Counselor Silver has an excused absence.

He is out of town.

And I believe that Councilor Branch should be here any minute.

So with that, we will turn it over to Sarah Sonasi from Planning and Development.

Well, no, we won't.

We will turn it over to Patrick Young.

Good afternoon, Pat Young, Planning and Development.

Mayor, Counsel, thank you for the opportunity.

With me today is Sher Sarah Shaughnessy, who is our project manager for the Reflecting Raleigh Comprehensive Plan Development Process and our assistant director Bynum Walter of our comprehensive and long-range planning division.

We wanted to just take a few minutes to follow up from our re retreat engagement with you in late September to reflect back what we heard in terms of key themes and make sure that we captured those themes fully and correctly and that we have uh reflected them in a way that feel meets your intention.

And if there's any other items or areas of interest you want to add before we proceed into the next phase of the process.

So that's we'll do that here quickly.

Um as we told you at the retreat, um, there's a five-phase phase process.

We are at the very end of phase one, which was our initial engagement, which included our community conversations and over uh a hundred other touch points with our community members.

We are about to enter into phase two plan development, as you heard at the retreat.

Um most importantly, there's going to be lots of opportunities, uh checkpoints with you all to make sure that we're on the right track, right?

That we get your feedback, that we summarize the engagements that we've done previously, and that we forecast what's coming before you.

Um the uh what's crucial here is that um any time you want us to come here, just let the manager's office know, we will we'll come before you, even outside of the schedule.

We do provide monthly updates that are quite detailed in your uh weekly weekly manager report.

So again, lots of opportunities for you to provide your input, insight, and direction, which we critically need to make sure we're on the right track as we bring the look to bring this to you in 2027 for adoption.

Right.

So one of the key issues, so the first key issue we heard was to make sure that we identify and assess emerging issues.

And I think that was a really good piece of uh recommendation or advisement.

We um have a wealth of technical expertise um and guidance from um the American Planning Association and uh other groups like the Lincoln Institute for Land Policy, which helps uh the American Planning Institute do an emerging planning issues on an annual basis.

The Urban Land Institute reports on the uh changes in the real estate market, and many of you have attended their events.

Uh and there's a whole host of other kind of pure peer-reviewed and popular literature, Smart Growth America is another group.

So we uh our team um as part of the community inventory, which is underway now and should be wrapped up in about January, um, we'll have that emerging issues um assessment complete.

And we will ensure that those inform our technical teams, our citizen assembly, and um you all as we uh move into drafting the plan later in 2026.

So um but again, so we'll we'll publish that report and bring it to you um in January.

If you want us to come before you in a forum like this, please let me or the manager know and we'll we'll certainly arrange that.

But we were just gonna forward that to you along with part of our monthly communication.

Um another issue we heard from you all uh loud and clear was communicating trade-offs, right?

You all as decision makers are constantly uh grappling with challenging trade-offs, right?

One example that comes up frequently is density, taxes, and stable services, right?

There's tension between those three things, and that um is constantly having to be negotiated and resolved.

So we want to make sure that um as we bring forward policy, getting feedback from you all, getting feedback from our technical teams from the Citizen Assembly, that we um um are ensuring that trade-offs uh with various alternatives are part of the engagement process and are framed out uh fully.

We um uh have as part of our you see Joe Minakazi here, who's an urbanist and was one of the speakers at our Reflecting Raleigh events.

Um he really uses that framing of of trade-offs frequently.

We want to make sure we keep that front and center as we continue to talk with the community.

Um reducing friction, I think what that means is we we did hear that there was occasionally some tension between existing comprehensive plan policies, the interpretation of those policies, and the unified development ordinance provisions, right?

So we we see the need based on your feedback to set clear expectations for you and the public about how these policies uh may or may not shape land use and development, that the next plan will be narrow or in focus.

You see Bynum's famous uh goodnight moon analogy, where we really want to make this something that's uh lean, easy to read, and really clearly advises you and importantly the public on what to expect from land use uh change and and community growth.

Um we will work internally with a series of technical teams, as we told you at the retreat to validate or refine those existing policies, develop new policies, um, and uh and eliminate a re revised policies that are redundant, uh conflicting or no longer relevant, or that you all feel you know don't meet the their intended uh purpose.

So that the goal is to create clear actionable policy to communicate and communicate that policy, um, including that balancing values and trade-offs when we bring policies forward uh late in 26, early 27.

And then reporting on the plan.

That was another key area we heard from you all where there was a lot of interest to ensure that both you all and the community see are we making progress towards fulfilling our goals.

So since the uh 2030 plan was adopted in 2009, there have been annual reports on that.

We feel like that does lay out uh how we've made progress on that plan, and there's been a lot of progress made on that plan.

For example, as I think you heard at the retreat, the 2020 n plan anticipated 60 percent of our growth in activity centers.

We've got closer to 70 percent.

So we we want to keep that up, but even go a step further, really in two key ways.

One have an online dashboard approach so that anybody at any time can go in and look at how we're progressing towards our goals with key metrics.

And um, secondly, that there's um uh uh a clear and and frequent um update um uh on uh uh how how we are progressing towards the plan um with uh community engagement updates to you all and essentially opportunities to revise uh improve or adapt.

So both at the retreat and previously, so this list includes both of those.

We heard about another of uh a series of um other issues that there were interest for.

Uh and we want to make sure that we incorporate we are going to incorporate these in the plan and make sure that they are assessed and evaluated for policy uh recommendations and land use changes where appropriate and where necessary.

Want to use the opportunity today.

If there's anything that's on this list that you don't think you think is no longer appropriate, or that you anything you want to add, this is a great opportunity to to do that.

And so as we talked about at the retreat, we're we're finishing up the community inventory.

This is essentially kind of an existing conditions analysis, along with as we mentioned, that emerging trends report, the civic assembly will be underway in the coming months.

Technical teams will come back to you in December and ask you to endorse that final list of teams, their work will start in January, cost of growth analysis will be underway, and then um the format function and design of the final plan will be finalized.

And when we go into plan drafting in June, July, August of 26, we'll certainly bring a full report to you on that and give you the opportunity to comment on that before we move into the drafting stage.

So with that, I'll be happy to take any questions or comments you may have.

Thank you.

Counselor Lambert Milton.

On the uh council request slide, I notice the bullet point that says streamline policies related to downtown.

I know that we have a portion of this in the economic development innovation committee right now.

We discuss some regulatory changes regarding signage and outdoor dining.

I just want to make sure that this is not going to be duplicative of our efforts or slow down the work that the committee is doing.

Like can they work concurrently?

Definitely.

Yeah, thank you, Councilmember.

Right.

A lot of these areas, there's work underway.

So we we want to use those as a springboard rather than something that we're that's re-litigating or renegotiating what you all have approved.

So I think we're going to take that work that you're doing in committee, assuming it's passed forward by the full council, and then incorporate that as kind of a baseline and go from there to make sure that there's alignment between policy and the work that you all are doing now.

And then I also just want to put an exclamation point on the neighborhood scale retail uh commercial.

Um I think we probably learned some lessons as we were navigating that policy a couple years ago.

And so maybe that will help adjust how we make uh approach the public as purposes of updating or comprehensive plan and see if we can get that across the finish line or closer to the finish line than we were able to accomplish before.

Yes, sir.

All right.

Counselor Harrison.

Yeah.

Um Pat, could you just remind me what is mid-town housing affordability referred to?

So there was um plan, there was policy pertaining to housing affordability uh in the midtown plan that um I think staff believes and based on you all's feedback needs some additional expansion or clarity.

Uh by them or Sarah, can you speak to that in more detail?

Yeah.

Off the top of my head, I do not remember the particular rezoning request that we were looking at, but that came from you all as a result of conversation around a rezoning request in the midtown area.

Okay.

