September 14, 2007
Contact: Teresa Huish, Principal Transportation Planner, (480) 312-7820
Sept. 19 open house marks final phase of
Transportation Master Plan reviews
Scottsdale begins a final series of public meetings on its proposed Transportation Master Plan in September with a panel discussion on transportation and sustainability, followed by more open houses and final hearings scheduled before the Transportation Commission and City Council in November.
The public is invited to the panel discussion and open house from 6 to 8 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 19, at the Granite Reef Senior Center, Room #1, 1700 N. Granite Reef Road.
The panelists are Phil Allsopp, chief executive officer of the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation at Taliesin West, Aaron Golub, associate professor of planning and sustainability at Arizona State University, and Jim Charlier, president of Charlier Associates, Inc. of Boulder, Colo.
They will talk about how the city can include sustainable concepts in its transportation plans, such using recycled materials and solar energy, incorporating alternative fuels in its transit fleet, and reducing the use of pavement to preserve the desert and limit environmental impacts.
Information about preliminary recommendations of the Transportation Master Plan will be available for review and comment at the Sept. 19 open house.
The preliminary recommendations feature several elements, including:
• A transportation model that the city can use to analyze transportation impacts of private and public projects.
• An analysis of the effects of long-term infill in the Downtown area on the transportation system.
• Transportation solutions in the Scottsdale Airpark area, including community-supported alternatives to a tunnel that had been proposed to link the east and west sides of Airpark.
• An assessment of transportation needs in the north area as the addition of lands to the McDowell Sonoran Preserve reduces the overall amount of development.
• Formal policies on issues such as noise mitigation and speed limits.
• Ways to integrate the concept of sustainability into the transportation system.
Planned future meetings include more open houses at the end of October (dates to be announced), a study session before the City Council on Oct. 23, Transportation Commission meetings on Oct. 4, Oct. 18, Nov. 5 and Nov. 15, and Council consideration of the final plan on Nov. 20.
The Transportation Master Plan is a comprehensive look at the city’s transportation system. Its main goal is to coordinate community mobility, provide connections to several forms of transportation in the city and to surrounding communities.
For more information visit the city’s web site at www.ScottsdaleAZ.gov/traffic/transmasterplan.asp or contact Teresa Huish at (480) 312-7829 or Thuish@ScottsdaleAZ.gov.