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Staff details $55 million geo bond proposal: $30M for streets, $15M for bridges, $10M for sidewalks; sidewalk work to prioritize arterials near seven elementary
Summary
City staff proposed a $55 million geo bond packet to tackle pavement, bridge and sidewalk needs—$30 million for streets, $15 million for bridges and $10 million for sidewalks—and described a neighborhood-focused pavement approach and a school-focused sidewalk priority.
City staff briefed the council on the proposed $55 million “geo bond” package intended to address roadway, bridge and sidewalk needs across Independence. The proposal presented by Lisa Reynolds allocates $30 million for streets, $15 million for bridges and $10 million for sidewalks and would be used alongside the regular street-sales-tax maintenance program.
Reynolds said the $30 million intended for streets would be applied using a neighborhood approach—targeting whole neighborhoods with pavement-condition-index (PCI) ratings below a set cutoff—and estimated the bond would allow crews to address roughly “2 95 lane miles” as described in the presentation. The city’s pavement backlog remains large: staff reported about $430 million in deferred pavement maintenance across roughly 600 centerline miles (about 1,400 total lane miles). Annual pavement-maintenance spending from the street sales tax is roughly $4.75 million, of which about $4.6 million is contracted seals and overlays and roughly $150,000 supports in-house patching and crack filling.
On sidewalks, Reynolds said staff met with the two school districts and identified seven elementary schools that would be priority targets for sidewalk investments. Rather than building a complete walk-shed arbitrarily, the districts recommended focusing initial work on higher-volume arterials near those schools; staff therefore proposed concentrating sidewalk investment on arterials and crossings that present the highest risk to students. Reynolds cautioned that sidewalks in many locations require additional work—easement acquisition, ADA-compliant ramps and stormwater facilities where impervious area will be added—which increases per-mile costs.
Reynolds summarized recent PCI trends: the city average dropped from 63 in 2016 to about 50 (data compiled in 2022) and the most recent measurement showed a modest improvement of roughly three points after recent pavement-maintenance cycles. She said construction costs have risen faster than consumer inflation and that commodity and bid volatility since the COVID years have increased project cost risk.
Staff framed the geo bond as a way to make progress on a large maintenance backlog while continuing regular preventative maintenance funded by the street sales tax. The transcript records staff presentation and council Q&A; it does not record a formal council vote to place the bond on a ballot during this meeting, though staff and the mayor indicated earlier outreach to voters and an April election schedule in related discussions.
