, 5316 and 5317 grant programs. This document describes the policies and procedures and is referred to as the "State Management Plan." It was adopted by the Arizona Department of Transportation Transit Programs and Grants for the FTA programs.

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 Arizona Department of Transportation awarded funding for the Wellton Transportation Long-Range Plan PARA Study through the Planning Assistance for Rural Areas program. The purpose of the PARA program is to assist rural counties, cities, towns, and tribal communities in addressing a broad range of multimodal transportation planning issues related to roadways, transit, and non-motorized modes of travel. The principal purpose of the Wellton PARA Study is to develop a multimodal transportation plan for a 44-square-mile planning area in the vicinity of the Town of Wellton. The study has resulted in a plan of improvements for short-term, mid-term, and long-term transportation planning horizons. The recommendations are multimodal, considering roadways, transit, and nonmotorized (i.e., bicycle and pedestrian) transportation modes. The executive summary provides a brief summary of current and future conditions, transportation needs and issues, recommended improvements, and the implementation plan.

This transportation plan includes an assessment of the City’s streets, bridges, sidewalks, public stairs, shared-use pathways, transit, public parking, airport, and transportation-related drainage facilities. The transportation plan also includes an implementation plan that sets forth a comprehensive capital improvement program to bring the transportation infrastructure up to current standards and to provide an acceptable level of service for current and forecast travel demands.

This study focuses in the area surrounding the municipalities of: Town of Pima, City of Thatcher and City of Safford. The junction of the two major state routes, US 191 and US 70 is located in the heart of these communities and serves as major arterials for local travelers. Parsons Brinckerhoff has been commissioned by ADOT to perform this preliminary assessment for the development of an alternate route through the Thatcher/Safford/Pima area.

The historical advantages of Grand Avenue and the railroad that led to the development of the West Valley cities have become a detriment to the further development or redevelopment in the past few decades. There is general agreement that significant improvements are needed for the Grand Avenue Corridor. Identified transportation funds provide an opportunity to develop a more modern transportation corridor along Grand Avenue. This study addresses these concerns by developing, evaluating, and recommending transportation investment options.

In the fall of 2007, Arizona’s Councils of Governments and Metropolitan Planning Organizations, in cooperation with the Arizona Department of Transportation, launched a new phase in an ambitious, long-range statewide planning process known as Building a Quality Arizona or bqAZ. Working in collaboration with regional transportation planning entities, transit organizations, tribal governments, land management agencies, conservation groups, business and community leaders, and Governor Napolitano’s Growth Cabinet, ADOT and local/regional leaders embarked on development of a Statewide Transportation Planning Framework that formulated and evaluated multimodal transportation improvements. ADOT’s Multimodal Planning Division and Communication and Community Partnerships Division jointly led the Statewide Framework planning process.