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.

The Committee selected the following environmental goal: A goal with the purpose of showing continued progress through 2018 by; 1) improving visibility to move days now in the poor/very poor categories up to the fair category, and 2) moving days classified as fair to the good/excellent categories. A progress
assessment will be conducted every 5 years through 2018. The members concluded that this option provides a clear, long term method to track visibility trends in the Phoenix metropolitan area. Additionally, the Committee reached general agreement that the index should not be used to affect short term actions because other programs, such as the High Pollution Advisory Program, are currently in place.

An Urban Design Team made up of local designers, national transit designers, and agency representatives, was assembled to develop a document that would guide the system design. In addition, a team of climatologists from Arizona State University researched the special performance needs of materials and cooling systems in our climate, providing input into the guidelines for shading and cooling devices, as well as a separate technical report. The Team worked to isolate the twenty elements of urban design most critical to the creation of a light rail system specific to this region and then developed guidelines for each one of those elements.

The Regional Transportation Plan and Proposition 400 identified funding for 13 regional parkand-ride lots to support transit operations. This study provides recommendations to ensure that park-and-ride implementation are aligned with operational requirements, especially regarding express bus and bus rapid transit needs. The Park-and-Ride Re-prioritization also describes issues concerning the Valley’s overall park-and-ride network and makes recommendations to facilitate implementation.

Construction of a habitat restoration project in the Salt River will begin in the spring of 2000 which will transform the riverbed to provide a variety of amenities including recreation opportunities, improved flood management, riparian vegetation and wildlife habitat. The Beyond the Tanks area surrounds the Rio Salado project and is bounded by I-17 to the north, 32nd Street to the east, Broadway Road to the south and 19th Avenue to the west. The committee has adopted the name "Village at Rio Salado" for this area but will be referred to as "Beyond the Banks" in this report.