Looking to maximize the benefits derived from Arizona’s $3.4B in infrastructure improvement funding under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, this month’s Pinal Partnership panel examined transportation investment in the county, along with larger issues impacting funding and public infrastructure investment.
Moderated by Jordan Rose of Rose Law Group, the panel included:
- Maricopa Mayor Nancy Smith,
- U.S. Representative Juan Ciscomani,
- Arizona Department of Transportation Deputy Director and State Engineer Greg Byres,
- Maricopa Association of Governments Managing Executive Ed Zuercher, and
- Casa Grande Mayor Craig McFarland.
Arizona will get nearly $2.5B for transportation and $508M for clean water projects. Panelists said those investments were long overdue, particularly in Pinal County.
Smith said Arizona is 47th in the nation for maintaining transportation and infrastructure revenue and increasing revenue will be key to sustainability for future efforts. She reminded attendees that the federal government has not updated transportation or gas taxes since 1993, and Arizona has had the same tax in place since 1991.
She added the rise in electric vehicle use and fuel efficiency standards will also impact gas tax revenues and that a range of measures, including increasing the tax rate and adding fees for electric vehicles, will have to be considered as part of an overall funding structure improvement plan.
Ciscomani, who serves on the House Appropriations Committee, said his constituents in Pinal list roads and water as top priorities. He said in his first year in Congress he directed $27M in federal funding to his district and added language to the U.S. Department of Transportation’s direction to include funding for projects in western inner-mountain states.
Byres said ADOT recently applied for three grants to cover a $25M funding gap for one of the area’s most prominent projects: The $289M Interstate 10 expansion.
He added that ADOT’s top priority is the planned North-South Corridor project. There are currently two studies underway, one focused on US 60 to Arizona Farms Road and a second from Arizona Farms Road to I-10 in Eloy.
Zuercher said Pinal is lucky it can take tax requests directly to voters, without having to gain approval from the Arizona Legislature, which proved an arduous task for a planned renewal of Maricopa County’s Proposition 400 half-cent transportation sales tax.
That said, Pinal County voters rejected a transportation tax last year. McFarland said Pinal is planning to reintroduce another half-cent sales tax at a later date that is expected to generate $1.1B over 20 years.
McFarland said area leaders are still soliciting public input. (Source)