By Roland Murphy for AZBEX
More than 200 attendees packed the Desert Willow Conference Center in Phoenix this week for the BEX 2025 Public Works Conference—the year’s most comprehensive discussion on public construction and development projects in Arizona.
Master of ceremonies Jamie Schindeldecker, business development director of Speedie & Associates, welcomed the crowd, outlined the day’s events and dove immediately into the content as she introduced the first speaker: BEX President and Founder Rebekah Morris.
To set the stage, Morris recapped the macroeconomic indicators currently influencing the Arizona construction industry. Among her most recently updated findings:
- Public infrastructure projects total 22% of the overall market, versus 26% for housing and 52% for commercial;
- After three years of slowing, the rate of change for statewide construction activity has turned negative, showing a current year-to-date decline of around 3%;
- Still, construction activity far surpasses prior volumes. 2016 showed a total of $9.7B, whereas 2024 totals showed a nominal value of $26.4B, which amounts to $19B when adjusted for inflation.
- The construction market also continues to, in Morris’ words, “level up” and do more with less, as current construction employment is reported at 223,500 jobs, a 6.99% decrease from the 2006 peak of 240,300. Construction employment year-to-date is up 3.42%.
Top CIP Markets
Following her summary, Morris launched into her overview of the Top 10 municipalities’ Capital Improvement Plans. She made a specific note of the sheer financial scope of public development in the state, pointing out the smallest of the Top 10 was still nearly $1.5B.
After seesawing back and forth with the Arizona Department of Transportation between the preliminary and final submissions, the City of Phoenix took the top position by dollar amount is this year’s list, coming in with $13.35B in its five-year total, an 8.56% increase from last year.
Paraphrasing a Phoenix official, Morris drew a laugh from the crowd when she said airports are giant, ongoing construction projects where we allow planes to take off and land, in reference to Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport’s long-term plan for a new West Terminal to replace the former Terminal 2. She used that plan as a means of illustrating the multi-component nature of large-scale public projects, as it will require the completion of several smaller enabling projects to restructure, relocate and expand existing facilities before development of the new terminal can actually take place.
ADOT, the second-largest CIP, increased 42.6% YoY to hit $11.57B. ADOT’s initial plan had made it the largest, but it was revised downward by $1.5B between the preliminary and final documents.
In third place on the list was the Town of Gilbert, which remained relatively flat for its five-year total at $4.255B.
Dwarfing the rest of the list in terms of percent change, Maricopa County took the fourth spot with $2.63B, an increase of 162.43%. Much of that planning is the result of the Proposition 479 transportation tax renewal, which has placed more funding and more projects in the plan.
Scottsdale’s CIP was largely flat at $2.238B, as was Tempe’s at $1.96B.
In the seventh spot, however, Pima County came surging in with $1.835B, marking the second-largest percent change with 126.78%. Pima has worked to unify its Integrated Infrastructure Plan and Capital Improvement Plan, with major spending focused on facilities management, transportation and regional wastewater reclamation. Major upcoming projects for Pima County include an Adult Detention Center and the Sahuarita Wastewater Reclamation Facility.
Mesa ($1.795B), Queen Creek ($1.58B) and Chandler ($1.48B) rounded out the Top Ten.
Morris concluded her presentation with conclusions and highlights of what she and the BEX team have gleaned from putting this year’s report together:
- Advanced water purification, which sometimes carries the unfortunate descriptor of “toilet to tap,” has generated a great deal of discussion and will continue to become a more important topic very soon;
- Actions at the State level can have much greater influence on municipal budgets and planning than federal mandates, and several recent actions by the Legislature have negatively impacted cities’ options;
- Arizona’s most recent expansion phase is over, as macroeconomic indicators are thoroughly mixed, and
- While construction activity in Arizona has doubled since 2017, staffing levels have not. Companies, cities and agencies are doing more with less.
Water Infrastructure Planning
With water accessibility and management a perennial issue in Arizona and metro Phoenix, the first panel assembled to discuss water infrastructure planning and the Phoenix area’s future growth.
The panel was comprised of:
- Jake Lenderking, senior VP of Water Resources and Legislative Affairs for Global Water Resources;
- Ted Cooke, Water Infrastructure Finance Authority of Arizona board member and chairman of the WIFA Long Term Water Augmentation Committee;
- Terri Sue Rossi, VP of Water Resources for Arizona Water Company, and
- Mark Ipson (moderator), principal associate/manager for Water/Wastewater at Colliers Engineering & Design.
