Metro officials outline early rollout of Choose How You Move, $104 million capital drawdown and service expansions
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Summary
City transportation staff told council committees that the Choose How You Move program has moved from planning into early implementation: 14 sidewalk projects in 10 neighborhoods are entering construction, signal and fiber upgrades will reach 115 downtown intersections, WeGo is expanding service with new buses and a Journey Pass pilot has 6,700+ registrations.
Metro staff briefed joint committees on the initial implementation of the Choose How You Move transportation program, describing a $104 million capital drawdown, targeted sidewalk and signal projects, and early steps to expand bus service.
Michael Briggs, deputy chief program officer for the Choose How You Move program in Mayor Freddie O’Connell’s office, framed the effort as a major increase in local investment. “When you look at NDOT’s annual capital budget, it averages about 75,000,000 a year. And then when you look at the capital projects that are in the Choose How You Move program and simply divide them out, over the years, it ends up being over $200,000,000, per year,” Briggs said, using the comparison to show the program’s scale.
Why it matters: Committees were given specifics about near‑term work and funding so council members can track when and how residents will see changes in their districts. Staff said the administration plans a mix of short‑term, midterm and final corridor designs and will return with periodic updates.
Key details provided by staff: a set of 14 sidewalk projects in 10 neighborhoods have completed planning and design and are moving into construction; fiber expansion tied to signal upgrades will cover corridors and unlock adaptive, real‑time signal control; an estimated 115 downtown intersections are targeted for upgrades; bus fleet expansions are planned with new buses expected to arrive in 2027–2028; and the program includes planning for a WeGo maintenance and operations site to support longer hours and expanded service.
Finance and program numbers: staff described a $164,000,000 ordinance passed this fiscal year that programmers said includes roughly $60 million for operations and about $104,000,000 directed to capital. Committee members raised the $68,000,000 figure for revenue collected to date; finance staff said portions of collected revenue created a reserve fund for WeGo and that a lion’s share of early obligations went toward procuring buses and initial operating needs.
On fare policy and access, Amanda Vandegrift, deputy CEO at WeGo, said Journey Pass registration has exceeded early expectations. “We can open every registration event to SNAP recipients because our staff at WeGo is now trained to verify SNAP recipients right at our registration event,” Vandegrift said, adding that multiple verification methods (calling SNAP, checking online applications) have allowed staff to avoid turning away eligible participants. Briggs earlier reported more than 6,700 Journey Pass registrations at 40-plus events and estimated about $15,000,000 in transportation assistance for eligible riders over three years.
Operations and technical work: staff explained that the adaptive signaling investments require fiber communications to achieve split‑second timing for transit priority; Jesse Turner with Metro ITS said fiber will generally be installed under sidewalks and that some older conduit segments on corridors such as West End need replacement before advanced technologies can be deployed. Turner described ITS conduit standards and said major routing uses paired 4‑inch conduit built for expandability.
What’s next: staff said procurement is ramping up and that coordination with TDOT and other agencies will continue, including a planned workshop to align all‑access corridor work. A Friday announcement of NDOT phase‑1 signal work on Lebanon Pike was described as an example of complementary investment; staff noted the Choose How You Move fiber component will unlock full smart‑signal capability there.
The committees heard multiple requests for a district‑level breakdown of expenditures and for clearer schedules for when individual corridors and sidewalk projects will begin construction. Staff pledged to provide more detailed lists and timelines to council members and said they will return with further updates.
