AZSITE Cultural Resource Inventory

STATE OF ARIZONA Revised 4-11-94

TRANSPORTATION ENHANCEMENT FUND APPLICATION

MPO / COG _________

Is this application for a State sponsored project? Yes

APPLICANT INFORMATION
  1. APPLICANT

Arizona State Museum
  1. DATE

July 24, 1997
  1. PROJECT/ROUTE/FACILITY NAME

Electronic Archive of Archaeological Sites and Surveys along properties under ADOT jurisdiction in Arizona.

  1. MAILING ADDRESS

The University of Arizona, P.O. Box 210026

CITY

Tucson

STATE

AZ

ZIP CODE

85721-0026
  1. COUNTY

Pima
  1. CONTACT PERSON

Beth Grindell

TITLE

Research Specialist, Sr.

PHONE NO.

( 520)621-1271

 

 

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

COUNTY

Statewide

CITY/TOWN

Statewide
  1. ROUTE NO./STREET NAME/ FACILITY NAME

Statewide
  1. ABSTRACT OF PROJECT: Do not exceed 150 words. Include length, number of acres, etc.

This project will create spatially referenced databases for archaeological site and survey data along ADOT highway corridors. The spatial data themes will be integrated into a state-wide archaeological sites and surveys database (AZSITE) accessible to ADOT personnel and contractors engaged in federal and state historic preservation activities. Spatial data in an electronic GIS will allow rapid access to cultural resource information by ADOT personnel and contractors to speed highway planning for construction, and maintenance. Funding is requested for 6 areas: (1) implementation of the database server network; (2) development of software for database query and maintenance; (3) creation and editing of spatial data layers and associated attribute data for archaeological sites and surveys; (4) development of training programs and on-line help manuals for users; (5) installation and implementation of the database in ADOT’s Environmental Planning Section; and (6) a public access web site offering a virtual tour of selected historic sites along selected Arizona highways.

  1. PROJECT CATEGORY - Check all that apply. Circle primary category in which you wish to be evaluated.

NONMOTORIZED HIGHWAY RUNOFF

__ Provision of Facilities for Pedestrians and Bicycles __ Mitigation of Water Pollution Due to Highway Runoff

__ Preservation of Abandoned Railway Corridors HISTORIC PRESERVATION

__ Acquisition of Historic Sites

TRANSPORTATION AESTHETICS __ Historic Highway Programs

__ Scenic Highway Programs XX Historic Preservation

__ Acquisition of Scenic Easements and Scenic Sites __ Rehabilitation and Operation of Historic Transportation Buildings,

__ Landscaping and Other Scenic Beautification Structures, or Facilities (including railroad facilities and canals)

__ Control and Removal of Outdoor Advertising XX Archaeological Planning and Research

 

 

 

  1. TOTAL PROJECT COST AND FEDERAL 11. LOCAL GOVERNMENT SPONSOR MATCH AMOUNT,

AMOUNT REQUESTED PERCENTAGE (MINIMUM 20%)

TOTAL FEDERAL LOCAL PERCENT

COST AMOUNT AMOUNT OF TOTAL

$ $ $

 

 

12.

Estimated project costs by element (Right of Way, Design, Acquisition, Construction, Landscaping, etc.).

Element Funds Match Total

Project management

Software development

Database development

Digitizing

Attribute table development

Data verification and cleaning

Training/On-line help manuals

Public access module/education

Wages subtotal

Indirect costs

Materials

Total Costs

 

 

 

Additional costs and funding source (s) for elements not included in this funding request.

This project is a phase of the AZSITE project, sponsored by a consortium of state and private agencies in Arizona. Previous activities include a planning phase, funded by the National Center for Preservation Technology and Training (NPS) and a pilot project, funded through the Arizona State Parks Heritage Fund, administered by the State Historic Preservation Office. Equipment and software for the pilot study were provided by the Archaeological Research Institute, ASU. Additional equipment costs have been provided ASM by the Office of the Vice President for Research, UA, and the Director, ASM. Matching funds are being provided by SHPO, MNA, ASU, UA.