So just to clarify, I believe within the plan there are some afford housing affordability recommendations.

And so you all are going to be looking at that and how you include that in the update.

That's right.

Okay.

I think there was some dissatisfaction on the council side about how those policies were working.

Okay.

Thank you.

Yeah.

You want you want to go.

Thank you so much.

I'm just having a thought in my head if you can help me work it out.

Um in our comprehensive plan, how do we incorporate our infrastructure needs and and into the conversations we're having?

I know it's not directly about affordability or or height, but as we incorporate where we're going to grow, do we take a uh an inventory on how many pipes need to be redone there or how much infrastructure needs to be added to an area?

Yeah, no, it's a great question.

So yeah, there's going to be a big focus on infrastructure and services to make sure that as we grow um we can manage the cost of infrastructure and services without diminishing or impacting the quality of life of existing residents.

Right.

So making sure that there's both a operational plan and a fiscal plan for for the grow growth associated the growth and the associated infrastructure and services.

What we're doing is we're working with the service delivery departments to make sure we understand their plans.

Um you all have recently seen the Fire Master Plan, which is kind of a great example, and we're gonna want to have similar analyses with the other service delivery departments.

Um it won't be an exhaustive list of, for example, every pipe that needs to be replaced, but it will reference back to their plans of um what is the department's plan to expand to meet the anticipated growth in different parts of the community and how and uh the cost of growth analysis is going to look at the fiscal impacts of that as well.

Does that answer your question?

No, it does.

Um I just want to make sure that when we're doing these civic assemblies for people who may not have had any um background in what we're talking about, that they understand the scope of it and they understand that there are big uh concerns for especially residents who have been impacted by infrastructure needs, um, making sure they understand both sides of that.

Sure.

That's great point.

Thank you.

We um as we discussed at the retreat, the first third of the civic assembly engagement is an education process.

We'll so we'll have speakers, both staff and outside speakers, give them lots of information in that regard so that they have a solid grounding in those issues.

Awesome.

Thank you so much.

I had a few additional uh points.

The very niche issue and one that I know folks are already working on is just churches and this whole I you know, is there are there ordinances where churches aren't coming back to have to rezone for a sign?

But how are we facilitating churches doing housing and other items?

So I just want to put that out there as as one item that's not on this list.

Uh a second is this greenway-oriented development or you know, creek and waterway oriented um in terms of trying to celebrate and reorient towards some of our natural landscape.

And it just since it's not explicitly written there, I know it kind of comes in uh with climate and other things.

Um then also already in the hopper as a request, but this whole idea of entertainment districts like Lenovo, downtown, um I know we have a hospitality district, and then sort of light overlay, how we think about those districts differently in terms of you know, these of course we'll have a noise hearing uh at six for the entertainment, but also light.

Sure.

Thank you.

We'll make sure those are all reflected in this work.

Hey Pat.

Um I'm just still like I was trying to like kick off the dust on this midtown housing affordability thing.

Like I remember it like a dream.

It's like out there, and but I can't remember any of the specifics either.

But I just wonder if it might be.

I feel like maybe the part of the conversation was the like this discrepancies across different parts of town and like what's being called for in midtown is different than what's called for in like FTDO and some of the other ways we extract affordability.

And so I don't know if it is fruitful or maybe this is what you're already doing, but to take like a broader view of like all the different affordability tools and are they which ones are productive, which ones are calibrated correctly and to be used and yeah, just maybe like a broader brush than just the midtown.

I think that's a helpful way to expand that.

As Bynam talked about that the midtown plan is unique because it had some really explicit goals and really strong goals that have not been you know lived up to pursuant to zone cases.

But the issue to your point is and which is well taken and appreciated is we experience that across the community.

So certainly we'll look at essentially the effectiveness of our affordability incentives and programs and make recommendations on that regard.

For sure.

I'll keep going just because uh yesterday the city manager and I met with the uh superintendent of public schools, and they will be having, I think uh by the end of the month, they're gonna produce I think 10 properties that they think uh I think two of which are in Raleigh.

But this whole idea of how they are thinking about their properties, and I know that could go to coordination, but very specifically, you know.

Uh just surplus property, underutilized public property and um how we better utilize that in the capital city.

Thank you.

Okay.

Any other don't see any more.

Thank you all.

Yeah, thank you.

Good summary of the conversation from the retreat.

Okay.

Anything else on the comprehensive plan, or does that wrap that section?

Okay.

So then next we have the downtown mobility study and active mobility plan presentation, Barbara Godwin and Margaret Tartala.

Good afternoon.

My name is Margaret Tartala, and I'm the mobility strategy supervisor in the Department of Transportation, and I co-manage the Active Mobility Plan along with my colleague Barbara Godwin, who unfortunately can't be here today.

Barbara Godwin is the city bicycle and pedestrian program manager, and she also managed the downtown mobility study.

So you'll hear both the downtown mobility study and active mobility plan today.

Both of these plans have been developed over the course of the last year and a half and involve have involved numerous interactions with stakeholder agencies, businesses, and Raleigh residents.

I'm a resident of Raleigh myself.

I take Oraly Route 16 to come to work here in the municipal building, and I spend a lot of time walking around the city.

And so I understand firsthand that there is a lot of need all across the city, but there's also a lot of opportunity.

When I'm talking about need, I'm talking about the fact that today a large number of fatalities are people killed on our roads while trying to cross on foot.

Today, a large number of our bus stops don't have sidewalks or bicycle connections.

And today the easiest way for most people to get around the city is by car.

But every day people are walking through the mud to get to their bus stop or walking in the roadway or cycling in the grass to get where they need to go.

So today you have the opportunity to hear about two plans closely aligned and data-driven that aim to provide safer and more comfortable trips for people who don't have any other option.

The more appealing alternative to driving a car for those who do.

The first person you'll hear from today is Stephen Stansbury with Kimley Horn, he'll presenter on the downtown mobility study.

The study focuses on the trade-offs we'll have to make downtown to accommodate all modes as our first bus rapid transit corridor comes online, and more and more of the 66 people moving to Wake County every day are choosing to work and live in downtown Raleigh.

The second person you'll hear from today is Jared Traper with Tool Design, who will cover the active mobility plan.

Our current bicycle and pedestrian plans are both at about a decade old, so it's time for an update.

The active mobility plan provides a method for prioritizing sidewalks and bike facilities and the plan for what to do next for what to build next.

The presentation will conclude with final remarks from Paul Callum, our department director.

Um two administrative items.

We really think that these plans are best presented together.

So we would ask that you wait until the very end to ask questions.

And we have some print-in materials, maps, and final reports.

I don't know if we want to distribute those now or wait until the end and you can have more time to look through everything.

May I have a minute?

Okay.

Okay.

Thank you.

Well, with that, I'll hand it off to Stephen.

I've been trained on the operations of this podium.

I'm going to hope that I operate it properly, though.

So it's my first time here.

My name is Steven Stansbury.

Thanks for your hospitality.

It's a real pleasure to be here today to provide the overview for the work that we've been collaborating with your staff on for the better part of about 14 to 16 months.

You've got a lot of plans going on right now.

And I think one of the things I want to be sure I do today is bring some assurance that these plans have been well coordinated.

And so I'm going to point out a few of those items as I go through today.

Just a bit of background about what this study is.

I know a lot of times we think about plans as being almost master plan in detail, but sometimes we need information prior to those details that helps to inform the decision-making process.

When it comes to infrastructure in downtown, I'm sure you're familiar with past processes where there may be a streetscape project or some kind of amendment to parking or the addition of a future BRT lane that has been brought to you as a very specific topic.

I think from those experiences, it's been learned that we probably need a bit more information to help guide those processes over time.

And that's exactly what this particular study is intended to do is to offer a backdrop with which we can avoid some of the conflict and repetition with which we engage repeatedly again and again.

