Franklin unveils data‑driven CIP scoring tool and sidewalk‑gap map as part of $450M plan update

City staff presented a quarterly update on the city’s capital investment plan (CIP) on July 14, reporting recent project completions and previewing a new data‑driven prioritization framework and a draft public sidewalk‑gap mapping tool.

Michael Walters Young, chief budget and performance officer, said the city has completed 18 projects over the past six years totaling about $78.3 million in public investment and currently manages a CIP portfolio exceeding $450 million. He reported progress on major projects: roughly $39.2 million spent to date on the new city hall with a guaranteed maximum price just over $95 million and crane removal expected at the end of July; combined spending of about $33.1 million on 'The Pearl' components with Robinson Lake expected to open this year and the Southeast Park targeted for March 2028; and ongoing East McEwen phases with multi‑year completion targets.

Staff introduced a five‑category scoring framework for prioritizing future roadway and intersection projects—state of good repair, economic opportunity, roadway safety, congestion management and project readiness—using data sources such as AASHTOware for crash data and INRIX for congestion. The tool supports pairwise comparisons so board members can weight categories differently and produces a combined percentage score and a 1–4 'star' rating to help triage projects for deeper study.

"This gives you a lot of great data to try to come to a conclusion and develop concurrence amongst yourself," a staff presenter said, while noting the board retains discretion to override scores for projects of strategic importance.

Board members supported testing the framework on a small set of familiar projects before applying it broadly and asked staff to show how pairwise weighting changes rankings. Several aldermen also cautioned that data and priorities can change and recommended periodic rescoring so that emergent traffic patterns or new development can alter project rankings.

Staff also previewed an interactive sidewalk‑gap website that would let residents mark missing sidewalks, attach photos and 'like' submissions to indicate community demand. The application is currently in draft and, staff said, would display the level of available funding (approximately $1 million currently budgeted) and estimated linear miles that could be built given that funding. Several aldermen warned the portal could generate a flood of requests and urged staff to set expectations—considering either an annual outreach window or keeping the tool internal initially—so the public does not assume immediate funding for every submission.

Next steps: staff will run a sample set of current projects through the scoring tool for the board to review, consider pairwise weighting in a future session, and refine the sidewalk‑gap outreach approach and messaging to manage resident expectations about funding.