Smart Transportation in Marana, Arizona

摘要

It is a little intimidating coming from an edge city to talk about smart growth. The town of Marana is located in Pima County, a suburb of the city of Tucson. It is the second-largest urban growth area within the state of Arizona. The Tucson metropolitan area has a population of about 900,000. It is surrounded by mountains. Interstates 10 and 19 come through the center of the valley, and Interstate 10 bisects Marana, heading to Phoenix. Right now, within the valley, most of the available land has been consumed up to the mountain fronts, so new growth is extending out along the Interstate corridors. As a result, Marana is experiencing a lot of new growth. True to our western heritage, Marana wasn't built to facilitate growth. Rather, it was meant to keep the city of Tucson from sticking a straw into our aquifer; water rights have clearly been at the heart of our history. The town of Marana started in 1977 with water issues. Since that time we have had to grow, basically to build a strong, stable economic foundation for our community. Right now we are at about 115 square miles. We have a population of about 18,000. That is up from the 1990 census, which showed us at only 2,200. That made us the fastest-growing community in Arizona: 500 percent during the 1990s. Because of our position within the Tucson metropolitan area, we expect to continue to grow, and we are looking at an estimated population of nearly 90,000 in 2025.