And I know that I've heard this council talk about effective governance and effective strategies.

This is an attempt to provide a bit more integration so that the process is streamlined in the future.

The importance of this just really couldn't be better timing.

I think that when I got the chance to hear a little bit more about what's going on with the comprehensive plan, there's an overlap of initiatives happening right now.

And there's a change in both our economy, there's a change in development patterns, there's a change in what the needs of our communities are, and we're seeing this all around the country.

And so places like Raleigh are going through their own form of modernization of their downtowns, a bit of a renaissance with respect to how we see our downtowns as a continued asset and contribute to community building.

And so there's a lot of synergies between what you're going through right now with your comprehensive plan, but we're also building on the recent past.

And I think that that's something I want to acknowledge.

We done we didn't start from scratch.

Um we're not uh we're not having to begin with uh without some information that precedes us.

And in fact, there have been plenty of good plans and studies that offered us a great foundation, uh, and we wanted to honor those as well as the recent engagement that occurred with each of those.

Um I want to also point out a couple of really important things that contributed to our process, among which is this memorialization of where we're going to put BRT in downtown Raleigh.

Quite frankly, if we didn't have that information going into this, we probably would have had more of a visioning type of exercise, something that was more thematically organized.

But now that data has been memorialized, it offers us the opportunity to work with some certainty and to offer more specificity.

The other thing I want to showcase here is just a reminder that this work is being done in conjunction with not only the comprehensive plan and the work that tool design is doing uh on the active mobility plan, but also the safety action plan that is currently underway, and it drives all the decision making and the guidance that's provided throughout this.

So some it some considerations.

Uh obviously you could develop a strategy for downtown in a vacuum.

Uh suffice it to say I want to draw some assurances that we've been very conscious to be eyes wide open.

And your staff has been amazing at helping to connect those dots with us and for us at times.

And I want to extend my thanks and gratitude for the department.

I think you have uh an incredible capacity to manage the modernization of downtown mobility, unlike you have had any other time in history.

So this is a great time to be taking advantage of that.

You're gonna hear the word integration a lot, primarily because downtown is a constrained asset.

We don't have the ability to make streets bigger to add more things in downtown, nor would we want to, because quite frankly, that would work in discord with some of the motivations behind this plan, including improved safety.

Um you're gonna hear about that healthy tension.

I think there's so much alignment between what we just heard about in the comprehensive plan presentation.

Those tensions are things that we almost run towards in this process.

We want to unearth where those conflicts may exist amongst our past plans, the vision for the inclusion of additional things like bike lanes, improved sidewalk settings, how we might manage our curb space differently, and how we accommodate autos in the downtown.

And so we've made an intentional effort to actually work towards identifying those tensions so that we can deconflict them as a part of the strategy.

Um the other things that this particular study does that may be a little bit different.

It didn't operate with a set of unconstrained environments.

It effectively said we need to recognize that we've got only so much space, so much time, and so much dollars to spend on transportation over a given period of time in the downtown.

And so this particular set of guiding principles was established as an outset of the vision for transportation.

So the vision for transportation says all the things you would expect it to about improving safety and increasing travel choice and honoring the relationship between public infrastructure design and the creation of places that add lasting value.

But it goes farther and says that this specific study is not contemplating whether we're going to take the steps.

It contemplates how we're going to take those steps.

And I think that's an important nuance in this particular process.

I won't read through these guiding principles.

They're found on page seven of the report you have, and they're they're accompanied by the vision for downtown transportation.

You will not allow a process to be done here in the city of Raleigh without quality public engagement.

I wanted to report on the engagement that occurred throughout this process.

Effectively, it was organized around three discrete phases.

We had the traditional workshops, we had online engagement, we met people where they were.

I'm pleased to report that there was robust interest in downtown, as there should be, uh, in that it is something that probably touches almost everyone's lives here in Raleigh.

Um, but we had over 2200 participants with over 15,000 individual data points that were collected.

I will stress to you that that information was collected at key moments in our process, not at the end, not after decisions were made, but collected so that it could be used to inform decision making as some technical decisions needed to inform the strategy for downtown.

So I want to thank again the staff for for assisting with making a successful engagement process possible.

Some of the things that we heard are not things that are new.

Many of the comments that we received uh revolved around safety, around additional travel choices.

We also asked questions in very intentional ways to ensure that we weren't leading people to conclusions, which is often the case.

We wanted to be sure that there was individual expression, but also allow for the opportunity for people to see how their individual thoughts were organized and summarized in ways that uh had some logical cohorts to them.

But some other key takeaways just about what we might have seen was when you asked people literally about what they thought about transportation in downtown Raleigh, it kind of shrug the shoulders.

It's okay.

Um it's not terrible, but you could clearly see that there was room for improvement, right?

There was an expression about, yeah, I generally feel safe, but there's places where I don't feel safe.

Um positive things that were stated repeatedly by through different mechanisms were that we don't have uh difficulty finding parking, or we didn't think that parking was too expensive.

But there's there's a significant amount of information.

I hope you'll take the time to review some of the content that's uh contained on pages 10 through 19 in particular of the report, some really great key takeaways from the community and the stakeholders that participated in the process.

Um I'm gonna talk briefly now a little bit about how this particular study is organized.

And I want to stress we don't want to make this complicated because it really isn't.

There's a lot of hard work that's involved with it, which was essentially revealing all of the ingredients and the competing interest as well as the good synergies and opportunities.

But this plan is organized around doing four things.

The first of which is identifying what is the modal priority, meaning the method of travel for each of the corridors in downtown.

It's as simple as that.

You can walk bike, take transit, you can ride a scooter, you can drive.

Um there's probably a thousand other ways with which you could probably traverse this.

But we wanted to ensure that we were memorializing from this process as a result of data collection, public input, and stakeholder engagement, what should be the priority?

And the reason that's important is because after this study is complete and you've endorsed it, you're effectively offering the guidance to the department about future project development activities.

And we want to ensure that the starting point for those conversations begins with what is the priority for this specific corridor at this moment in time.

If you don't have that, then effectively we're back to the question of whether we should do something or not, or maybe elevating inadvertently a priority that doesn't need to be at this particular location.

The second of which is once we know what is the most important modal priority in a given corridor, how does it interface with the other things around it?

In other words, kind of speaking to the design considerations for how we might want to influence future project development activities.

We also wanted to ensure that there wasn't any question about that.

So there was an element in here called envisioning success that essentially takes some key quarter concepts and illustrates what the possibilities are, working with the real world constraints of what we have to work with, the curb-to-curb measurements in those locations.

And there's six of those that are offered.

And then lastly, we wanted to offer some policy considerations that effectively might seek to either increase efficiency or expedite the time necessary to implement some of these improvements over time.

We feel like that's a thoughtful ensemble for a strategy like this.

I am very quickly going to just mention the elements that comprise the remainder of the report.

As much as I've spoken the word integration, we found that the reader would prefer to find things organized around different travel modes.

And so you're going to find that there is an element, there's uh five different elements that are addressed around uh specific uh modal priorities.

And the first of which is pedestrian, because we recognize that in a downtown this should be our safest place, most comfortable place, most inviting place to walk in our city, and so there's a whole section devoted to that.

It speaks to the places that have incredibly high priority needs, uh, especially when we think about our youth and our visitors coming to our community, where do they come to come to downtown Raleigh?

And so we've placed some some increased expectations on those locations.

We also have aligned this with our safety analysis as well.

Well, there may be places where we know that there are modal priorities for particular travel, but there's also places that in addition to that are of concern because of the safety or crash history at those locations.

And so we've been careful to intertwine those with all of our recommendations.

The second element is around vehicle movements.

And now, surprisingly enough, some people would question why do you even have a vehicular element in the downtown?

This is supposed to be a mobility study.

