City of Buckeye Deputy Director of Transportation John Willett presented an update to the city's Transportation Master Plan (TMP) at a council workshop, outlining revised roadway classifications, a new wildlife-crossing chapter, updated modeling and a proposed funding allocation for future projects.

"This is the update to [the] transportation master plan," Willett said, describing work that began after the plan's 2019 approval. He said state law requires periodic updates and that the city incorporated changes to the General Plan, new MAG modeling criteria and several studies completed since 2019.

Willett told council members the update redraws some parkway-classified corridors as higher-capacity arterials. He said Sun Valley Parkway will be reclassified from a parkway with indirect lefts to a principal arterial with four lanes in each direction, signals and normal access points. He also said the proposed I-11 alignment now follows TerraVallis's western boundary rather than cutting through its center.

The update adds a wildlife chapter developed with the White Tanks Conservancy and Arizona Game and Fish input, recommending best-practice crossings rather than prescriptive designs. "If it could be a culvert, can we make it a slightly bigger culvert[,] or is it a bridge crossing, make it a slightly bigger bridge crossing so deer can learn to use it?" Willett said, summarizing the approach.

Willett described outreach completed for the update: a public survey of resident priorities, biweekly developer meetings, and consideration of about 21 regional or local studies completed since 2019, including MAG corridor work and the city's recent bike-and-ped and transit master plans.

Willett summarized resident survey results and local priorities, listing congestion and delays as the top concern followed by street repair, traffic enforcement, street lighting, transit, street cleaning and sidewalk maintenance. He said recommended project funding allocation in the draft shows roughly 64% going to roadway improvements, 14% to signals, 12% to intersections and 10% to bike/ped or other improvements.

Vice Mayor Casey asked staff to clarify the plan's scope for the public. "This isn't saying all of the lines that are on this map that represent roadways are gonna be built in the very near future," Vice Mayor Casey said, asking Willett to emphasize the TMP is a long-range, build-out document. Willett responded the plan is a build-out model assigning projected traffic to all developable land and sizing roads accordingly; it does not set construction timing or funding.

Willett said the TMP will remain a living document: when a developer proposes changes and the council adopts a revised circulation map (CMP), that adopted CMP will automatically amend the TMP ahead of the next comprehensive update.

Next steps Willett listed include an open house scheduled a week from the presentation, a 30-day public review beginning the next day, and an intention to bring the draft back to council for approval on the 16th. He said city staff will continue biweekly developer coordination through the planning period.

No formal council action or vote occurred during the workshop; council members asked clarifying questions and staff described outreach and technical work to support future CIP and grant applications.

Funding, timeline and specific project-level design remain to be determined. Willett and council members noted that securing MAG and other regional funding sources will be essential to build the recommended improvements.