Pedestrian and Bike Improvements: $16.5 million set aside – 8 projects – $16 million of TSPLOST II funds
New sidewalks and trails (wide sidewalks) are needed throughout the City to fill in gaps in the existing sidewalk system and improve mobility for pedestrians. Council demonstrated its interest and willingness to make improvements to the sidewalk and trail network in the City by setting aside the highest amount of TSPLOST II funding into the pedestrian and bike improvements program category. To begin, staff recommends eight projects including six prioritized by the Sidewalk Policy and two identified in the Town Center Vision and Master Plan. As pedestrian connectivity projects can be strong candidates for grant awards and are eligible for funding through the GDOT Local Maintenance Improvement Grant (LMIG) program, staff anticipates these projects would require $16 million of TSPLOST II funds although full project costs through construction will be higher. That would leave $500K for engineering of an additional pedestrian and bike improvement project. With Council authorization, staff will begin engineering for the eight identified projects.