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Pedestrian-safety gains flagged as vulnerable after Transportation presentation on budget cuts
Summary
Director Long told council his department met several performance targets—including bridge inspections and pedestrian‑safety reductions—but warned 5.1% and deeper cuts (15% in an infrastructure fund) would slow projects, shrink crews and delay permit responses.
Director Long, the city's Transportation and Engineering director, told the committee that his office is meeting several performance measures but faces capacity risks if proposed budget cuts are implemented. At the hearing he highlighted the department's pedestrian‑safety projects and bridge inspection results, and said some cuts would meaningfully slow service delivery.
Long said his office reached a citywide bridge weighted‑condition average of 6.76 across the 71 structures it is responsible for and credited recent pedestrian interventions with measurable speed reductions at implemented sites. "Our pedestrian safety program is meeting expectations," he said, noting recent implementations and planned data collection at additional sites.
The presentation placed street rehabilitation in a cautionary category. Long said the department plans an aspirational 20% increase in paving volume to reverse a flat-to‑declining pavement trend, and told council the planned FY27 rehab resources are "around $21,000,000," roughly $1 million higher than the prior year. He cautioned, however, that contractor and staff capacity limit how much of that can be executed in a single year.
Long outlined the possible effects of two reduction scenarios. He said a 5.1% reduction to the department's general fund budget would amount to about $90,000 and would reduce staff available for urban‑design and pedestrian‑safety work. A larger 15% reduction scenario in the income tax infrastructure fund, which he said equates to approximately $2,300,000, would extend response times for traffic operations, slow permit reviews and investigations and reduce survey‑crew capacity (from a three‑person to a two‑person crew), lengthening turnaround for design data by up to two weeks.
Council members pressed Long on whether planned pedestrian projects in the pipeline would be delayed. One member praised the speed‑hump program and asked specifically whether any planned projects would be affected; Long said the department would seek grant funding or other external resources but that some planned implementations might be delayed if internal capacity is reduced.
The committee also discussed the division of responsibilities between Transportation and Public Works, with Long describing the relationship as "hand in glove": Public Works focuses on maintenance (potholes and spot repairs) while Transportation handles larger repair/replace projects and design work. Long emphasized that the department is trying to compress an 18‑month street‑rehab data collection cycle into 12 months to better align with the fiscal year and improve project timing.
The council left the session with a sense that pedestrian safety has produced positive results but that further planning and external funding will be needed to protect the current implementation pace if cuts are enacted.
The committee continued questioning and then moved on to the next department presentation.
