Public Works Committee backs DPW 2026 plan; activists say budget lacks Vision Zero funding

The Public Works Committee voted to forward the Department of Public Works' 2026 portion of the city-county budget to the full City-County Council after a presentation that outlined road-treatment strategies, outputs and new procurement methods intended to accelerate resurfacing and maintenance work.

Director Wilson (Department of Public Works) presented a data-driven strategy that groups street work into several treatments: pothole filling (year-round, weather permitting), contractor strip patching (emergency rapid response on worst sections), in-house D4 crew work (small roadway segments and residential streets), residential resurfacing (contracted reconstruction or mill-and-overlay), and thoroughfare resurfacing (longer-term fixes that include ADA ramps and signals).

The presentation estimated contractor strip patching would cover portions of about 200 lane miles in 2026 (staff stressed patching is applied only to the worst sections within chosen segments) and noted about 40,000 potholes were filled countywide this year. The budget includes an anticipated minimum of $16 million per year for…