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PHOTO COURTESY OF RICK POWERS Pygmy owls, believed to be in the Roosevelt area, delayed the SR-188 project due to owl mating season. The restriction was lifted when no owls were found in the area.
Fuel Tax & Funding Facts
In late June, the State Senate passed a Capital Outlay Bill that includes $320 million in one-time funding for transportation. It covers 23 projects, including nearly $1.2 million for the Hill Street Corridor in Globe.
Most transportation projects are funded by a combination of federal (94.3%) and state funds (5.7%). A major source of funding for transportation projects comes from taxes on gasoline: federal (18.4 cents) and state (18 cents). Arizona’s rate is the fifth lowest in the country and has not changed in 20 years. From Steve’s perspective, this is one part of the problem.
“The other piece is that cars are more fuel-efficient or not using fuel at all,” he says. “They produce the same wear and tear on the roads.”
Ideas that may ensure drivers pay their fair share of road care include licensing, paying by the mile, and tolls for some roads and highways. Steve advocated for a toll on I-15, which traverses sensitive environmental areas like Virgin Gorge.
“It’s a highly sensitive environmental area, expensive to do work on,” Steve explains, “and semis can pull triple trailers.”
Arizona has more than 146,000 lane miles - the 33rd highest in the country. In federal lane miles, Arizona ranks second. ADOT allocates funds as follows: 37% to Maricopa, 13% to Pima, and the other 13 counties compete for the remaining 50%.
“We’re growing as a state, and most of the population growth is coming in Pima and Maricopa and Pinal counties,” Steve says. “But all of those people use the other roads in Arizona, most of all the tourists.”
With wider, safer roads, the size and weight of allowable freight can be increased, which positively impacts the area’s mining industry, interstate commerce, and the traveling public. However, money to maintain interstates such as I-15, I-40, I-10, and I-8 comes out of 50% of the funds dedicated to rural Arizona, which impacts the amount left for the other state-maintained roads in Arizona. And this leaves the rural roads used primarily by locals often neglected.
PHOTO BY PATTI DALEY Steve and Mary Lou worked together for the City of Globe. “For me it was a learning process about how local government works and the influence residents have when they address the council,” says Mary Lou Stratton. Over 20 years later, Steve proposed to Mary Lou at a Transportation Board Meeting at Camp Birdie. They were married in May, 2017.
PHOTO COURTESY OF RICK POWERS The dedication of SR 188 on September 8, 2000 included Ingo Radicke, Senator Bill Hardt, Rick Powers, Mary Peters, Jack Brown and Joe Sanchez.
PHOTO COURTESY OF RICK POWERS Kathy Binager, Steve Stratton, Ingo Radicke and Steve Lopez at the groundbreaking for Silver King and Superior Streets project.
The Chairman, the Diplomat & the District Engineer
Steve Stratton grew up in Globe, third generation. As a boy, he worked for his grandfather, a painter and prospector. His father ran an industrial painting business and worked in the mines. Steve graduated from Globe High School and attended ASU in engineering. Still a big Sun Devils fan, he left early to help with family businesses and his sister’s illness.
Steve spent years working for Sundt Construction before becoming Public Works Director for the City of Globe and then City Administrator (1994-1998). He credits his time with Sundt Construction and working in his family’s businesses with giving him the expertise needed to take on both City positions.
He teamed with vice-mayor Ross Bittner and Mary Lou Tamplin, his assistant, to push through 17 annexations (including the Walmart one) to increase the population and sales tax revenue for the City of Globe.
“Every city and town gets state-shared revenue based on population,” Steve explains, “and if you get 10,000 people, you may get more attention, such as a bigger dot on the map.”
He and Ross were also behind the successful effort to get Globe added to highway signage in the Valley. As a destination, Globe deserved to have signs along the highway, they argued.
At the time, the Governor’s office had two people from Globe on its staff - Joe Albo and Paul Waddell - and Steve and Ross were willing to “go to the ninth floor” to get them involved if they didn’t get the answer they were looking for, explains Steve. But it was unnecessary.
“We got what we came for,” he told Ross.
Economic development and transportation are intricately intertwined. As Public Works Director for Gila County (2002-2015), one of Steve’s duties was to “get close” to the Transportation board.