 
 

 

 


PLEASE LIMIT THE FOLLOWING DESCRIPTION TO 200 WORDS OR LESS.

 

13.

Describe the project. Please address the following:

  1. Where is the project located? (include map)

The project covers 6,100 miles of state and 15,000 miles of federal highways under ADOT jurisdiction. Data layers will be constructed to include a minimum 0.5 mile wide corridor on either side of highway centerlines. The project will also include ADOT materials pits and maintenance yards that have been surveyed in compliance with cultural resource management legislation. The total area represents almost 20% of Arizona’s land surface.

B) Is the project on a planned, existing, or under construction transportation corridor? If on a planned or under construction corridor, what is the approximate or scheduled completion date for the corridor?

Database development will not interfere with current construction projects.

C) What major construction, design, and ROW work does the project entail?

The project does not entail any construction or ROW work but will speed planning for future construction work.

D) What is the proposed time frame for completion of the project?

The project will take two (2) years from inception, on receipt of ADOT funds.

E) How will the project result in an improvement of existing conditions? What are the adjacent land uses?

When complete, the project will provide ADOT archaeologists and planners with fast answers to questions about known cultural resources in a planning area. Archaeologists and planners will be able to determine what archaeological survey work has been done in an area under consideration, what sites are known to exist and what steps must be taken to mitigate any adverse effects of the proposed undertaking. ADOT personnel will know instantly when an area has not been surveyed, or, if it has been surveyed, whether it has been cleared. The project will install appropriate computer equipment in ADOT’s Environmental Planning Section and will provide ADOT personnel with training. The project will also provide a public access Web site that will allow users to take a virtual tour of selected Arizona highways and see what historic sites (National Register properties) are located along the way (see item 16).

F) Supplemental material may be provided with application, up to a total of 5 items. Such as: photographs, site plans, artist renderings, newspaper articles, etc.

  1. Map of interstate and state transportation routes with archaeological sites.
  2. Plan of work and personnel.
  3. Report to SHPO on pilot project.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

PLEASE LIMIT THE FOLLOWING DESCRIPTION TO 200 WORDS OR LESS

 

14.

Describe how the project will be maintained and repaired after completion. Please address the following:

  1. Proposed ongoing maintenance and repair program

Once developed and in operation, the major costs of the project will be the addition of new site and survey data to the system and periodic software and equipment upgrades.

B) Source of funds for ongoing maintenance and repairs

The members of the AZSITE consortium (see C, below) already assume some financial burden for the project and will continue to do so: ASM, SHPO and MNA currently fund full-time staff positions devoted to database management and it is expected that this will continue. A user fee policy will be established to provide funding for software and hardware upgrades, data validation and data entry, and ongoing training. It will be modeled on the user fee policy already in place at ASM, under which fees are charged to use the files and records management fees are paid by data contributors. This is virtually identical to the system in place in New Mexico, which already has a centralized file in place.

C) Organizations/Individuals responsible for ongoing maintenance and repairs

The ongoing maintenance of the system is managed by the AZSITE Consortium, four state and private agencies that have pooled resources to develop and manage a state-wide database of archaeological sites and surveys. The four agencies include the Archaeological Research Institute at Arizona State University, Arizona State Museum at the University of Arizona, the State Historic Preservation Office and the Museum of Northern Arizona.

  1. Future or ongoing use of the site (if applicable)

The database and spatial data layers will be incorporated into the AZSITE database and will be available to all authorized cultural resource managers, land use planners, and archaeological researchers in a client-server environment. AZSITE is a comprehensive archaeological and historical sites database that currently contains the computerized records of ASM, ASU and Kaibab National Forest. By fall, 1997, will also contain records of SHPO’s national register properties, and MNA’s records. Separate funding is being sought to incorporate records of the remaining national forests and BLM offices.

The public access web site will be available over the internet as a part of ADOT’s home pages, with links to the Arizona Office of Tourism, and will provide the public with information on historic sites along selected Arizona highways.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

PLEASE LIMIT THE FOLLOWING DESCRIPTION TO 200 WORDS OR LESS.

 

15.