The reality of it is that the majority of people still come to downtown and probably will so for several years uh by driving, and that's okay.

I think the question is where are the places where driving needs to be the priority?

And it doesn't really require traffic engineer or a transportation planner to recognize it's probably the places that load and unload our downtown.

We've got two primary corridors that load and unload downtown.

We're very fortunate to have an incredibly well-designed downtown that has portals from the north and from the south that offer us those conduits of accessibility by driving.

So when we respect that as the place where vehicular movements are prioritized, it leaves the remainder of the network to be used for other priorities.

And I think that's an important place to memorialize the place of cars in the downtown as they are an important element for the economy and the accessibility of the downtown.

We also have included a whole section, obviously, about transit, and this is a much more interesting section today than it would have been written maybe 10 years ago, primarily because of the significant investments and commitments that have been made by this community and this region to enhance transit within this particular area of our community.

And so you'll see all the things that you would expect there.

What are the improvements that can be made to better connect people with those future stations as well as creating the modal and intermodal connectivities amongst transit and other means of travel within the downtown.

Um then there's a bike section, uh, which of course I believe is one of the places where there's some of the greatest amount of tension.

Um, I'll tell you in the work that we've done in other cities uh throughout the United States.

This is kind of the element that oftentimes gets gets squished a little bit.

Um so we've had to work very closely with your your bicycle advocacy community as well as to really study the structure of downtown to understand what's going to be most appropriate here.

I think one of the things that has happened in other communities, I won't say here, but there have been places where if one bike lane is a good idea, maybe we should put them on all streets.

But I stressed to you at the beginning of this that this is an integrated strategy.

If we did that, that means that's to the demise of other priorities along some corridors.

So we thought long and hard, and thank goodness we had good partners with tool design already working on the AMP, which afforded us an opportunity to devise a very simple strategy and approach to this, which was it's reasonable as well as equitable to think that protected bicycle access for all ages and abilities could be occurring in the four quadrants of our downtown.

If you were to imagine downtown literally split into four quadrants, you should have an east-west movement and a north-south movement of protected bike facilities within each of those.

And so you can see that particular graphic uh located on page or pages 44 through uh 51, which really speak to how that strategy will work and how it integrates with a broader mobility strategy for bicycling throughout Raleigh.

Um this is not a travel mode, but curbside is something that's incredibly important in a place like downtown.

This is essentially the place where cars may park, where loading occurs, where emergency response happens.

And so we really have learned over the last decade about the importance of managing the curb like an asset.

And for that reason, there's an entire section which stresses the importance of that, pulls in some more empirical data about how we're using the curb side today, and where are some places where we might have some give.

And that's been a part of helping to inform the prioritization that I mentioned earlier.

And then the design and integration section reads very much so like some best practices, as it should.

It's essentially illustrating for you the ways with which we can introduce these things in downtown Raleigh with ease and with precedent from other places.

We can learn from the good work of others.

And then lastly, I'm going to wrap up with this slide, essentially the policy considerations.

There's a whole section again devoted to some of these policies, and I hope you'll take some time to think about, especially as there was reference earlier to some of the ongoing work about ways with which we can enhance the effectiveness of downtown policy and think about it through the lens of transportation.

So we've mentioned some things here about creating very formal memorandums of understanding, for example, about how we're going to go about doing project development activities.

We think that having this prioritization sets in place a possibility of doing it in a consistent way in a streamlined way.

There's lots of good notes in the section that deals with that curb use component that kind of speak to how that might function.

And then continue to fund downtown safety and mobility improvements.

That's the obvious one, that the greatest influence on the rate with which we make some of these changes is obviously aligned with the amount of funding that might be available for them.

And with that, that's going to bring me to a slide that effectively is a nice transition.

I'm going to introduce Jared Draper with Tool Design.

One of the things we wanted to ensure that you did hear from us is that there has been a lot of strong coordination amongst these two plans.

And with that, I'm going to let Jared talk to you about the broader aim.

Good afternoon, Mayor, Council.

This map really just shows that integration of these two plans, the kind of the four quadrants and thinking about uh modal priorities, both with pedestrian as well as bikeways.

Um, and then ultimately how this being an epicenter uh in our of our community, it really extends out.

The active mobility plan is not just about downtown, it's about the entire city.

And so uh this kind of shows that it starts to stretch out.

With that, um kind of the the beginnings of the active mobility plan.

I think that it's important to recognize that this is a plan that's bringing together a lot of the work and efforts that the city has been doing for a long time that have laid foundations that we're already going through right now that are really important.

It highlights best practices uh that need to be updated.

Uh, as was mentioned earlier, the pedestrian and bike plans are over a decade old, and so it's important that we are not only uh giving ourselves better guidance and better resources, but we are up to date so that this can be a community that is on the cutting edge of mobility.

It centers equity and safety that you'll hear throughout the idea that you're already working on safety action plan, and we're looking at how to connect people that need this infrastructure the most.

Um it's about creating more transportation choices for folks that need them, whether it's something out of utility or it's choice, that if you want to walk, if you want to bike, if you want to ride a bus, or if you want to drive, that we need all of those.

And then ultimately it's so important that this is an implementation ready uh plan that guides decision making uh that leverages all of the resources, not just a few of them.

And so I think it's important to start with the fact that that is what this plan can be, and that's what we think it uh the opportunity is.

Tool design does these types of plans.

We're writing the national guidance across the country.

Um more importantly, uh it's for us we have an office here in Raleigh.

Um, and I am a resident of Raleigh, a person that walks to work, that takes their kids to work, that is often asked or uh complained with all three of them when we have to drive somewhere and we can't walk or bike or explore somewhere new in our community.

And it's it's important, right?

It's something that we're passionate about.

So that active user side and my neighbors, the people that I know, um, this is something that's worth doing and worth doing really well.

I think it's important to start with a few key terms.

Um we won't read each one of these, but I think foundational to this work is some of the terminology.

Active mobility is kind of this the way that people move outside of uh personal automobile.

So uh the human-powered transportation, we include people walking, bicycling, rolling with mobility devices as well as scooters, and so those are kind of the center of this planning effort.

The next is shared use path.

Uh these are places that both people walking as well as biking share space.

We call them greenways and side paths in the city of Raleigh, but it's important to distinguish that these are independent or off of the roadway, and we're sharing space between those two different users.

The next is neighborhood bikeways, these are great opportunities throughout our entire community where streets are already slow, that they are comfortable to be on, whether you're walking a dog or learning how to ride a bike.

And so to formalize those to make sure that we maintain that slower speed, the lower volumes, and prioritize the right crossings of bigger streets that could be barriers are an important component of this plan.

The next is separated bikeway, and it's important to recognize that separated bikeway is kind of a term that's an umbrella.

It captures both the side path, something that's separated, that's shared between bikes and pedestrians, but it also captures separated bike lanes, which are independent places for people biking and people walking.

And then there is the separated bike lane.

Uh these have come in a variety of configurations around the country.

One-way, two-way, some people call them cycle tracks or protected bike lanes.

But the most important piece of the separated bike lane and the separated bike way is that there is physical space that is both horizontal, separating you from motor vehicles, as well as vertical, some type of barrier, whether that's a curb or parking or something else.

And so those are important terms for us in this effort.

The next is the vision and the why.

It's probably the only slide that I'll read word for word, because I think it's important.

Um create a connected, equitable, and accessible network.

And network here is very important because it's much greater than the sum of all its parts or the individual projects that we have to create that network that makes walking, bicycling, and rolling safe, comfortable, viable for all, fostering a healthier and more connected Raleigh.

And I think these are this is a vision of this plan that is not a today thing, and even if we start building these projects, it's not a tomorrow thing.

It's something that we will continue to work toward.

As I mentioned earlier, it's about leveraging investments.

There's a lot of work that's already going on.

