Good afternoon.

Welcome to the June public works meeting.

City Clerk, would you please call the roll?

Chairwoman, Councilmember Burke.

Present.

Vice Chair, Councilmember Andrew Bowen.

Here.

Councilmember Clark.

Here.

And Councilmember Taylor.

Present.

Thank you.

We have six consent items.

Uh Councilmembers, are there any consent items that you would like to have pulled?

Councilmember Andrew Bowland.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

I would like to pull C4.

Anyone else?

Councilmember Scipio.

C five.

C four and C five.

I'll move approval of the balance.

Is there a second?

Second.

All in favor of approving the balance.

Let us know by saying aye.

Aye.

Okay.

City Clerk, would you please read C4?

Item C four resolution approving the 2026 traffic calming projects for the City of Winston-Salem.

Okay, we have Mr.

Fansler up.

So I just wanted to I I love this.

I just wanted I think this is a good thing for information to have for those communities uh to go out.

Um so if we can just give a quick like here's who's doing it, what here's what we got.

Uh thank you, Councilmember.

And good afternoon, Madam Chair, members of the committee, Jeff Fans are director of transportation for the city.

Obviously, you notice the item is uh regarding our livable community uh focus area, but this is the program that is administered by Winston DOT in terms of traffic calming.

2022 City Council adopted a new policy which basically structures the traffic calming program around 12 petitions per year.

So we we review or receive uh max of 12 petitions per year in various neighborhoods that go through a robust analysis led by our traffic operations staff here today.

And essentially, out of that uh and and communities that make it over the finish line and have work with our office have to then go to community vote, and we require 70 percent, but at a very high level, the program offers a number of different options that are neighborhood scale that allow for communities to uh petition for traffic calming measures within their neighborhood.

We administer it through this process if they get the neighborhood support, we then come back before this committee and Ellis City Council to recommend approval at the pleasure of the board.

So I'm happy to take any questions specific about the ones that are before you today, but that's just a high level summary of the program.

Thank you.

Okay.

If they wanted you have a petition, who do they reach out for that?

Yeah, well so I'm always gonna refer to City Link number one, and then from there that'll they'll find its way to our traffic operations department managed by Reed Hutchins, our operations manager who's here today.

And then he'll take that process and run it through the program.

Beautiful, thank you.

Council member Taylor.

Any additional questions?

Thank you so much, Mr.

Fansler.

Uh City Clerk, would you read uh item C five?

I'm sorry.

Okay.

Is there a motion to approve item C four?

Make a motion to approve C4.

Second.

Okay.

All in favor, let us know by uh saying aye.

Aye or voting.

Thank you.

There we go.

And that passes.

And we have uh Mr.

Stover.

Actually, I'm Martin Potter, the real estate supervisor for the city.

Thank you.

If there's questions about the easement acquisition itself, Martin can handle those.

If there's questions about the project, Mike Stover will handle those.

Okay, and this is Mark.

That's correct.

Okay, thank you so much, Mark.

Good afternoon.

So the Noel Massive project is uh the greenway itself is a one-point-two mile stretch of greenway that runs along Rushy Fork Creek and runs from Waterworks Road to Old Greensboro Road over time to stream bank and two sections of the Brushy Fork Creek have a road away the stream bank due to high volume flow from heavy rains, which has led to safety concerns for the greenway users as it has impacted the greenway itself.

Over time, the stream bank and two sections of the Brushy Fork Creek have eroded away the stream bank due to high volume flow from heavy rains, which has led to safety concerns for the Greenway users as it has impacted the Greenway itself.

The new and Massie Greenway Repairs Project will stabilize these stream banks and address the safety concerns in the impacted areas of the greenway itself.

Okay.

Councilmember Scipio, did you have a specific question?

I did indeed.

My question is that the uh greenway was constructed some time ago, and I'm just curious as to why we're just now getting these easements.

So over the last year or so, uh, the erosion from the flooding has changed the path of Brushy Fork Creek, which led to the damage to the greenway itself, and those areas have been blocked off.

We we did finally receive funding to assist with that, and so with that funding, we have partnered with the state of North Carolina to correct the issues.

And are we thinking to um some of this land, the topography is exceptionally steep?

Um so it really isn't billable without a lot of expense.

So are we thinking that we might be able to uh widen the greenway or do something in the area that we're going to have east mints on?

Mike Stover City Engineer uh Mississippi.

The the the project itself consists of two walk routes.

The greenway will stay in place as it's been in place for years, as you are aware.

There are two isolated uh pieces of uh of property that have the stream bank washing out into the encroaching on the greenway itself, and we're getting easements just for those two washouts so we can repair and stabilize that stream bank.

