Understanding the Planning Effort

  • A Transportation Master Plan is a long-range planning document that helps guide how a community’s transportation system should function now and in the future. It looks at the broader network of streets, corridors, intersections, access, and travel patterns and helps identify what kinds of improvements may be needed as the community grows.

    A Transportation Master Plan typically helps address:

    • Roadway network planning

    • Street and corridor classifications

    • Traffic operations and capacity

    • Safety concerns

    • Connectivity between neighborhoods and destinations

    • Access management and circulation

    • Long-term transportation priorities and capital improvements

    Hurricane’s previous Transportation Master Plan addressed many of these topics directly, including study purpose, public involvement, roadway classifications, street system planning, and traffic volume/capacity analysis. In short, a Transportation Master Plan helps the City make informed long-term decisions about how the overall transportation system should support residents, businesses, visitors, and future growth.

  • An Active Transportation Plan focuses on the ways people move through the community by walking, biking, rolling, and using other human-scale forms of travel. It is intended to improve safety, comfort, and connectivity for people traveling without relying only on a motor vehicle.

    An Active Transportation Plan may look at:

    • Sidewalks

    • Bike lanes

    • Sidepaths

    • Shared use paths

    • Crossing improvements

    • Safer school and park access

    • Neighborhood connections

    • Links to downtown and other key destinations

    Hurricane’s existing Active Transportation Plan specifically focuses on transportation-related walking and bicycling facilities, including on-street and off-street improvements such as bike lanes, sidepaths, shared use paths, sidewalks, and crossing improvements, and it distinguishes these facilities from unpaved recreational trails. The Active Transportation Plan works alongside the Transportation Master Plan by focusing more specifically on safe, connected options for walking and biking throughout Hurricane.iption text goes here

  • A Transportation Utility Fee Analysis is a planning and funding study that evaluates roadway-related needs and examines how a city might fund transportation system maintenance and related costs in a more structured and transparent way. A Transportation Utility Fee study typically looks at roadway maintenance needs, current funding sources, funding gaps, and a methodology for allocating roadway-related costs among different user types based on measurable transportation-system use.

    A Transportation Utility Fee Analysis may review:

    • Pavement and roadway maintenance needs

    • The cost of deferred maintenance,

    • Operating and capital needs,

    • Current transportation revenue sources

    • Funding shortfalls, and

    • Potential scenarios for how roadway-related costs could be distributed

    These analyses often rely on factors such as trip generation, traffic counts, vehicle types, and user classifications to establish a reasonable basis for any fee structure. In simple terms, this study helps the City understand what transportation system needs exist, what funding gap may be present, and what funding approaches could be evaluated to support long-term roadway maintenance and transportation system performance.

    Including this analysis as part of the project does not automatically mean a fee is being adopted. It means the City is studying transportation needs, costs, and possible funding approaches so future decisions can be made with better information. A Transportation Utility Fee Analysis can support public discussion and future policy decisions, which would require separate City review, public process, and formal action if pursued.

Frequently Asked Questions

  • This project updates Hurricane’s transportation planning framework so the City can better understand current transportation conditions, future needs, opportunities for safer and more connected travel, and potential long-term transportation priorities. It builds on the City’s existing Transportation Master Plan and Active Transportation Plan.

  • This effort updates and builds on prior City planning work rather than starting from scratch. Hurricane already has a Transportation Master Plan and an Active Transportation Plan, and this project provides an opportunity to revisit those documents in light of current conditions, growth, and community input.

  • Active transportation generally refers to walking, biking, rolling, and other forms of human-scale travel used to get around the community. Hurricane’s existing Active Transportation Plan focuses on transportation-oriented facilities such as sidewalks, bike lanes, sidepaths, shared use paths, and crossing improvements.

  • The focus of the Active Transportation Plan is on transportation-related walking and bicycling facilities rather than only unpaved recreational trails. Hurricane’s existing plan specifically notes this distinction and emphasizes paved transportation facilities and network connections.

  • Public input helps the City understand transportation concerns, priorities, missing connections, safety issues, and community preferences. That input helps shape how needs and opportunities are evaluated and how draft recommendations are refined in later phases of the project.

  • Not necessarily. Planning documents help identify needs, priorities, and long-term strategies, but implementation depends on future funding, project development, design, approvals, and City priorities. Hurricane’s prior plans similarly function as planning and guidance documents that help inform future actions.

  • A Transportation Utility Fee analysis is a study of transportation-system needs, roadway maintenance costs, existing revenue, and possible methodologies for assigning roadway-related costs among user types. The analysis provides a structured way to evaluate transportation funding needs and possible fee scenarios tied to system use.

  • Cities study Transportation Utility Fees because roadway maintenance and transportation costs can outpace existing transportation revenue sources. A TUF analysis can help assess needs, identify funding gaps, and evaluate dedicated transportation funding approaches.

  • A Transportation Utility Fee is generally studied as a transportation service-fee approach tied to roadway use and transportation-related costs, while impact fees and taxes are different funding tools. A TUF study must connect the fee to transportation-system use and apply a reasonable methodology for user classifications and rates.

  • A study does not by itself adopt a fee. A Transportation Utility Fee Analysis is used to inform public discussion and future policy decisions, which would require separate City review, public process, and formal action if pursued.

  • If included in the project scope, the results could help the City understand transportation funding needs, compare funding scenarios, and support future decision-making about roadway maintenance and transportation system investment.