We've heard today already about the comprehensive plan updates.

We've uh heard mentions of investments in bus rapid transit and the safety action plan, the downtown mobility study.

There have been work, um, ongoing work and text changes to the unified development ordinance, the Raleigh Street Design Manual, uh, new changes in Dockless Bike Share and e-scooters.

All of these things are working together with this plan.

And the idea is that we bring them together because active mobility plays its own role.

And we want a system that works cohesively.

We don't want a bunch of different systems that are trying to do individual things.

We'd rather be working toward the same goal.

Oftentimes, when we talk about active mobility, actually, when we talk about transportation in general, we we recognize the more literal benefits when we build a project, right?

It made something safer, it gave more options, it created a connection, there was transit access.

But we sometimes forget that there are these other things that can be done.

And it's important to recognize that active mobility, if done right, if using all of the tools that we have at our our uh disposal, can actually make something better.

It can make our streets be more, it can add improved health, it can play a part in reducing heat islands or working towards stormwater goals.

It can add shade, it can be more equitable, it can even add art space and tell stories of culture and the places that um these infrastructure pieces are going into the next piece of this plan is a snapshot of today.

And we all know that Raleigh is changing really quickly, and so uh the snapshot is just that.

It's today.

There are a lot of things when it comes to infrastructure that are changing day by day.

And so we hope and we are excited about these numbers moving and growing.

But we know from a bikeway side that our greenway system is an extreme asset of our community with over 120 miles.

We have 35 miles of side path, that's shared use space next to a roadway, 75 miles of bike lanes, and three miles of those separated bike lanes.

When it comes to sidewalks, we look at sidewalks as like a complete uh along a roadway.

Is it on both sides?

Is it on one side?

And so you can see that only 31% of our roadways have sidewalks on both sides of them.

Forty-three percent of our roadways have no sidewalk at all.

Now, not all of those sidewalks are owned and maintained by the city of Raleigh, but when we think about a future of active mobility, we really want a complete network where people can walk from their origin to any destination on either side of the street.

Safety is uh obviously an important piece of this.

We look at uh the crashes for both people walking and bicycling across the city, and four streets start to highlight uh the most the the most serious problem.

Um you could probably guess what they are.

Uh Capitol, New Burn, Wilmington, South Saunders.

This is where we see the most uh kind of an overrepresentation of fatal and serious injury crashes.

And downtown on this map lights up uh with a lot of crashes, but that's also where the most activity of people walking and biking exists.

And so uh while that doesn't give downtown a pass, and as you already heard, that safety is important when we think about modal priority and the right policies, but it is important when we think about the infrastructure and where changes could be made.

Similar to Steven, I want to mention uh kind of an overview of engagement, and there's a lot of information that can be uh read about in the draft plan.

But we had a number of open houses in the first phase, we were able to collaborate with the safety action plan, having an open house in each council district.

And in phase two, we were able to collaborate with the downtown mobility study to meet again and hear from people what they were thinking about their perceptions of where do they want to go, where are the challenges that they have, what did they think about trade-offs when it came to active mobility infrastructure?

We had a steering committee that we actually changed the format to add office hours.

We wanted them to be more involved, so we gave them more opportunities to get involved in the process, focus groups, online surveys, as well as a number of meetings with city boards and commissions.

I'll just pause on some photos from this.

That your four roadways uh making up most of the crashes, and I'm just trying to figure out where that would be in this book, and I'm not really seeing it under the automobile section.

So that's uh you're looking at the downtown mobility study uh book we the down the active mobility full, I believe was sent as a PDF.

Uh it's not in front of you right now.

Okay.

Sorry about that.

But that factoid would be in that book.

Absolutely.

Okay.

And will we get hard copies of that?

Or why was that PDF and this one's hard copy?

That is a great question.

Um I've got a handful of them.

I don't have eight of them though.

Yeah.

Yep.

Uh we can hand some out if we want to.

They're in that box over there.

But there's four of them.

We can just pass them around.

Okay, thank you.

No.

Um, just gonna pause uh on a few photos.

I think that most importantly, when it came to engagement, it was really an opportunity for us to listen and hear from people what they wanted uh the future to be.

And it was great to hear the challenges that people had, uh, the opportunities that they saw on this in the city, and really that they wanted to see action when it came to active mobility.

I do want to thank our steering committee for their time, um, their energy, their input, their passion.

I think it was really important to hear from all of them, and it was uh it was a really valuable to the development of this plan.

When it comes to the networks, there are uh this plan actually looks at kind of a series of networks.

And the first one is what we would say is comprehensive, that long-term vision of what what we want to build out.

Um for sidewalks, we've already mentioned that the goal is that we have a complete sideway sidewalk network that people can walk on either side of the street on any street in the city.

That's gonna take a long time, but it's something worth building toward.

When it comes to the bikeway comprehensive network, this map is showing you uh a few things.

It's showing the recommendations for separated bikeways as well as neighborhood bikeways, and it's also showing today's bike lanes that are delineated, separated, as well as those side paths and greenways.

It's important to note that the separated bikeways that are mapped in this comprehensive network actually align with the Raleigh Street Design Manual and the UDO.

Those are the cross sections that were updated uh uh a few years ago.

And so really, this is the if you were to change parcel by parcel and build out the streets as they're intended, these are the separated bikeways that would come across the city.

And it does look like a lot of connections, but it's really valuable when it comes to getting people to the places that they want to go on a daily basis.

From those comprehensive networks, we move to priority networks, both for sidewalks as well as bikeways.

And for each of these, they had very similar prioritization criteria.

And I would encourage us to think about prioritization criteria as the rationale of why we would want to do any project first.

And ultimately, it's the things that we value the most.

And so for sidewalks, looking at the criteria of equity, where are socially vulnerable populations, safety, transit access, as well as destination access.

When it came to the bikeways, similar criteria, again, equity, thinking about destination densities, where are these the destinations that people want to go to together, multimodal access, which includes both transit as well as greenway access points, and supportive land uses, which mentioned which includes downtown mixed-use areas, as well as those transit-oriented development that was already mentioned this evening.

Lastly, this plan really dives into implementation resources.

As much as it is about creating the right projects that should be done first, it's really about taking advantage of every process that the city has as it is as at its disposal.

And so these tools, these implementation tools, capital improvement program, resurfacing maintenance, safety response, quick build, and private development, these are the ways that streets change every single day in our city and are changing every single day in our city.

And so the policies and the programs and the recommendations here are really about leveraging those tools in the right way.

Because we could wait for us to do the right big project that takes years and years, or we could have the right tools in place to make the right incremental change every single day.

The policy and program here are broken into different categories, thinking about data collection, encouragement, equity, interdepartmental planning, including things like making sure that coordination with affordable housing is there, looking at different options for school siting as well as safe routes to school.

So again, a lot of opportunity here to not only change the way we do our process, but also think about the culture of active mobility.

With those implementation resources, one of the boldest things that this plan does is recommend uh Raleigh's big jump when it comes to active mobility.

And that is the idea of five plus miles of sidewalks and 50 plus miles of bikeways in just five years.

Um that is bold, but it is also very feasible.

When it comes to the sidewalks, um, with the prioritization, looking at those high priority projects, 15 projects, which is over five miles with fill gaps, connecting to transit, schools, daily destinations.

This is I know that those things on a page in here?

Uh yes, you could go, I think there's a whole big jump section number six there.

You go, keep going.

So I won't read through this list, but if you look at the list of these 15 projects, these are incredibly valuable sidewalk projects in the city of Raleigh.

And this is in addition to other bigger projects that are adding sidewalks, private development that's adding sidewalks.

The city is working on a micro gap pilot program that's adding sidewalks, which I personally have been a recipient of, and thank you to the city of Raleigh for that, 50 feet.

Um these are incredibly valuable.

