The Ak-Chin Indian Community is nestled in the Santa Cruz Valley of Southern Arizona and encompasses 22,160 acres. Situated in northwestern Pinal County, the central portion of the Community is located five miles south of the City of Maricopa. State Route 347 runs north-south through the center of the Community, serving the Community, the City and the County. This roadway provides a direct route to Interstate 10 and the Phoenix metropolitan area, which is just 40 miles to the north. SR 347 also connects to Interstate 8 approximately 15 miles to the south. A second State facility, State Route 238 intersects the north end of the Community and provides east-west access to the City of Maricopa and SR 347 from the western edge of the Community. These regional facilities provide the Community with access to many needed services that are not available within the Community itself, including medical providers, shopping, and schools. Beyond the accessibility and mobility afforded by the State facilities, the Community is relatively landlocked served directly by only three rural roadways: Peters and Nall Road, Farrell Road and Ralston Road.

This planning project is to update the Ak-Chin Indian Communityís Long Range Transportation Plan. The study area is within the Community boundaries and adjacent Community-owned land. The principal focus of the project is to address the most critical transportation planning needs identified by the Community. This will include, but is not limited to a needs analysis and evaluation for all priority roadway corridors within the project area. The major transportation goals of the Community include: (1) Promote an effective, well-planned transportation system of roadways that establishes functional, safe, and durable streets; (2) Create ordinances, policies, or design guidelines that support the transportation plan; and (3) Provide for and encourage use of non-vehicle modes of transportation. The major product of the study will be a final report, which contains the updated Ak-Chin Indian Community Long Range Transportation Plan and a Plan for Improvements. Taking into consideration received input, the updated LRTP will span over five, ten and twenty year periods, incorporating both roadways and the multimodal needs of the Community.

Development of the Ak-Chin Indian Community Long Range Transportation Plan will be conducted according to a cooperative planning process involving stakeholders that include Community departmental staff, public agency staff, elected Community officials, and Community members. Throughout the study, information will be presented to and solicited from stakeholders through interviews and to the general public through public meetings and other means of communication.

Planning to Programming Link development started with ADOT's multimodal visioning called "Building a Quality Arizona" (bqAZ), the 2010 Statewide Transportation Planning Framework Study created a fiscally-unconstrained vision for the state's transportation system in 2050. bqAZ led to "What Moves You Arizona?," the state's Long-Range Transportation Plan 2010-2035, which applied financial constraint to the vision, identifying anticipated revenues and providing a recommended investment choice (RIC) that indicates how revenues will be allocated to four different investment types: preservation, expansion, modernization, and non-highway. The third step, and subject of this report, is "Linking the Long-Range Plan and Capital Improvement Program," or P2P Link, which focuses on how ADOT and its primary business partners, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs), and Councils of Governments (COGs), fund, build, maintain and operate the transportation system.

The Five-Year Consolidated Plan provides the framework for implementation of both City and County missions and is designed to guide HUD-funded housing, homeless and community development policies and programs over the five-year period beginning July 1, 2010 and ending June 30, 2014. The plan provides a comprehensive overview of federal, state and local programs in those program areas. It describes needs, resources, goals, strategies, and objectives.

The Arizona Department of Transportation is the primary decision maker for federal-aid transportation plans and investments in non-metropolitan areas with populations below 50,000. However, ADOT understands the importance of consulting with local governments before, during, and after the decision making process to ensure participation results in improved transportation system planning, performance and project development. Therefore, ADOT has developed guidelines that outline the consultation process, and defines how and when outreach will occur with officials from rural areas. It is intended that this document is subject to review and revision every 5 years. In the event that Congress enacts new transportation language, this document will be subject to immediate revision.

This study is funded by the Arizona Department of Transportation Multimodal Planning Division Planning Assistance for Rural Areas (PARA) program. The purpose of this study was to evaluate pedestrian safety concerns and evaluate pedestrian infrastructure needs on the Gila River Indian Community and recommend a program of multimodal enhancements to address the identified needs.