The purpose of this guidebook is to serve as a reference tool to provide tribal governments and tribal planning departments assistance in understanding the transportation planning and programming processes and how to work with ADOT to receive positive benefits. Specifically, this guidebook discusses the ADOT statewide, regional and rural area transportation planning process.

The Study identifies a plan of improvements for transit and non-motorized transportation and outlines the specific actions necessary to implement and sustain the plan. The Study identifies projects that establish and improve the pedestrian and transit options for Community members. The development of these suggested projects includes consideration of evaluation criteria addressing such issues as safety and connection of multi-modal transportation modes throughout the Community and to the greater region.

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.