And in five years, these behind the curb types of projects, they take time.

They take working with right-of-way and acquisition and easements.

But it's a it's a big goal and it's worth pursuing.

Similarly, the Big Jump Bikeway projects, 50 plus miles, looks at uh kind of a breakdown of neighborhood bikeways, which again are already slower speed, great connections for the daily trip, and separated bikeways that include both new separated bikeways where space is available on these streets, as well as upgrading existing bike lanes where space has already been allocated for people biking.

The goal now is to harden that space, create the the horizontal and the vertical separation so people of all ages and abilities feel comfortable on that type of infrastructure.

I'll end with um two slides that kind of look at these projects uniquely.

Here the transit access map shows where those 15 sidewalk projects are.

And you can see that they sit within these high kind of frequent transit areas.

They're important.

Almost almost every single one of these connect directly to a go Raleigh stop.

And then my last slide will end with this when it comes to the bikeway.

Looking at the where population in the city of Raleigh lives based on census blocks and where today kind of separated or high comfort bikeways are.

You can see on the left, there's about 30 percent of the Raleigh's population that's within a half a mile of a separated kind of high comfort bikeway.

If the big jump bikeway network were built out in that five years, that would change to close to 57 percent, and you can see where the kind of the new population areas that would have that access.

With that, I will turn it over for uh closing remarks.

Paul Cowan.

Hey, good afternoon, Council Paul Cowan Transportation.

Uh good afternoon, Mayor Council.

Um, so a couple final thoughts here that I'm just gonna leave you with here that you kind of heard this afternoon.

So people want safe transportation choices so they can move around in our great city.

Depending on what mode of travel people use today or in the future, they want a safe, equitable, and enjoyable experience.

And this uh this what you heard today will be the framework in setting these plans in motion.

Uh as you heard earlier, these two plans are timely.

It gives a city the opportunity to refine its strategy for multimodal planning, both in downtown and uh citywide, and also improving our city processes as seen with our upcoming Newburn BRT uh project and the transition from our sidewalk uh petition program to a more streamlined sidewalk and bike network prioritization.

And then I'm going to kind of leave you with this here.

So y'all probably heard me say this before.

I don't just like talking about a plan, like to put a plan in motion and get things done, as y'all probably know with me.

So these plans will hopefully help us do things differently going forward.

Implementing these plans and constructing more facilities will require the city to explore new policies and implementation processes.

Staff are committed to working together across divisions and departments and finding ways to be more efficient in our delivery.

And just in close, and I want to just uh give my thanks to staff, many of them, Margaret and many are in the audience here in transportation.

I want to give my thanks to Kimley Horn and Tool Design.

So that's the end of our presentation.

And again, just want to thank you for the support.

So open for questions here.

Thank you.

All for the presenters questions.

We'll start with Councillor Branch and then Councillor Harrison.

Definitely thank you for the presentation, the work and Paul.

This one actually might be for you.

Um in the presentation, we talked about no car traffic by your feet, all of that.

But unless something is changed, still the S line is supposed to be moving forward.

Yes.

Um by 2030 or 2033, sometime in that time frame.

And the information we talked today is about five years out.

So we're really talking about close to the same time frame of completion of the S line and us trying to move these projects together.

Was any of the conversation about the S line with knowing they're looking at a route somewhere near the Capitol Boulevard area in Raleigh.

Um conversation or any overlap in planning and making sure we continue to have that type of connectivity.

Um the S line will connect Wake Forest and Raleigh in a different way.

Yes.

No, great question.

So I will just commend staff both on the consultants and internal.

We're constantly having conversation with the railroad and C DOT and all that.

So I'm confident that his plans move forward.

We'll continue to have those conversations.

Again, I've uh talked to uh Jason Ortner at NC Rail pretty much all the time, just kind of trying to get updates on the S line.

So again, I think those conversations will continue on, so I'm confident in that.

So it would be safe to say the plan we move forward with may have some amendments.

That's right.

You could see years based upon the S Line.

Just like about the word flexibility, things change, you know that and we're going off what we know today and kind of what we see in the future.

But again, that could have some minor modifications to that, yes.

Okay.

Thank you.

Councilor Harrison?

Yeah, and it might also be for you, Paul or your team, I'm not sure.

You just stay down here, Paul.

Just a couple questions.

I did receive um a note from BPAC that they had a letter of support for the study, but they also had a recommendation that Hillsborough Street between Glenwood Avenue and Salisbury Street be added as a pedestrian corridor.

It looks like that is in the plan to me, but am I missing something?

Somebody want to jump up here.

So I'll I'll I'll phone a friend up here on this one here.

Their advocacy is strong.

We received that.

There was an amendment made.

It's actually already memorialized in the document.

So that's what I thought I saw.

I just wanted to confirm.

Hopefully that's evidence of the influence of participation.

Hopefully that resident is watching to see.

Perhaps they're in the audience with us now.

Thank you so much for being responsive to that request.

I also have just a question about in and around Smoky Hollow.

I know there are concerns with you know just uh gaps in the sidewalks, network, and now that that area is just growing so rapidly, and we have you know a grocery store and a lot of opportunities for people to live, work, and play in that you know, area of town, you know, I do see the major crash instance along, especially that western side of Peace Street, also on Glenwood, the northern section within Glenwood South.

What recommendations do you have in this plan?

I I saw some of them there, but I just wanted to kind of you know talk about what are the issues that you're seeing, particularly in that area that we can improve upon rapidly.

Hello, Margaret Tartala again.

Um I think.

In terms of um, obviously for both of these plans, the Act of Mobility Plan and the Downtown Mobility Study, um, Peace, West and Harrington, the Smoky Hollow area are called out as priority areas, um, both in terms of the modal priority, so making sure that those places are you know prioritized and improved to make them good walking and biking experiences.

Um priority upgrades and the active mobility plan, for example, for Peace Street, to make sure that we are making those connections to the future development up there, Smoky Hollow Park, um, and really providing a good connection between Glenwood South and the east side of downtown.

Um we also have some additional studies going on right now, the Glenwood safety study, which came out of the streetscape study, I think.

Um, and some improvements are being worked on for Glenwood Avenue itself south of peace.

So there's definitely a lot happening in that area, and it's a focus for us for improving it for people walking and biking.

Thank you.

Um also curious when residents have a sidewalk request, you know, we still receive those.

Yeah.

What is the appropriate response?

It seems like with these plans, it really lays out what are our priorities are for investment.

So how do we take that input still from a resident who has a concern?

Great question.

So my team, mobility strategy is the one, the team that's intaking those requests.

So we're still when we receive a quest, we document it in city works to make sure that it's sort of a constant feedback loop, right?

Instead of going out twice or, you know, well, we had a lot of engagement events, but going out when we're doing plan updates, it provides sort of a consistent engagement point.

So the best way to do that is to use Aspray.

Um that helps us, first of all, intake it, it automatically goes into CityWorks.

Um if it's not an actual request for new sidewalk, it's if it's really like a maintenance issue, then we can make sure it gets to the right people to go out and fix.

Um but also, you know, we receive emails, we receive phone calls, and we make sure we're documenting that so we have that consistent feedback.

And sometimes there are more immediate ways we can address problems, particularly safety problems.

You know, we can get that to either a Vision Zero team or neighborhood traffic management program to look at and see if there's something that could happen through their programs as well.

Great.

And let me let me jump up here and add to that.

So as you heard earlier, so 26 uh micro um sidewalk gaps that we filled here in the last 60 days.

So really proud of the team.

Got about 3,000 feet of sidewalk down, probably frankly, probably connecting thousands of rooftops.

Everything from 40-foot sidewalk gap up to a couple hundred feet.

So what I would say is uh on top of what Margaret said, we'll probably continue to take a look at those and where if we see something easy.