Each of the panelists presented an overview of their organizations and operations. Cooke explained WIFA’s goals of ensuring Arizona’s water supply results in annual supply augmentation of between 100,000 and 500,000 acre-feet/year, 7.5 million AF in conservation and serving 100 priority communities’ reliability needs.
Lenderking told the audience GWR focuses primarily on growth corridors in a swath spanning from Tonopah to Sahuarita, with the City of Maricopa as its largest service area. He said the company focuses on total water management and always strives to maintain a mix of water, wastewater and recycled water in its mix.
Rossi explained AWC also seeks diverse water supplies and efficient use for its customers and service areas, pointing out the firm is the largest U.S. family-owned utility in the state and has the second-largest Central Arizona Project private utility allocation.
Much of the room zeroed in on Rossi as she gave a brief overview of the planned $3.7B Bartlett Dam Expansion, clarifying several details about the project. Unlike what has been reported in several news outlets, the project will not raise the existing dam. Instead, a new dam will be built, which will inundate the existing one, “which is kind of a shame,” she said, “because the existing (dam) is really a spectacular engineering structure.”
AWC, GWR and most Valley cities will be participating in the project during its development.
When Ipson asked the panelists to describe the state of water infrastructure, the responses were generally optimistic. Lenderking said the infrastructure is generally in good shape, with much of GWR’s effort and spending going into upgrading smaller systems.
Cooke concurred, saying Arizona is doing well, overall, for distribution, particularly at the macro level. Most WIFA projects, he said, have a local-level focus.
All the panelists agreed that relying too heavily on a single water supply, such as the Colorado River, is not a wise policy, with Rossi making the point that most effective water management will deal with regional projects, which will require regional funding.
Cooke provided one of the session’s most soundbite-worthy comments when he said, “We’re not running out of water unless we do nothing, and Arizona is not known for doing nothing.”
Prop 479 and Future Planning
As the day’s only one-person public segment presenter, Maricopa Association of Governments’ Transportation Policy and Initiatives Program Manager Arminta Syed took the stage next to discuss what the future holds following voters’ approval of the Prop 479 half-cent transportation tax.
The approval renews and extends funding under the previous Prop 400 measure through 2045. MAG, the leaders of Maricopa County cities and transportation advocates, waged a hard-fought battle with the Arizona Legislature to get the renewal on the ballot and approved. AZBEX covered the issue extensively.
Now that the measure has been approved, it will provide a funding stream to implement the projects and programs planned under the Regional Strategic Transportation Infrastructure Investment Plan.
Under the RSTIIP, projects will include new freeway linkages, investment in more than 1,000 miles of arterial road construction and improvements, along with investments in high-capacity transit, emerging technologies and other areas of operation and development.
Specifically, Syed explained, investment is planned for:
- 331 new freeway/highway lane miles, 134 new HOV lane miles,
- 1,000 new or improved arterial lane miles,
- 43 new or improved traffic interchanges,
- 19 new DHOV or system interchange DHOV ramps and
- Three new or improved system interchanges.
The funding will also help support 11.9 miles of new light rail, 29.3 miles of bus rapid transit and 4.4 miles of new streetcar.
Projects will be implemented across four programs: the Freeway Life Cycle Program, Arterial Life Cycle Program, Transit Life Cycle Program and Competitive Programs that will be managed by MAG and implemented by local agencies.
Major projects planned under Prop 479 include the new State Route 30 Corridor running east-west in the West Valley, the SR 74 Corridor from Interstate 17 to U.S. 60, and the U.S. 60 (Grand Avenue) Corridor Study for Loop 303 (Estrella) to SR 74. The corridor study will assess existing and future travel demands for Grand and the surrounding roadways to determine what future improvements may be needed.
In terms of future challenges, Syed said a major hurdle is always the increase in costs between when a project is initially estimated and when it is executed. As with all forms of construction, cost increases for material and labor expenditures can take a heavy toll and require adjustments between what is envisioned and what is feasible. She pointed out there was a 61.5% increase between the freeway project costs estimated in fall 2020 and those estimated in winter 2024-2025.
