A Maricopa Association of Governments study on transportation plans for an area south of Apache Junction and Mesa includes portions of Queen Creek and Florence.
The study area is a large, mostly undeveloped area in northern Pinal County in the southeastern portion of the MAG planning area. Boundaries include Hawes Road in Mesa, the town of Queen Creek and San Tan Mountain Regional Park to the west; the Gila River Indian Community, unincorporated San Tan Valley and the town of Florence to the south; State Route 79 and US 60 to the east; and Southern Avenue in the cities of Apache Junction and Mesa to the north.
MAG — a council of governments that serves as the regional agency for the metropolitan Phoenix area — held a virtual community meeting June 1 to address transportation needs now and into the future.
The cost of the 18-month study is not to exceed $370,000, according to a June 15, 2022, request for proposals.
Funding to support MAG activities is provided from a variety of sources, with federal and state grants comprising the principal source of funding. In addition, membership dues and special assessments, which are based on population and assessed from each member agency, provide a source of revenue to support MAG regional planning activities, according to azmag.gov.
Transportation network
The objective of the study by MAG and its partner agencies is to develop a coordinated vision for a multimodal transportation network, Kevin Kugler, a MAG consultant from Michael Baker International, said at the virtual community meeting on the study.
“The transportation network and service alternatives and recommendations that we’ll ultimately be providing will build on the following items: certainly the existing needs that we’re in part defining with your input and assistance tonight; also, anticipated growth and development in the study area; any planned roadway extensions in the study area; existing and planned energy and water infrastructure systems, which are important to be cognizant of in a transportation plan such as this,” he said.
“Certainly we’re going to be looking upon land use plans for each of the cities that are in our study area in Pinal County; travel demand modeling, which is ... basically a fancy computerized model that does forecasting for future traffic-trip generation in the study area, helps us identify capacities of roadways; and ... a shared vision amongst stakeholders and the public,” Kugler said.
Slides were shown at the meeting for work done for the study including maps of land ownership, existing and future land uses, current population and employment, roadway classifications, one-way traffic volumes, vehicle crash data, and transportation and transit services.
31 attend meeting
A total of 60 people registered for the virtual meeting and up to 31 attended, although the number fluctuated, Kristin Darr, facilitating the meeting, said.
Polls were asked of residents attending, including if they lived in or outside the study area or owned, managed, worked for a business or organization within or near the study area; which modes of travel they use to travel to, from or within the study area; and what are their biggest concerns or needs within the existing transportation network in the study area, selecting all that applied. For the latter, the top two answers were traffic congestion and lack of highway access to get out of the area, both answered by 65% attending.
A majority of the residents attending the virtual community meeting on the study favored using transit options such as intercity or commuter rail and taxi/rideshare, Those two options each garnered 56% as participants could vote for all seven answers that applied.
Other answers for the question “If transit services were provided in the study area, which type of service would you use?” were:
Fixed route bus service, 44%;
Microtransit/on-demand service, 31%;
Dial-a-ride, 13%;
LogistiCare/MediCab (Medicaid transportation), 13%; and
Paratransit, 6%,
Officials responded to several questions posed in an online chat as part of a live Q&A, including that the intersection of Cortez and Baseline in Apache Junction is becoming a traffic nightmare and when it may be remedied.
“So this is the kind of input that we’re looking for — to hear from you what areas of concern you have within the study area. So we’ll certainly note this intersection that you’re referencing. In terms of how and when, this will be up to the jurisdiction,” Hannah Quinsey, MAG transportation planner, said at the meeting.
Another resident questioned results in the study about one-way traffic counts on Ironwood Drive. It states 21,000 whereas a couple years ago it was 25,000 and may need to be reassessed, they said.
“We’ll certainly double-check... Maps have been prepared pulling from the most-recent data,” Quinsey said.
“Yes, in the upcoming months we’re getting ready to embark on that travel-demand model stage of the process so those model inputs with numbers such as like that for Ironwood and other roads, we’re going to be taking a close look at that in collaboration with MAG. So thank you for bringing that to our attention and we’ll make sure we have that one identified moving forward,” Kugler said.
Another resident asked how the planned LG plant on Ironwood in Queen Creek is impacting the study.
“We are most certainly aware of this ... upcoming development and are incorporating that within the data within the modeling,” Quinsey said.
Richard H. Dyer can be reached at rdyer@iniusa.org, or on Twitter @rhdyer. To voice your opinion on this story, connect with us at AzOpinions@iniusa.org.
Richard Dyer Managing Editor | East Valley @RHDyer
Meet Richard Richard Dyer has worked at Independent Newsmedia Inc. USA since 1987, starting his career in Apache Junction as a copy editor and being promoted over the years to work as the editor of the Mesa Independent, news services editor for the East Valley office in Apache Junction, managing editor for the East Valley office, news services editor for the East Valley office and eventually also for the newspapers at INI’s then-Chandler office, managing editor again and as a news editor covering Apache Junction/Gold Canyon and Queen Creek. He helped start the Florence Independent while the news editor covering Apache Junction and Mesa news. In January 2023, he became associate managing editor for the East Valley newspapers and in August 2023 became managing editor for the East Valley newspapers of Chandler/Tempe, Gilbert, Queen Creek, Florence, Mesa and Apache Junction/Gold Canyon, while also reporting on Mesa and Apache Junction/Gold Canyon.
Community: Since 2009, he has worked as a volunteer to design The Blue Guitar Magazine, Blue Guitar Jr. magazine and Unstrung magazine, which are projects of The Arizona Consortium for the Arts; and since 2014, has been overseeing the art submissions.
Education: University of Arizona with a master of arts in journalism and a bachelor of science in agricultural communication. Also continuing education at Mesa Community College in welding in a metal art sculpture class.
Random fact: Saw his first tornado on May 31, 2010, which was classified as an EF-2, as part of a stormchasing tour group.
Hobbies: He is an artist of welded-steel sculptures, selling his artwork at juried and non-juried art shows.
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