Uh y'all just uh keep me honest now with the loose leaf, uh as we talked about that program transition over solid waste.

This will just be another component, maybe with a micro gap that doesn't fit nicely.

You know, hey, we just got kind of a I kind of call it a stupid spot out there.

Why it's vacant, missing.

Why it's vacant, missing, maybe we can look at that through the micro gap program.

So I'll think we'll kind of continue to build and strengthen that program as time goes on, and hopefully, again, as things transition over with the loosely, we'll be able to do more of that as well.

So that's the goal.

Great.

Well, I just have one final comment.

I'm a huge fan of the big jump policy idea.

So thank you to this group for you know giving us a vision for the next five years.

This is where I want to see us go, and so I really would advocate for funding from all those different buckets that you mentioned, and I'd also advocate for funding if we do a transportation or transit bond in 2026 to cover some of these costs because it's gonna take a lot to get us, you know, to those numbers, and I I want to see us go there.

Counselor Jones and then Patton.

Thank you guys so much.

Um great great presentation, a lot of information.

In the first portion, and I'll say the first two presentations or three, as I'm looking at these maps, um, and we're taking into consideration BRT as being part of that and bicycles and all that.

My district spans all the way up to Durham.

So in many of these maps, this is where the gaps are.

So I'm seeing my Briar Creek area that that's where the holdout is.

We're not getting BRT, so that's not going to be an answer for us.

We're not um we don't have a lot of the bike plans here.

You know, we we we don't have the priorities.

So, what is the plan for my the residents?

And we have a lot of people out there, it's very dense out in Briar Creek.

What is the plan for them to get to the downtown, whether that's to help increase uh vitality and all that downtown, or to just get them down over here if it's not going to be BRT or bikes?

It's are we just saving the car rides for them so they can use all the parking spots?

Is that what the goal is?

Hey, good uh afternoon.

Hapital City of Raleigh Trans Station Transit.

I can speak to a little bit of the transit component uh in that area, specifically what the capital area of Metro Run Planning Organization is doing under the Wake Transit Plan.

There is a next generation of bus rapid transit projects that are going to be going through a major investment study.

Uh again, that vision for Wake County and the investment in transit on the Wake County side is a regional investment, and so there is opportunities to connect uh transit further out into Raleigh as well as connect to regional bus rapid transit that's being planned by the Durham County side on the Durham County plans uh as well as in other areas of Wake County, Western Wake County.

So there are some next generation of bus rapid transit projects that are being that are being considered that eventually will connect into Raleigh and in some of those areas.

Um that is Can I I'm sorry, I just want to be I just want to clarify if they're connecting to the Morrisville to the carry to the Durham, then that's not to downtown.

That's gonna be connecting out that way to the other areas, the regional areas.

There, but there is also in that next generation a Glenwood BRT that has been um talked about that would be a major investment study in the next process.

Um then I I would see if someone else wants to respond to some of the additional uh bicycle pedestrian gaps sort of on the outskirts of the the network.

Thank you so much.

Um I think so there are some there are some sections of sidewalk, for example, that scored pretty highly.

I think in some areas, especially for bike facilities, the priority is going to be to get as many people as possible to a greenway so that they can travel more easily into downtown.

Um that is an advantage because many of the roadways that are through roadways so that you could travel on to get all the way into downtown, you don't necessarily want to be next to walking or biking.

Like Clintwood Avenue, especially further north, not great to walk or bike next to.

We want to get people to a greenway so they have a more pleasant experience.

Um I'll also say that while we do have a scoring system for prioritization, we're constantly looking for opportunities to get projects on the ground.

So even if a project doesn't necessarily score as well, if there's some sort of opportunity, or if it's more feasible because the roadway is wider and we think that we can fit something in the right of way without having to go out and buy right of way or relocate utilities, as possible that it gets built before something that scored more highly.

And so that prioritization that we talked about is this is only the beginning, right?

We build that momentum and then there's opportunities.

Uh actually every street in the entire city was prioritized when it came to the bikeways.

So that data on like the data-driven side, that can be broken down by every different uh kind of geography or council district or sub-area to say what would be important to them.

So what's the right project to be thinking through?

Obviously, that comes down to um the ability to get some of those things done.

But I think that this plan, because it was implementation ready and thinking about the resources, we said, well, where do we start and build that momentum so that all of those other places that seem far away that it kind of that distance starts to shrink because we build the right project?

Sure.

No, thank you for that.

Um now that you're here.

I did have a question specifically about I don't remember which map it was.

But um there was one with a really light blue down Glenwood that said separated bike lanes.

And I'm wondering what did the uh discussion with DOT is DOT okay with separated bike lanes on Glenwood Avenue?

So the that map with separated bikeways on that kind of that comprehensive look long term, um, those are based upon the way that we the city of Ry Raleigh categorizes each one of those streets, whether it's an arterial or uh a collector and you know different configurations.

So our cross sections actually name what those streets would look like in the future if they were to be built out.

That would have to obviously be a negotiation when it came to like with uh NCDOT as the owner and kind of maintainer of that roadway.

But that's the future that the city of Raleigh has already dedicated, like kind of put on um those streets and many others that DOT owns.

So they don't that conversation hasn't happened yet.

That's that's a like a goal, but we haven't had those discussions.

Not on that specific corridor, but NCDOT was one of our focus groups, and we talked specifically about some of these larger roadways and the the future of them being separated bikeway corridors to really capture the ability for transportation choices even on some of the busy, busiest corridors.

Great.

And then my last question is as we look at big projects and big plans like this, uh you know, we've seen our firemaster plan, we've seen our stormwater plan.

Do you have a dollar amount, even if it's just for the big jump, you know, those first of how much we're looking at so that I can put it in my mind how expensive this is going to be.

Yeah, we're working actually with uh City of Raleigh right now staff on kind of what the linear foot costs would be for kind of the breakdown of the big jump.

Um like I said, many of those are what we saw like hardening or upgrading existing space, uh, which can be really low cost but huge impact.

Others would be a little bit more specifically some of those sidewalk projects that are behind the curb.

And so we're working through what those can be so that they can budget appropriately for what the five-year forecast would be.

Will we get a dollar amount for that five-year forecast?

That would be the goal.

Okay.

Thank you.

Can I just piggyback one thing on Councillor Jones's on the on her district?

Because you've got Umstead State Park here, and we know there's some really good bridal trails.

So is there a goal to get better access into that park and connect?

All right, so I'm going to jump in here.

So we got an old bond project in your district called Alumly Westgate Connector.

So if you can imagine coming down Lumley over to Westgate, then coming down Neverneezer Church Road that ties into Umstead that basically takes you over to the art museum that can connect you to Greenways downtown.

So we recognize years ago with 540 coming in over Glenwood.

That was a big barrier for us.

So and then we've been working with the airport because they want to expand the runways.

So that project has kind of been in limbo out there, but our goal is bringing that forward with probably the next uh bond on getting that on the ground.

So frankly, in my opinion, that's going to start to open up things from Briar Creek all the way in the downtown through this project.

So that is in your district.

Thank you.

Good news.

Okay, Councilor Patton and then Councilor Lambert Melton.

Sweet.

Um Thanks, y'all.

Uh this is obviously a lot of a lot of difficult work.

Um I think what I caught at the beginning and what I hope will carry through is like we really we really want to do the thing, right?

And so hopefully that we can make this one giant plan, and then whenever we need to move forward, we don't have to spend a ton of time turning again on these littler plans that this can actually just be the template for which we can move forward and already be on step three or five into the process and get these projects out of the ground faster.

So uh I think I called that that's the intention.

I hope that it plays out that way.

Um a couple little things.

Um I was looking at this one, uh which is the prioritized pedestrian network.

And on South Street, it does a little jig under uh red hat.

But I know we close South Street to vehicles, but people will still be able to walk straight across South Street.

