(Disclosure: Rose Law Group represents a coalition of property and business owners throughout Pinal County who have worked to bring new transportation infrastructure to the region.)
By Monica D. Spencer | InMaricopa
The country’s “most innovative” university could help solve Pinal County’s transportation woes.
Members of the Pinal Partnership got a sneak peek this morning at how the researchers of Arizona State University’s Decision Theater may be a new tool for the county leaders to better envision how today’s infrastructure decisions can impact the future.
It’s a needed tool after the Pinal Regional Transportation Authority, which had for nine years had similar goals, voted unanimously to suspend operations indefinitely last month.
The researchers would collect a vast amount of data from local municipalities, tribal communities, the county, the state and federal agencies to map current and future transportation plans, known and potential issues, as well as creating potential solutions with interactive visual data and simulations.
“Our expertise area is bringing all of those things and a lot of complex systems together in a way that makes it a lot more easy to understand [and] a lot easier to deliberate over for more informed decisions,” said Decision Theater Associate Director Chelsea Dickson.
State Rep. Teresa Martinez, Republican of Casa Grande, who initially introduced community leaders to ASU’s Decision Theater in August, said she was confident it’s a direction county leaders will want to take.
