In just a few years, new business and higher education centers have emerged downtown along with many more housing and entertainment options and a soon-to-be-completed new grocery outlet in the center of the city. In cities across the state, the downtown area no longer goes dark after 5 p.m., but is a place where people live, work and socialize throughout the day.

Republican lawmakers are proposing an increase in vehicle license fees to end years of raids on dedicated local highway funding that paid for highway patrol operations.

The ink is barely dry on the budget when residents of our 91 cities and towns and 15 counties register their complaints with local officials about streets and roads showing signs of age, inadequate maintenance and disrepair.

For decades, Arizona was blessed with high quality, high capacity highways stretching from border to border. But growth and economic prosperity have filled the state’s key commercial corridors, and little capacity has been added.

Senate Democrats and three Republicans approved a contentious bill that would eliminate the need for an annual sweep of funds meant to help repair the state’s roads, but it was all for naught.

Arizona’s transportation system needs more than $65 billion. And help is not on the way.

Experts warn that the future of transportation is changing fast, and Arizona must come up with a 21st century plan to fund the massive infrastructure needs the state is facing.

Tax revenues have risen as the state’s economy improved, leading to renewed hopes that 2014 will be the year Arizona stops sweeping highway funds that cities and counties depend on.

From declining revenues to pay for transportation infrastructure, to a gas tax that is well below the national average and the rise in hybrid and electric vehicles, Arizona’s transportation infrastructure funding system is facing a crisis.

During the Dec. 5, meeting of the Mohave County Board of Supervisors, we adopted a temporary moratorium on acceptance of new public roads and streets into the Mohave County Road Maintenance System, other than those completed in accordance with subdivision plat approval.