DEPARTMENT: Transportation & Capital Improvements Department
DEPARTMENT HEAD: Mike Frisbie, P.E.
COUNCIL DISTRICTS IMPACTED: Citywide
SUBJECT:
Sidewalk Program Update
SUMMARY:
The Transportation & Capital Improvements Department (TCI) will provide a briefing to the City Council Transportation Committee on the current status of the sidewalk program and potential options for consideration to optimize the sidewalk program.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION:
The Transportation & Capital Improvements (TCI) Department is responsible for building and maintaining the publicly owned infrastructure of the City of San Antonio to include streets, sidewalks, city-owned buildings, alleys, drainage, traffic signals, and storm water infrastructure.
Sidewalk Programs
The City of San Antonio currently has 5,032 miles of sidewalks with approximately 1,900 miles of existing gaps to be filled. TCI oversees a number of sidewalk improvement programs that are focused on constructing new sidewalks to close gaps in the sidewalk network, repairing existing sidewalks, and constructing pedestrian ramps in compliance with the 2009 Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The programs include the Infrastructure Management Program (IMP) - Streets and Sidewalks, Bond Program, Neighborhood Access & Mobility Program (NAMP) and Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Program.
The primary mechanism is the Sidewalk Maintenance Program which is a component of the 5-Year Infrastructure Management Program (IMP). The program provides a baseline budget of $5 million annually in Advanced Transportation District (ATD) funds to construct new sidewalks where none currently exist. In FY 2016 and FY 2017, the City allocated $15 million in ATD and other funds to the Sidewalk Program.
Sidewalk gaps filled through this program are prioritized according to the following Sidewalk Selection Criteria:
• Sidewalk gap is within 1/4 mile of School
• Sidewalk gap is within 1/4 mile of Hospital, Library, Park, Shopping mall or other traffic generating location
• Provides Transit Access - Missing sidewalk within 500 feet of a VIA Transit stop, along a VIA high ridership route or along a route where VIA deploys their ADA ramp.
• Pedestrian Safety - Missing sidewalk within 500 feet of an auto-pedestrian accident that occurred within the last three years.
Projects are prioritized and programmed in the IMP based on these selection criteria in coordination with the Council Offices to ensure that the selected projects reflect the priorities of the community.
Sidewalk Construction
In delivering new sidewalks through the various programs, TCI can complete all required improvements (i.e. curbs, sidewalks, driveways, landscaping, retaining walls, etc.) depending on the site condition. In coordination with Councilman Trevino, TCI is now considering options for optimizing the sidewalk delivery through the refinement of the selection criteria and project scope to better utilize the allocated funds to deliver more miles of sidewalks. TCI will present each of these options during the briefing.
ISSUE:
The Transportation & Capital Improvements Department (TCI) will provide a briefing to the City Council Transportation Committee on the current status of the sidewalk program and potential options for consideration to optimize the sidewalk program.
ALTERNATIVES:
This is a briefing only.
FISCAL IMPACT:
This is a briefing only.
RECOMMENDATION:
Staff recommends further discussion to be continued in a “B” Session in the coming months and will potentially use the feedback received as part of FY 2019 budget development process.