Owners Panel 1: Upcoming Capital Projects and How to Compete
Owners panels are a consistently popular component in Public Works Conference programming, and the first panel presented major projects and opportunities from three of the Top Ten’s heavy hitters. The panel was comprised of:
- Rod Lane, Pima County director of Project Design & Construction;
- Alison Tymkiw, Scottsdale City Engineer;
- Eric Froberg, Phoenix City Engineer, and
- Zach Thompson (moderator), area manager for Granite Construction.
Even though each panelist gave an overview of major projects underway and in planning, the crux of the session focused on the challenges and operational realities of delivering projects to residents.
Froberg discussed the difficulties encountered in trying to hire qualified staff. He said there are few responses to job postings; many of those applicants are not sufficiently qualified, and the City of Phoenix’s detailed screening and hiring process makes moving applicants through the system from application to starting work cumbersome.
Tymkiw said the change in Scottsdale’s leadership as a result of last year’s election has resulted in a shift in priorities and some changes in process for her and her staff. Street maintenance and improvement have taken on a much greater urgency than under past plans, and the CIP is being more widely reviewed for prioritization.
Lane highlighted the importance of RTA Next, Pima Association of Governments’ regional planning and funding mechanism, which will go before voters in March to replace and extend the existing program. Lane said the existing program has been quite successful, and RTA Next will make up two-thirds of PAG funding for improvements and new projects.
When Thompson asked the panelists for their thoughts on improving the delivery process, Lane urged the planning and construction community to be creative and to bring solutions and options in the spirit of partnership and collaboration.
Tymkiw said sticking to and building to budgets is a key component. When asked for specifics, she said it is imperative to right-size project scopes and to be direct and honest about what is possible. As with MAG, Scottsdale has many projects on its plate that were initially estimated several years ago and severely impacted by inflation. Revision and reprioritization have proven necessary, and partner firms have to be creative under that reality.
Froberg reiterated his fellow panelists’ focus on partnership and collaboration, urging firms to be creative in terms of managing design, budget and scoping. He also brought up the potential reward that firms proving themselves effective in those areas can expect strong ongoing relationships with the City and long-term repeat engagement.
Owners Panel 2: Partnering for Progress
The final panel of the day focused on the expansive set of projects each of the members’ jurisdictions has on their plates and some of the unique challenges and opportunities they face. The panel was made up of:
- Riley Quinlan, contract deputy director of CIP for City of Buckeye;
- Susanna Struble, Gilbert Town Engineer;
- Marc Ahlstrom; Mesa Assistant City Engineer, and
- Jason Kahn (moderator), senior project manager for DBA Construction.
Ahlstrom said Mesa has served as an example of the success of ongoing, incremental and structured planning. The City generally puts a request for a new general obligation bond on the ballot every two years, and voters routinely approve them, with “yes” votes averaging in the 60% range.
He said the City is currently wrapping up projects from its 2018 requests. The 2020 requests, like many others, were heavily impacted by inflation, having been estimated at $162M and coming to find actual pricing closer to $305M. He expressed pride, however, in the City’s forthright and transparent interactions with residents to keep them apprised of the state of their investments.
In his introductory session, Quinlan detailed the sheer size of Buckeye and the exceptional pace of growth the city has experienced in the past several years. In terms of size, Buckeye is large enough to fit 16 other Valley cities within its planning area, which is only 14% built out. Buckeye has a current population of 114,000, which could reach 305,000 by 2040. Obviously, much of the City’s focus is on expanding transportation and utility capacity.
Struble explained Gilbert’s recently expanded focus is on “quality of life” projects for residents, who approved an expanded sales tax last year to fund 23 specific projects. She also detailed the sheer scale of projects the Town is looking to address under its current plan.
Gilbert’s current 10-year plan, which has a value estimate of $6.92B, features a grand total of 437 individual projects.
FY 2025-2026 CIP Special Report
The catalyst for the Public Works Conference every year is the launch of the BEX annual CIP Special Report. This year’s edition—the FY 2025-2026 CIP Special Report—is the most detailed and expansive yet produced.
This year’s report was available for pick-up by early purchasers at the conference and includes line-item level project details from more than 30 of the largest agencies around the state.
Included in the purchase price is:
- A hardcopy of the 200-page-plus CIP Special Report,
- Digital files including the highlighted top projects in spreadsheet form,
- Department head contact information, and
- Prime design and contractor information.
The report is available for purchase here.
As part of their ticket price, attendees also received all of the slides from the presenters’ sessions, containing dozens of planned projects and their statuses. Readers interested in purchasing the slide deck can reach out to Monica Anderson for details.