The transportation board member for District #4 at the time was Ingo Radicke (1937-2009), also from Globe. Born in Berlin, he escaped Germany during World War II in the trunk of a car. He came to the U.S. in 1959, worked for Cable One for 37 years, and served the community in countless ways. He was on the Transportation Board from 1998 to 2004.
“He was the go-getter and had a lot of political clout,” recalls Rick Powers, former ADOT district engineer. “He was involved in everything.”
Rick worked for ADOT for 29 years and currently consults for the industry. He and Ingo were neighbors and friends; they shared fireside chats, and Rick encouraged Ingo to apply for the transportation board position.
“He was very fair,” Rick recalls. “We looked out for our area, but he looked at the whole picture.”
With colleagues in the highway department, Rick produced the road safety and usage studies needed to secure funding for two major projects that happened while Ingo was on the board - 188 to Roosevelt and the widening of Highway 60. Steve Stratton lobbied from his county seat.
“Ingo said that everything we did was a team effort,” Rick remembers.
Ingo had extraordinary team-building skills, according to Rick; some of his teams numbered in the hundreds. He credits Ingo with inclusiveness, attention to detail, creative problem-solving, and good relationships with everyone from legislators to engineers.
“He built the bridge from both ends to the middle,” says Rick.
At the time, freeways were being built in Phoenix, and there was a “big rift” between urban and rural priorities. Ingo was instrumental in getting committed rural funding
TRANSPORTATION, Continued on page 23
PHOTO COURTESY OF RICK POWERS Florence Junction and Gonzales Pass projects were approved with the help of Ingo, Rick and Steve to improve safety and speed the Highway 60 corridor for economic growth. Fatalities suffered by local families inspired their efforts.
TRANSPORTATION, Continued from page 22
through the Highway User Revenue Fund (HURF), including to fund the installation of electronic road signs in the rural areas for safety.
Locally, Ingo procured funding for bridge repairs in Miami, the entry to downtown Globe, and sidewalks on Highway 60. He tapped into money for enhancement projects, a subprogram of ADOT that no longer exists.
“We got a lot of projects through that funding, like the windows in the depot station,” says Rick Powers. “Ingo didn’t live to see it done, but he got it started.”
Unique among board members, Ingo dug into the details. He was known to call district engineers to report potholes. If he heard a particular department was holding things up, he’d call them directly to help resolve the issue. When contractors complained that decisions from Phoenix were coming too slowly, Ingo negotiated a delegation of authority for construction up to $200,000. The engineers loved that.
“We had fun. We got a lot accomplished. We had good relationships,” recalls Rick. “Could we have done all that in today’s world? Probably not.” Transportation Priorities Today
Today, ADOT operates with more data than diplomacy. Projects are presented in a five-year plan, prioritized by traffic count, conditions of road, and input from district engineers. While the transportation board is “by no means a rubber stamp,” according to Steve, its power has been diluted.
“We have the authority to reject the fiveyear plan,” says Steve, “but we have to jump through more hoops to change it.”
Steve’s six-year term expires in December. Steve says it’s “the little things,” like cutting through red tape and assisting citizens in getting things done, that make the job rewarding: making sure the plaque on Pinto Creek goes to the historical society, for example, or helping a local coffee shop owner get a permit.
Some ADOT accomplishments during
PHOTO COURTESY OF RICK POWERS On the transportation board (1991-2004) Ingo was known for both his big picture view and digging into the details “Inspector Radicke” would not hesitate to call ADOT colleagues to report a pothole. his tenure that Steve is proud to have been part of are the funding for the design of widening Highway 260 between Payson and Heber (known as Lions Spring), the wrongway sensors and signage on 1-17, and the electronic dust warning system in Pinal County on I-10. The electronic dust warning system, Steve says, “was the first in the nation and has worked successfully.” He says the state plans to install more. Pinto Creek Bridge had been on the list for a while. Interim repairs revealed more damage than previously known, and the $23.7 million project is now underway. In 2023, Queens Creek Bridge will be replaced for $32 million. Due to delays, Steve’s term will end before the contract is awarded. “A lot of bridges in the state need help,” says Steve. “The staff does a good job of bringing us the worst ones.” Both Rick and Steve noted that ADOT isn’t doing more expansion projects in rural Arizona. Instead, the focus is on “mills and fills,” where Steve says the Transportation Board has allocated additional monies to pavement preservation rather than expansion. “If we let roads go too far, it gets more expensive to repair them,” says Rick. u
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