Is that because comes come and confirm for me?

Well, not the whole thing.

Brandon Cameron Transportation I believe that jog is is referencing what we've shown previously as a kind of a strollway concept and connecting down and around and tying in to South Street.

That's correct.

Okay.

Okay.

Yeah.

So South Street on the Dawson side, South Street on the McDowell side, and then that jog represents kind of that curve under and around the railroad.

Yeah.

Yes.

So you you will not physically just keep in mind Red Hat's going to be over top of South.

They're going to have a fence and that's going to be a secure facility.

So you're not technically as a user just going to be able to walk down South Street.

We're going to be going around Lenore, and then we're looking at something on the South side of the railroad as well to make make those connections there.

Okay.

I was just remembering those renders that we saw of the big like flat.

Yeah, a lot of that was Lenore and the runnerings there.

Because like I say, the the actual uh amphitheater itself will be sitting on South Street.

Okay.

Got it.

Um helpful.

Um then the other thing, I guess, is um when I in preparation for this meeting, I was looking at the IMAPs link that y'all imported.

And um it's it's a really cool tool, and I think it re it will be super helpful to residents to see all these prioritizations.

Um I also know that like all at least all the district members go in and our residents have very specific ideas.

You know, I was looking at one that I've been asked about a million times here on Ravens Ridge Road, and it's not high highest priority, it's it's medium high.

Um I just wonder how um if you have a sense of how many years each of these might take.

You know, I'm thinking about in neighborhood traffic traffic management, you people get their ranking on the list, and then we say we can do about 20 projects a year.

So if someone's 60th on the list, they can they can loosely ballpark how long they're gonna have to wait for their their calming improvement.

So it is there a similar template timeline guideline we can.

I wish it was that straightforward.

Um with the NTMP, we're fortunate to have consistency with uh funding and and the team works tirelessly to try to bring to you a package of projects, uh I believe 20 every year.

Um really when it comes to implementation of this plan, it will come back to uh what we can do from a consistency of funding, consistency of of project delivery, and what we would hope is to be able to bring that in the years to come and say, yes, X number of miles, X number of projects delivered around that timetable.

So it is predictable for the community and for council.

Okay.

Yeah, I think that would be really important and really helpful as we go forward trying to communicate this plan to the public, just being able to say, like we normally do a hundred miles in a year and and you're mile three hundred, so you should expect to wait three to five years or what's the one.

Yeah, just one thing to keep in mind.

I think on one of the slides, somebody had like an implementation kind of toolbox.

So keep in mind if we go over there and resurface Raven uh Raven Ridge, I'll just pick on that one for example.

We may have the opportunity to look at some in-house to get that on the ground.

So again, d don't don't be f like, okay, this is what the plan says, and it might take many, many years, and maybe opportunities, private development comes in.

We may be piggybacking something with NC DOT.

We may be piggybacking something or resurfacing.

So we may be able to get some of this on the ground sooner just with some of those opportunities.

Okay.

Great.

Thank you.

I just have a brief comment.

I know we've got a um public hearing running up.

Um I love all of this.

I wish I could snap my fingers and have it done, which I know we can't do that.

So the next best thing would be I would really like to just get a price tag on this big jump and then a funding source, if even if that's the next transportation bond.

Um, you know, I don't quite frankly care what it costs.

We seem to have no issue finding money for car and roadway projects, and we can maximize those roadway projects if we make it easier for other folks to use other forms of transportation.

I think we can really put some money into this and make a big impact.

I'd really like us to be bold and transformational.

I know Austin did like a billion dollar transit bond and they're building out all their light rail right now.

And um, you know, I think we can do some sort of bold strategic funding and and do this big jump.

And so I'd like to see that done.

The other thing I would say is on the neighborhood bikeways, there are a lot of them already established in the city.

And every time I see folks, I'm a big supporter, obviously of multimodal transportation, the scooters, everything.

But every time I see folks riding on a sidewalk or riding an unsafe manner, it's usually because they're trying to take a really uh congested high volume route when there are side streets and neighborhood bikeways that they could use to get to their same destination.

It may not be a direct straight line, but you weave a little bit and you can get there easier.

And if there's anything we can do to just sort of bolster our existing infrastructure as well, I don't know how we do this, but calling more attention to these side streets and neighborhood bikeways.

I don't know, they're already marked on the road, but I don't know if there's better ways to mark signage and stuff like that.

But just want to throw that out there as like an interim measure.

Yep.

And I will also just thank you for this all this incredible work uh which we will be digesting for a while.

Yes, on the price tag and I mean the whole signage issue.

I love that.

I mean, just part of getting around is actually knowing like where all these little tricks and tips are, and yeah.

Um the other question, just w b again because we met with the school superintendent yesterday and we were talking a lot about school zones, safety around schools.

I'm just curious how schools were thought about within this study.

Did were they given special consideration or were they just considered like everything else?

And how do we think about school zones and delineating those and really making them stand out?

And is there any other category besides schools that kind of got a special attention in this?

Oh this is a great question.

Schools were definitely part of both uh the prioritization criteria for sidewalks as well as for bikeways.

Um I know that schools are specifically addressed uh or being worked on in the safety action plan.

When it came to the big jump, um one of the things that we noted were that if it was fully built out, 24 schools would be linked together by that big jump network, and 79% of all of those bikeways would actually be within a half a mile of those schools.

So that's like a something we were paying attention to specifically.

Um obviously school zones were not necessarily in the active mobility purview exactly, but it's it's definitely part of this.

And there are policies and programs related to schools uniquely in the active mobility plan.

Yeah, Mayor, I'll just jump in.

So Sean just moved down here.

So Sean Drill Squad Vision Zero Manager, he's actively working with all of the schools.

So again, just integration with the the uh upcoming uh safe streets for all action plan.

So again, I'm confident that Sean and his team are integrating and looking at all this as well comprehensively.

Thank you.

And I'll just conclude with there is an entire section of policies in the Active Mobility Plan that focus on schools and things that we can do.

Great.

All right.

Any other questions?

Yes.

You asked.

Um just one last question.

A lot of our major corridors, we have an issue with people doing you know, mid-street crossings.

I think of Capitol, I think of Glenwood, I think of Newburn Avenue.

When we talk about safety, is there anywhere in here that talks about how we can address those, or is that something you're looking at separately?

So I think that a lot of so we mentioned that the major corridors that we have the most pedestrian fatalities and severe injuries are some of those big corridors, New Bern, Capitol, um, South Saunders and Wellmost Sunders in Wilmington.

So all in C D OT roads.

Um and I think the Conference of Safety Action Plan, which our Vision Zero team is working on now, will be the best way to address those.

Um just in terms of the scale of improvement that those tend to need, the amount of coordination within C DOT.

Um that plan is sort of in progress.

Um as they come up with their recommendations, we will of course have to, you know, continue to align the active mobility plan and the downtown mobility study with any recommendations that come out of that plan as well.

So will that plan be ready for reviewing?

All right, even if it's draft.

Yeah.

So February is going to be when we're bringing the safe streets for all.

So yeah, to your point, a lot of those larger scale efforts on safety is going to be covered in Sean's plan.

So you'll see that coming.

Thank you.

And then one that just begged one more question about overhead passes.

I know we just celebrating this new pedestrian overweight.

Um is there a call out in any of these studies about where we're trying to do overhead uh pedestrian walkways.

None specifically.

Um really the kind of leaning into that safe system approach of separating users and time and space.

I think that this is where the active mobility plan, the downtown mobility study, and that Safe Streets and All, Safe Streets for All plan will kind of work together to say where's the highest need and cost.

The big jump was not anticipating kind of big infrastructure changes, recognizing that we need to make the right connections first, and then we can start to based upon that momentum, think about the what's next.

Okay.

Well again, thank you all very much.

That concludes our work session.