Title
T2050 Mobility Program Update (Ordinance S-45253)
Description
This report requests City Council approval to implement the updated five-year Transportation 2050 (T2050) Mobility Program and to allocate up to $3.5 million in T2050 Streets Mobility funds for future mobility-related projects and studies in Fiscal Years (FY) 2019 through 2023. Staff further requests approval of the updated five-year Sidewalk to Bus Stop ADA Accessible Program.
Report
Summary
The T2050 Mobility Program was originally presented to Council on May 10, 2017. At that meeting staff introduced two focus areas for mobility program improvements including (1) sidewalk improvements on major streets to make transit bus stops Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) accessible, and (2) mobility improvement areas for further study. Council gave approval to move forward with the first 11 of 39 mobility assessment studies focused on pedestrian and bicycle facilities (Attachment A). Staff is working with a team of consultants to complete these initial 11 studies.
Staff has made progress in these mobility program improvement areas as described below.
Mobility Assessment Studies
Update
Four of the 11 mobility assessment studies (Areas 1, 2, 4, and 11) commenced in September 2017 and are now complete. The remaining seven studies (Areas 3, 5-8, 10, and 12) started between March and June of 2018 are expected to be complete by May 2019. Staff determined that assessment of Area 9 (downtown Phoenix) at this time would conflict with several other ongoing transportation and planning projects and replaced it among the prioritized studies with Area 12 (Sunnyslope).
All mobility assessment studies are 12 months in duration and include a Current Conditions Report (CCR) and a Proposed Conditions Report (PCR). The CCR is a snapshot of the existing mobility area conditions. This includes potential barriers to safe, convenient travel by residents of all ages and abilities using all travel modes to neighborhood destinations identified as important to residents. The PCR features a list of recommended improvement projects that would address the mobility issues identified in the CCR. The CCRs for all 11 Areas have been completed, and the PCRs for Areas 1, 2, 4, and 11 are currently under review. Proposed projects include sidewalk installation, vertical curb and gutter improvements, crosswalk recommendations, bike lane installation, streetlighting improvements, landscaping and/or shade trees, pedestrian and traffic signalization installation, as well as other traffic calming measures.
The PCRs for the remaining mobility assessment study areas (3, 5-8, 10, and 12) are expected to be completed by May 2019.
Project Selection
Recommended projects in all mobility studies are scored and ranked using a 100-point scoring criterion that was developed to be robust, flexible, and context-sensitive, relying on neighborhood input in order to inform the development of unique scoring criteria weights that correspond to neighborhood desires.
Neighborhood input was achieved through public meetings and in surveying residents in all mobility areas, via hand-delivered door hangers, social media, and customized web pages for each study area. Survey questions asked residents and visitors to indicate the destinations to which they most frequently travel (by all travel modes) as well as their perceived value of the types of mobility projects.
Project Implementation
The mobility assessment study will develop a list of projects that address neighborhood-specific mobility challenges. Staff anticipates that the identified project needs will exceed the available T2050 Mobility program funding. Once all consultant teams finalize their PCRs, staff will vet the proposed projects with the assistance of other City departments to fund as many as possible. These potential project lists will be categorized based on the scope of work, budget, and how the project will be delivered. The four categories are described below:
- Category 1: Projects that require little or no design and can be completed using the City’s job order contracting program. These projects may include installation of sidewalk, ADA curb ramps, vertical curb and gutter, striping (i.e. bike lanes), and landscaping installation.
- Category 2: Projects that require design work in order to proceed to construction.
- Category 3: Projects that can be accomplished and funded through leveraging existing City-managed annual funding programs (pavement maintenance, HAWK signals, and traffic calming) or existing non-City funding such as federal grants.
- Category 4: Projects that would be accomplished as part of a larger scale major street improvement project (capital improvement project).
In order to quickly begin some of the identified mobility projects, staff requests to use up to $700,000 annually in T2050 Mobility funds in FY 2019 through FY 2021, and up to $200,000 annually in FY 2022 and FY 2023 to move forward with Category 1 mobility projects. FY 2019 will focus on Areas 1, 2, 4, and 11 where studies and potential project lists have already been completed. Once the remaining studies are finalized, a similar approach will be used to fund Category 1 projects in FY 2020 and FY 2021, with the focus to be in Areas 3, 5-8, 10, and 12.
In addition to funding Category 1 projects, staff recommends programming an additional $200,000 annually over the next five years to begin new mobility studies in the other 28 (of 39) areas previously recommended by the CTC. These area studies will be started based on the sequential order they appear in the list approved by the Council in May 2017 (Attachment B).
Staff is requesting approval for the above proposed program amount up to $3.5 million (Attachment C). Currently, the T2050 Mobility Program fund balance over the five years is $9,883,360. Staff will return to Council with a recommended list of mobility projects classified as Category 2, 3, or 4 to program the remaining T2050 Mobility Program funds through FY 2023.
Five-Year Sidewalk to Bus Stop ADA-Accessible Program
On Nov. 1, 2017, Council recommended approval to implement the five-year plan of the ADA compliant sidewalk improvements to provide major street bus stop connections. The first round of 16 projects are in final stages of implementation. Additionally, staff leveraged T2050 Mobility program funds for nine sidewalk projects with $380,000 in outside funding awarded to the City through the Maricopa Association of Governments (MAG) Achieving Transit Accessibility Now (ATAN) grant opportunity.
MAG’s ATAN grant program was authorized by its Regional Council in January 2017 and authorized the use of $2.5 million in transit funding to improve accessibility at transit stops in the MAG region. The ATAN program addresses immediate and critical needs for improved accessibility to bus stops. Project applications are evaluated on a rolling cycle, with project awards being distributed every six months or as needed. The City’s nine sidewalk projects that received ATAN funding are scheduled for completion in August 2019.
The updated proposed Five-Year Sidewalk to Bus Stop ADA Accessible Program is shown in Attachment D and a map of the project locations is shown in Attachment E. The Program reflects the completion time frame for the initial list of approved sidewalks. In addition, four new project locations were identified through a collaborative effort between the Street Transportation and Public Transit Departments.
As City staff continues to evaluate opportunities to implement mobility and accessibility improvements focused on major transit corridors, MAG’s ATAN Program provides a viable funding source for this effort. To that end, staff recently submitted an application for the next round of ATAN Program funding. The City will request $320,000 in ATAN funding to install Rapid Rectangular Flashing Beacons (RRFB) and/or HAWK signals near bus stop locations. These signals would create safer street crossing opportunities where transit passengers are boarding or exiting.
Concurrence/Previous Council Action
The Citizen's Transportation Commission recommended approval for this item by a vote of 13-0 at their Oct. 25, 2018, meeting.
This item was recommended for approval at the Aviation and Transportation Subcommittee Nov. 27, 2018, meeting by a vote of 3-0.
Department
Responsible Department
This item is submitted by Deputy City Manager Mario Paniagua and the Street Transportation Department.