Transportation is the buzzword in Mohave County this week.  The Lake Havasu City Council Tuesday approved
spending $4,000 on a study on a tri-city mass transit system and Friday the Arizona Department of Transportation Board will conduct its regular monthly meeting in Lake Havasu City.

The ADOT board will look at five major projects throughout the state, including one in Mohave County.  On the
agenda is a request to award a $26.9 million contract for the Wickenburg Bypass on state Route 93.  Representatives from Lake Havasu City, Bullhead City and Kingman will be in attendance.  Their purpose is not to make a pitch for funding for special projects, said Lake Havasu City Transportation Manager Gary Parsons, but to build relationships.
“Everyone involved needs to start attending meetings and building relationships with board members. It’s important
to the community,” Parsons said.

The cities have spent more than a year trying to find away to develop a mass transit system to connect with one
other and at one point were considered a candidate for an ADOT pilot program.  ADOT has been testing mass transit systems in Phoenix, Tucson, Flagstaff and Yuma, connecting rural with urban areas. In 2006, Mohave County was proposed as the pilot mass transit system connecting all the communities in an exclusively rural area. However, budget constraints at the state level forced postponement of the program.

That test program remains alive, thanks to the Western Arizona Council of Governments.  “Dave Barber, with
WACOG, applied for a grant under the federal 5304 program.  He’s been approved for a study,” Parsons said.
The Federal Transit Administration allocated more than $328,000 to Arizona for statewide transportation
planning, under the Section 5304 program.

Through that program, Barber was able to get $48,000 with a match shared by the cities and WACOG to initiate
a study for a tri-city mass transit system Bullhead City and Kingman earlier approved funding and Lake Havasu
City’s contribution now makes the triad complete.

With funding in place, WACOG will hire a consultant to do the study and form a tricity advisory board. After the
study, the cities will have an idea on required fleet size and cost to operate a transit system connecting the cities.
Job growth at the Kingman Airport Industrial Park and along the Interstate 40 Industrial Corridor, as well as
increased shopping opportunities at the mall in Lake Havasu City and the Mohave Crossroads plaza in Bullhead
City early next year have been cited by elected leaders of all three cities as needs for an intercommunity mass
transit system.

The ADOT Transportation Board meets Friday at 2360 N. McCulloch Blvd. at 9 a.m.
You may contact the reporter at dbell@havasunews.com.