Arizona Intercity Rail

Governor Napolitano, when you were running for office, you made the following statement regarding transportation in Arizona:

"To maintain strong economic growth and Arizona's quality of life, we need a better mass transportation system. For years, if not decades, we have said in Maricopa and now Pima County, we don't want to be another Los Angeles. Yet, we have done too little to pursue a different transportation vision. Many cities in Maricopa County have made good progress on implementing light rail. I favor local community transit planning, but the state must play a fundamental support role." (p. 5, Governor Candidate Questionnaire, THE ARIZONA REPUBLIC)(available at http://pniext.pni.com/news/cust/webgov2002.nsf/0/cd66db90fb82031b07256beb0074e968?OpenDocument, last accessed 6/1/2004)

We agree. Furthermore, we believe that the Arizona Department of Transportation should take a leadership role in bringing balance to our state's transportation system. An important first step would be establishing intercity passenger rail. Currently Arizonans wishing to travel from Tucson to Phoenix--or from Phoenix to Flagstaff or Tucson to Nogales--have no viable choice but to drive.

Intercity passenger rail would give state residents--and tourists from around the country and world--another option that many of us would gladly choose. This would reduce congestion on the interstate and pollution in our skiesand allow us to work or relax while we travel rather than simply stare at the asphalt for two hours each way. The economic boost from the rail line would be phenomenal in every city and town along the way.

We the undersigned are residents and taxpayers of the State of Arizona, many of whom participated in the MoveAZ public outreach process conducted by ADOT, a process which has been completely ignored in the creation of the MoveAZ draft plan.

We sign this petition to urge the State of Arizona to aggressively pursue building an 85-120mph diesel passenger rail service along the I-10 corridor and to incorporate that service into the final funded MoveAZ plan. As Arizona residents, we would like the option to travel throughout our state by rail.