Why should this project be funded. (See General Merit Evaluation Criteria)

This project is fully consistent with the Transportation Research Board’s research needs statement for cultural resources:

The development of computerized statewide…cultural resource databases would serve as an important management tool to afford improved efficiency and effectiveness in the project planning, review, and approval process…

(Transportation Research Circular, March 1997, p.17).

This project will:

  1. Provide rapid information to ADOT archaeologists, highway planners and their consultants. The electronic data will be available to all eligible users, reducing reliance on paper records that are accessible only to a limited number of users.
  2. Enhance awareness and protection of historic and archaeological resources by allowing transportation planners and archaeologists to determine, early in the planning process, where known resources exist and where survey must be done.
  3. Assist ADOT in complying with state and federal historic preservation requirements (see item # 18). The first step in compliance is a review of the records to determine whether sites are known to exist in an area or whether reconnaissance work has been done. The speed, cost and quality of these reviews are disadvantaged by the current state of management of archaeological information. While transportation planners and archaeologists are located across the state, the bulk of the records (paper maps and site cards) are at the Arizona State Museum in Tucson and available only through site visits or telephone consultation. Other records are retained in archaeological site information repositories at various federal land managing offices including the Bureau of Land Management (7 field offices) and the U.S. Forest Service (6 offices). On the completion of this project, all these records will be available electronically to all eligible users.

The electronic integration of the records of several agencies will enable all of the benefits envisioned by the Transportation Research Board’s report (Transportation Research Circular, March 1997, pp.17-18):

  1. Faster, more accurate records checks.
  2. Expanded data interpretation and analysis to minimize redundancy in data collection.
  3. More efficient management and coordination of archaeological and historical programs.
  4. Provide site location data for decision-making (predictive modeling).
  5. Stimulate and improve research in culture history.

The project has broad support from the archaeological and historic preservation community as indicated by the attached letters of support.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

PLEASE LIMIT THE FOLLOWING DESCRIPTION TO 200 WORDS OR LESS.

 

16.

Describe how this project will benefit the community. (economic, tourism, environment, cultural etc.) (See General Merit Evaluation Criteria Item 1a)

The development of a public access module will allow the public to take a virtual tour of some National Register sites, both archaeological and historical, along Arizona’s highways. While many of the site locations in the database are confidential, there are a large number of cultural resources that are listed on the National Register of Historic Places and available to the public. For example, there are fourteen National Register sites along US 60 between Globe and Miami that do not have restricted addresses. Tourists may look at all of these buildings and sites and may tour some of them (Besh-Ba-Gowah Archaeological Park, several churches and bridges, a courthouse, etc.).

An internet site, accessible from the ADOT home page and the Arizona Office of Tourism home page, will be constructed that will combine highway maps, photos and short histories of cultural resources along selected Arizona highways. Interested users will be able to see what cultural resources are available along routes they are planning and will be able to learn something about those resources.

Due to the large number of national register sites in Arizona and the extensive highway system, it will be necessary to limit this project to selected highways or segments. Project planners will work with ADOT to determine which highways and sites would be most appropriate for inclusion in the web site. This web site will complement the existing ADOT public access web sites for Arizona Highways and ADOT’s Norman Wallace electronic photo gallery of historic highway photographs. Additionally, it will be linked to the Arizona Office of Tourism web site.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


PLEASE LIMIT THE FOLLOWING DESCRIPTION TO 200 WORDS OR LESS.

 

17.

Describe the benefits to safety, if applicable. A "not applicable" response to this question will not negatively bear on selection. (See General Merit Evaluation Criteria, Item 1a and Activity-Specific Criteria)

Not applicable.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

PLEASE LIMIT THE FOLLOWING DESCRIPTION TO 200 WORDS OR LESS.

18.

PLEASE LIMIT THE FOLLOWING DESCRIPTION TO 200 WORDS OR LESS.

 

19.

