RegionalConnectivity
Navigate The Page
Regional Active Transportation Network
The Rio Reimagined corridor will continue to grow as a prominent regional destination providing access to recreation, open spaces, and other amenities. Walking and biking connections between the corridor, adjacent neighborhoods, and commercial centers enhances regional connectivity and quality of life as well as provides options for how residents access corridor amenities.
Priority Bicycle Corridors are routes with the potential to serve as regional active transportation connections. These corridors, discussed below, can guide and prioritize critical active transportation investment and help create low-stress bicycle and pedestrian connections to the Rio Reimagined corridor.
Active transportation demand potential was used to identify Priority Bicycle Corridors, described in more detail below. Priority Bicycle Corridors were evaluated based on connectivity benefits, such as tie-ins with potential trailheads and future bicycle routes. The corridors below represent the final recommendations of that analysis and create a vision for a connected active transportation system that facilitates seamless connections between neighborhoods, commercial centers, and the corridor. Please review the methodology StoryMap to understand how these corridors were generated in more detail. A summary of that approach is provided in this section.
While the recommended corridors are important priorities, they are only one part of a larger vision for active transportation. Walking, bicycling, and trail improvements are needed throughout the study area. Recommended corridors simply represent locations where investments may provide the greatest benefit by connecting to areas of high demand.
It is also important to recognize that the highest-demand corridors are not always the best places to build bicycle facilities directly. In many cases, nearby neighborhood streets, shared-use paths, or other lower-stress routes may provide a more comfortable experience for people walking and bicycling. The Priority Bicycle Corridors identify where demand exists or is expected to grow, while the specific routes used to serve that demand may vary based on local conditions.
Active Transportation Demand
To help guide future investments in walking, bicycling, and trail connections, major corridors throughout the study area were evaluated to better understand where people are most likely to walk, bike, or use other active transportation options both today and into the future. While arterial roadways were used as a consistent way to compare locations across the region, nearby parallel streets, trails, or other facilities may ultimately provide better opportunities for active transportation improvements. The analysis helps identify where demand is likely to exist, not necessarily to determine the exact location of future facilities.
To calculate total demand potential at a regional scale, existing destinations along and near corridors were evaluated along with projected growth in the region to account for existing and future conditions.
Destination-Based Demand
One of the strongest indicators of demand is the number of destinations that people want to reach. The study evaluated destinations throughout the region, including schools, parks, transit facilities, employment centers, and other community destinations. Corridors with greater access to these destinations scored higher because they have more opportunities to support everyday trips by walking, biking, or other active modes.
Growth-Driven Demand
To ensure that future needs were also considered, the analysis incorporated population and employment growth projections through 2050. Growth is expected to occur throughout the region, but many communities in the West Valley are projected to experience particularly significant increases in both residents and jobs. By considering future growth alongside existing destinations, the study identifies corridors that can serve both current users and future generations.
Arterial roadways across the study area were evaluated on the two criteria above. The results highlight several areas with strong potential demand for active transportation investments, shown in the interactive map below. In the East Valley, many of the highest-scoring corridors are in and around Downtown Phoenix and Tempe, where a large concentration of destinations already exists, and continued growth is expected. In the West Valley, high-scoring corridors are concentrated in rapidly developing communities such as Goodyear, particularly around the Estrella Parkway area. Other promising corridors include future growth areas in Buckeye and 99th Avenue in Phoenix, which provides an important connection to the Tres Rios Wetlands.
Together, these findings help identify corridors where investments in trails, bikeways, and other active transportation facilities can provide the greatest benefit by connecting people to destinations, supporting healthy and sustainable travel choices, and accommodating future growth across the region.
Areas with Strong Potential Demand for Active Transportation Investments
Priority Bicycle Corridors
The East Valley and West Valley are experiencing growth in different ways, creating unique opportunities to improve walking, bicycling, and trail connections to the Rio Reimagined corridor.
In the East Valley, many communities are already well established, meaning that improving access to the river corridor will often require enhancing existing streets and transportation facilities. In the West Valley, however, large areas of future growth are still being planned and developed. This presents a valuable opportunity to build high-quality bicycle and pedestrian connections from the beginning, making active transportation a natural part of the transportation network as these communities grow.
To better understand where investments could have the greatest impact, the study area was divided into East Valley and West Valley sections, using 27th Avenue in Phoenix as the dividing line. Using active transportation demand scoring described in the previous section, the top 20 corridors with the greatest potential to connect people to the corridor and its recreational, environmental, and community destinations from both the East and West valleys were identified, shown in the interactive map below.
These Priority Bicycle Corridors represent some of the region’s most promising opportunities to create safe, comfortable, and convenient connections for people of all ages and abilities. Enhancements along these corridors can help connect neighborhoods, schools, employment centers, parks, and other destinations to the river corridor while also creating welcoming gateways and access points into the region’s open space network.
Top 40 corridors with the Greatest Potential to Connect People
West Valley
The highest-priority corridors in the West Valley are concentrated in Buckeye and Goodyear, where substantial residential and employment growth is expected over the coming decades. As these communities continue to develop, there is a unique opportunity to incorporate safe and comfortable walking and bicycling facilities into new roadways and developments from the outset. Planning these connections early can help create a more connected transportation system and reduce the need for costly improvements in the future.
Several priority corridors were also identified in West Phoenix, including routes that can improve access to important destinations such as the Tres Rios Wetlands. Together, these corridors can help connect growing communities with recreation, open space, and regional destinations throughout the study area.
East Valley
In the East Valley, priority corridors focus on connecting established activity centers, including Downtown Phoenix, South Phoenix, Tempe, and West Mesa. These areas contain a high concentration of residents, jobs, educational institutions, and community destinations, making them ideal locations for enhanced bicycle and pedestrian connections.
Many of the identified corridors also have nearby parallel streets and pathways that may provide more comfortable alternatives to busy arterial roadways. These routes offer opportunities to create safer, lower-stress connections that encourage more people to walk and bike while still serving the strong demand identified through the analysis.
By focusing investments along these priority corridors, communities throughout both the East and West valleys can strengthen connections to the Rio Reimagined Corridor, expand transportation choices, encourage healthy and active lifestyles, and improve access to the region’s unique recreational and environmental resources.
Recommended Corridors
Priority Bicycle Corridors were scored and evaluated in greater detail to determine which offered the greatest potential benefit. The evaluation considered future trailheads along the Rio Reimagined corridor, future bicycle and pedestrian bridge locations, and general connectivity benefits to activity centers and neighborhoods. These recommended corridors are the result of the demand analysis and represent important regional connectivity opportunities, shown in the interactive map below.
Recommended Corridors
Along each corridor, bicycle facility gaps were identified. A gap is a section of the roadway that that does not have a bicycle facility present. On arterial roadways, a standard bike lane was also considered a gap since a standard bike lane on a high-traffic, high-speed roadway presents a very high-stress situation for a person bicycling. An arterial roadway must have at least a buffered bike lane, or facility of greater protection, to not be considered a gap. Identified gaps in recommended corridors are shown in the interactive map below.
Identified gaps in Recommended Corridors
Completing gaps on recommended corridors will facilitate safer connections if the arterial roadway itself is selected as the connection. Parallel routes, if they exist, are still a preferred alternative to arterial roadways if they serve the same connectivity benefits.