APPENDIX 6 Glossary of Terms
ADA: The Americans with Disabilities Act, which was passed by Congress in 1990 and requires certain accessibility requirements on public facilities. ADEQ: Arizona Department of Environmental Quality ADT: Average Daily Traffic, a measure used in transportation planning. Traditionally, it is the total volume of vehicle traffic on a highway or road for a year, divided by 365 days. ADOT: The Arizona Department of Transportation is the transportation planning agency responsible for planning, building, and operating state highways and routes in Arizona. AHSIP: The state s apportioned share of the federal Highway Safety Improvement Program. ANG: Air National Guard ASTP: ADOT discretionary funds. These funds can originate from a variety of state and federal funding sources. BIA: Bureau of Indian Affairs Bond: Project funding from local jurisdictional bonds CAA: Clean Air Act, passed by Congress in 1963, and amended in 1967, 1970, 1977, and 1990. The U.S. law designed to control air pollution on a national level, in coordination with state, local, and tribal governments. CFR: The Code of Federal Regulations, which is the codification of the general and permanent rules and regulations published by the executive departments of the federal government. The CFR is divided into 50 titles that represent broad areas subject to federal regulation.
CIP: Capital Improvement Plan, a short-range plan, usually four to ten years, which identifies capital projects and equipment purchases, provides a planning schedule, and identifies options for financing the plan. CMP: Congestion Management Program. The use of analytic tools to define and identify congestion within a region, corridor, or project area, and the development and selection of appropriate strategies to reduce congestion or mitigate its impacts. Drawdown Request: A request to ADOT to reimburse the jurisdiction for expenses incurred. DIFO: Development Impact Fees. Fees collected by some local jurisdictions from new or proposed development projects to pay for all or a portion of the costs of providing public services to the new development. DOT: Department of Transportation. Often the acronym includes the jurisdiction. For example USDOT (United States Department of Transportation), ADOT (Arizona Department of Transportation), TDOT (Tucson Department of Transportation) or PCDOT (Pima County Department of Transportation) EPA: Environmental Protection Agency, the agency of the federal government tasked with the protection of human health and the environment. FAA: The Federal Aviation Administration is the division of the U.S. Department of Transportation that specializes in and oversees aviation. FAST Act: The Fixing America s Surface Transportation Act, passed by Congress in December 2015. The current Highway Trust Fund authorization bills, which outlines the programs and criteria under which funds deposited in the trust fund may be used, provides a maximum cap to the amounts in the Highway Trust Fund that can be appropriated by Congress each year, and outlines the way in which those funds are distributed to the states. Expires September 30, 2020. FLEX: STP funds that have been designated for transit purposes.
FHWA: The Federal Highway Administration is the division of the U.S. Department of Transportation that specializes in and oversees highway transportation. FTA: The Federal Transit Administration is the division of the U.S. Department of Transportation that specializes in and oversees transit. Grants from the FTA are named after specific sections of legislation that authorizes that grant, and each type of grant is for a specific transit purpose or program. FTA 5307: A formula grant program for urbanized areas providing capital, operating, and planning assistance for mass transportation. FTA 5310: FTA grant program that provides formula funding to states for the purpose of assisting private nonprofit groups in meeting the transportation needs of the elderly and persons with disabilities. FTA 5339: FTA Grant program that provides capital funding to replace, rehabilitate, and purchase buses and related equipment, and to construct bus-related facilities. Fiscal Constraint: Fiscal Constraint is a demonstration that sufficient funds are available or likely to be available for the proposed transportation improvements by comparing estimated revenues with total project costs. Fiscal Year, Federal: The Federal Fiscal Year begins on October 1 of the previous calendar year, and ends on September 30 of the year with which it is numbered. Fiscal Year, PAG: The PAG Fiscal Year begins on July 1 of the previous calendar year, and ends on June 30 of the year with which it is numbered. HSIP: Highway Safety Improvement Funds. HSIP provides funding for roadway and systematic projects that can demonstrate a positive and significant safety benefit. HURF: Highway User Revenue Funds are revenues from the state gas tax and the vehicle license tax that are distributed to the State Highway Fund and directly to the cities, towns, and counties in Arizona for transportation purposes.
