In September 2004, ADOT awarded a contract for the Pinal County Corridors Definition Study to Kimley-Horn and Associates. The scope of the Pinal County Corridors Definition Study included the following activities:
* Confirm the need for the East Valley and the North-South corridors;
* Define planning-level corridor definition alternatives;
* Perform a technical assessment of engineering, environmental, and land use compatibility constraints opportunities for the planning-level corridor definition alternatives;
* Identify to the extent possible, feasible and preferred planning-level corridor definitions on the basis of the technical evaluation;
* Document planning-level costs of corridor development (including studies, design, construction, and right-of-way costs) for the preferred corridor definitions.

The Pinal County Corridors Definition Study resulted in sufficient detail to provide a basis for the future establishment of geometric roadway alignments and corridor design concepts, the preservation of right-of-way, and the identification of required environmental clearance studies.

This report describes the development of base and future socioeconomic estimates for the Pinal Corridor Planning Model, developed by ADOT to support the evaluation of potential new highway corridors in Northern Pinal County. This section presents a summary of the methodology, data sources used, and historical trends in population and employment growth. The following two sections present the base and future year methods and resulting estimates of population and employment.

The proposed Meridian Road Corridor Study is needed to support the continuing development and growth, occurring and anticipated, in the East Mesa, West Apache Junction, and within Pinal County. The purpose of the Meridian Road Corridor Study is to document conditions along the existing roadway and to develop alternatives that will increase the safety and future level of service of Meridian Road. This study will also establish a roadway footprint and develop the ultimate right‐of‐way requirement for the corridor. Finally, the study will be utilized as a guide for local agencies and future development along the corridor. The study area for the Meridian Road Corridor Study is approximately 13 miles in length.

This paper provides a capsule perspective on the lessons economists have learned from investigating growth and income gaps across countries. After providing the lessons for growth and development across countries, the paper asks whether these lessons can be extended to growth and income differentials between regions or states of the United States. It should be stressed that applying to regional growth what is known about country growth is partly untested at this time, and hence merely suggestive.

This paper complements a detailed assessment of job quality, based on analysis of industrial and occupational mix, recently completed by the Seidman Institute’s Center for Business Research. The overall conclusions in this report are consistent with those of the more extensive CBR research. Arizona’s economy grows very rapidly, but per person or per worker measures of wages, compensation, incomes, and gross state product are below the national average. No evidence exists that the situation is improving appreciably (or deteriorating). Indeed, the state appears to be creating income, wealth and quality jobs at rates that are similar to those displayed by other states. Arizona is a job-generating marvel and is among the nation’s leaders in aggregate growth. If the state is successful at improving the quality of its labor force and creating higher-quality jobs, its per worker and per person comparisons will improve.

This report and the accompanying Geographic Information System (GIS) datasets summarize the results of the workshop held in Florence, Arizona in 2010. At this workshop, stakeholders representing a broad range of organizations and interests identified and mapped the locations of important wildlife linkages across Pinal County. This report provides background information on the importance and benefits of conserving wildlife linkages for both people and wildlife in Pinal County and describes the methods used during stakeholder workshops and in developing the accompanying GIS products. It includes a series of maps generated from the digitized stakeholder data that depict the general locations of wildlife linkages and potential barriers to wildlife movement within Pinal County. The maps are followed by tables with descriptive information about the habitat areas each linkage connects, the species each linkage serves, and known threats and potential conservation opportunities associated with each linkage.

Given the inevitable transportation changes associated with impending growth in Pinal County, there was a need for a method to assess how corresponding emissions changes might affect PM10 and Ozone concentrations in the county and at the monitor sites. The overall objective of the project was to develop methods or models that could be used in Pinal County to adequately address air pollution issues in the County.

This plan is an action agenda that avoids the long-term strategic planning platitudes and broad generalizations that sound good but do not achieve a great deal. The steps presented in this document are ones we can take in the near term, over the next two years or so, that will provide the foundation for long-term economic growth and stability.