Describe how the community was or will be involved in this project. Please include the following:

  1. Community involvement in the design process, consultant selection, project identification, or implementation.
  2. Letters of support. (maximum of 5)

(See General Merit Evaluation Criteria, Item 1e)

The archaeological and historic preservation community has been involved with this project from the beginning. In February, 1997, over 100 representatives of 20 private archaeological contract firms, 8 tribes, 11 federal agencies, and 10 state, county and municipal agencies met in Phoenix to review a pilot version of the project and offer comments and suggestions. These agencies and others have been consulted at each step during database design and development. This has helped insure that the product will be maximally useful for those who require this kind of information.

The public access web site of historic sites and roads will be available over the internet to all interested users.

Arizona’s 21 Indian tribes have been consulted about their interest in the project. Eight tribes have shown interest in the project and seven of those are interested in participating to some degree. Some tribes do not wish to have records of sites on their lands available in a database; other tribes are willing to have records available but want to know who is using them. Some tribes that do not wish to have their records in AZSITE have expressed interest in adopting the AZSITE data structure so that records will ultimately be compatible with AZSITE. We will accommodate each tribe’s concerns and level of participation.

Letters of support (5 max) from the following are attached:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

PLEASE LIMIT THE FOLLOWING DESCRIPTION TO 200 WORDS OR LESS.

 

20.

Is this project a one-time opportunity, or will the project protect a threatened resource? A "no" response to this question will not negatively bear on selection.

If yes, please describe? (See General Merit Evaluation, Item 3)

 

The fast pace of land development in Arizona threatens all archaeological and historic resources. Knowledge of site locations is the first line of defense in protecting those that deserve protection.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

PLEASE LIMIT THE FOLLOWING DESCRIPTION TO 200 WORDS OR LESS.

 

21.

Describe why the project is an enhancement and how it relates to the transportation infrastructure of the community, region and/or state. (See Activity-Specific Evaluation Criteria, Items 1-10)

This project addresses the areas of archaeological planning and research and historic preservation.

The current state of archaeological records management in Arizona has long been an impediment to both planning and research. Records are dispersed around the state and mostly in paper format, meaning that data retrieval and data searches are very labor intensive.

This project is essential to improving archaeological research and planning in Arizona. It will, for the first time, pull together disparate site and survey records on Arizona highway corridors and make them available electronically to authorized highway planners and archaeologists across the state. The electronic medium means that much advanced research and planning may be done from a desk, rather than visiting and searching records at various locations around the state.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SCREENING CRITERIA

 

 

  1. BASIC CRITERIA (Must Meet all Criteria.) YES NO A "no" response to any of the following

disqualifies the proposal.

  1. Project eligible under one or more of the 10 transportation XXX ____

enhancement activities listed in ISTEA?

  1. Relationship to Intermodal Transportation System

Must qualify under one or more of these conditions.

PROXIMITY_________ FUNCTION___________ IMPACT XXX

 

Explain how project qualifies under one or more of the above federal standards.

Archaeological research is conducted to mitigate the impact of highway construction.

 

 

 

  1. Project over and above normal project? XXX ____

(Typical landscaping, mitigation type activities that are a

normal part of a transportation project are ineligible).

  1. Project Sponsored by Government Entity? XXX ____
  1. Project is not inconsistent with applicants plans? XXX ____
  1. Project will go to bid within 2 years of acceptance? XXX ____
  1. Project matching fund available (Minimum 20%) XXX ____
  1. Project sponsor able to administer project? XXX ____
  1. Completed project will meet applicable Federal, state, and

local requirements? XXX ____

  1. The Completed project will be open to the public and meet

the accessibility standards of the Americans with

Disabilities Act. XXX ____

  1. Project will improve air quality or have a neutral air quality

impact? XXX ____

 

 

  1. Approval of Authorized Official (Sponsor)

This project has the concurrence of the sponsoring agency, is not inconsistent with the agency’s plans and meets all of the basic criteria listed in question 21 which are required by the state of Arizona’s Transportation Enhancement Program.

Agency/Jurisdiction ____________________________________________

Day: ________________________ By: ___________________________

 

  1. Endorsement of Metropolitan Planning Organization/Council of Governments

This project has been reviewed and endorsed by:

MPO/COG______________________________ Date: _______________________