HURF 2.6%: HURF funds that are distributed to PAG, to be used for projects on state facilities. HURF 12.6%: HURF funds that are distributed to PAG, to be used on any arterial project in the RMAP. IGA: Intergovernmental Agreement, a contract between two jurisdictions. LOCAL: Funds provided by the sponsoring jurisdiction. MOU: Memorandum of Understanding, an agreement between two or more parties. Projects programmed with funding in the first two years of the TIP must generally have either an MOU with PAG or an IGA with the RTA. MPO: Metropolitan Planning Organization, a federally mandated transportation policymaking organization that is made up of representatives from local government and governmental transportation authorities. PAG is the MPO for Pima County. NHS: National Highway System, the network of highways within the United States, including the Interstate Highway System and other roads serving major airports, ports, rail or truck terminals, railway stations, pipeline terminals, and other strategic transport facilities. Obligate: A federal designation indicating funds are available for reimbursement. OA: Obligation Authority, the amount of a state or region s federal allocation of transportation dollars that can be obligated to specific projects. Obligation Authority is usually expressed as a percent. OWP: Overall Work Program, the planning document prepared by PAG on an annual basis which identifies the transportation and other work to be undertaken within the metropolitan planning area. PAG: Pima Association of Governments is the metropolitan planning organization for the Pima County Region.
PCBonds: Pima County bonds PCDIFO: Pima County Development Impact Fees. This designation is used when Pima County provides DIFO funds for a project sponsored by another jurisdiction, to distinguish PCDIFO from any DIFO that the sponsoring jurisdiction may be contributing to the project. PCLocal: Pima County funds that are provided to a project sponsored by another jurisdiction, to distinguish PCLocal from Local funds that the sponsoring jurisdiction may be contributing to the project. Regionally Significant Project: a transportation project that is on a facility which serves regional transportation needs and would normally be included in the modeling of the metropolitan area s transportation network. At a minimum, that includes all principal arterial highways and all fixed guideway transit facilities that offer a significant alternative to regional highway travel. RTA: The Regional Transportation Authority is the government entity that manages the $2.1 billion, 20-year RTA plan, which was approved by Pima County voters on May 16, 2006. RTAG: Regional Transportation Alternatives Grant. A federally funded program generally used for alternate mode projects such as bicycle and pedestrian projects, or for Safe Routes to School projects. RMAP: The Regional Mobility and Accessibility Plan. The region s long-range plan for transportation. SAF: State Aviation Fund SPR: State Planning and Research Funds. These are federal funds and require a 20% match from a non-federal funding source. STBG: See STP.
STP: Surface Transportation Program. These funds are flexible federal transportation funds that are allocated to the state, a portion of which are sub-allocated to urban areas like Tucson. Renamed the Surface Transportation Block Grant Program (STBGP) in recent federal transportation legislation. STIP: State Transportation Improvement Program. The State s TIP, which includes the TIPs of all other COGs and MPOs as well as the ADOT Five Year Program. TAP: See RTAG TIP: The Transportation Improvement Program is a 5-year schedule and budget of proposed transportation improvements within eastern Pima County. TIP Amendment: An amendment to the TIP alters the approved TIP in some way. A TIP amendment must be approved by the Regional Council. TPC: Transportation Planning Committee, consisting of the transportation directors of each jurisdiction in Pima County, including Pima County itself, including other regional stakeholders such as ADOT, the Tucson Airport Authority, the University of Arizona, and Pima County Department of Environmental Quality. TPC reports to the PAG Executive Director. Travel Demand Model: Model that approximates trip generation and trip destinations, which can be used to estimate how the projects in the TIP will impact congestion and travel times in the future. TUC: City of Tucson funds that are provided to a project sponsored by another jurisdiction, to distinguish them from Local funds that the sponsoring jurisdiction may be contributing to the project. USC: United States Code, the official compilation of the general and permanent federal statutes of the United States. VLT: Vehicle License Tax, a tax paid to the state of Arizona upon registration of a motor vehicle. A portion of the VLT collected is deposited in the HURF, while another portion
is distributed directly to individual counties for transportation uses. Other portions of the VLT are distributed to the general fund of cities, towns, and counties. VMT: Vehicle Miles Traveled, a measurement of miles traveled by vehicles within a specified region for a specific time period (eg. Daily VMT or Annual VMT). Phase Codes Used in the PAG TIP S = Study D = Design R = Right-of-way acquisition U = Utilities relocation C = Construction O = Operations P = Procurement PMT = Payment, the repayment of funds previously expended by the project sponsor DRC = Design, Right-of-Way, and Construction. Used only with RTA-funded phases.