The easements are the red areas that are on the map.

That is correct.

Those should be the properties in uh question.

So we're actually acquiring all of the those big property areas.

No, we're just acquiring small pieces so that we can make the repairs, most of which are easements until the project is complete.

Um the bulk of the project itself will impact the larger parcel that is owned by the state of North Carolina, and that does have conservation easements on there, so that's why we've had to partner with them so strongly and make sure we meet their requirements and do not interrupt their conservation easements.

Okay, Council Mr.

Scipio, we're probably not acquiring an acre of easement in total for this project, and this is very similar to the project we did on Muddy Creek Greenway, where we had point repairs to stabilize the stream bank out on Muddy Creek.

So this is a very similar project to that one.

Thank you.

Any additional questions?

Any we're ready for a vote.

Can I get a motion to approve C5?

I move to uh pass C5.

Okay, we're ready to vote electronically.

And the motion passes.

City Clerk, would you please read item G1?

Item G1 resolution authorizing a supplemental agreement with the North Carolina Department of Transportation for Brushy Fork Greenway, phase four, east located in the East Ward.

Thank you.

Good afternoon again, Mike Stover City Engineer.

G G1 is a supplemental group of N C DOT for additional funding for the Brushy Fork project.

Um City Clerk's gonna pull up a map and we'll we'll show you the extent of the project.

But essentially it runs from it starts at an existing greenway on Lowry Street at the bridge where it crosses Brushy Fork, parallels brushy fork underneath the double arch culver under North Fork Southern Railroad and terminates at the existing sidewalk on Reynolds Park Drive.

Uh as you can tell from this item, this project dates back to 2011 when the original agreement with NCDUT was uh executed.

As you can imagine, over the last 14 or 15 years, the construction costs have increased, and as staff progressed through the design, it was obvious that the current uh project budget was not sufficient.

February last year, uh staff worked with uh Went Salem Transportation Planning Organization to request additional funding to cover that gap through the uh regional flexible funding bucket.

There's an 80 percent, 20 percent uh breakdown there.

There was a budget deficit of roughly two million dollars.

City was awarded uh an additional funding of 1.6 million dollars, which comes with a 20% match of 410,000 dollars.

That funding was approved in the adoption of the city's FY27 budget and is available July 1st.

And I'll be available to answer any questions on this project.

Any questions for Mr.

Stover?

Councilmember Scipio.

Yeah, thank you.

It's great to know that this trail is going to be completed at some point in the future.

Um it's very isolated, uh, but it's a beautiful trail that's right along the stream.

Stover Councilmember Scipio thank you it's great to know that this trail is going to be completed at some point in the future um it's very isolated uh but it's a beautiful trail that's right along the the stream uh but right before you go to across Seal and Parkway there's a park uh brushy fork park at the end of First Street um and there is a service road for um a billboard that goes down to where the trail almost meets um the park I wondered if there's a way to connect that brushy fork park to the actual trail in some kind of way you can walk it by foot but it's not really level and it's not um it's overgrown I'll I'll defer to Jeff Anthony on that I will tell you in this current project that is not part of the the the project scope could you could you see how much it would cost to just have a little connector because it'd be great if people could walk along the trail and then go up to that park as a break along the trail I I think we'd have to add that to our greenway areas that we're looking at so I think we can uh I'm sure that Aaron's taking a note we can we can add that to things that we'll look at is for future expansion of the greenways Councilmember Angry Bowen thank you ma'am chair um so this project's been worked on a long time um if we're if we're adding to the budget uh or to the we're adding more money to this project are we expected to to begin soon on this project so we're not gonna have to come back in a year or two for any more rising costs yes sir uh our team is expecting design to be complete this fall with a bidding of this project early 2027 thank you any additional questions on G1 Madam Chair there's nothing further I move for approval of item G1 thank you it's time for an electronic vote and it passes Mr.

Stover you're up again for G2.

Thank you.

Wait the city clerk can you read item G2?

Item G2 resolution authorizing execution of a supplemental agreement with the North Carolina Department of Transportation for the Piedmont Regional Greenway project thank you that this one's very similar to G1 as well this is another greenway project a little further east this is the Piedmont Regional Greenway this is about a 1.3 mile stretch from uh the Salem Lake Trail at Limble Road crosses over Linville Road follows Kernersmill Creek back towards Hastings Hill Road about where East High School is that's where it terminates I will tell you this is part you hear Piedmont Regional Greenway you wonder what that what regional part means this is part of a larger plan to extend a greenway from basically Salem Lake all the way to Summerfield and this is a 19 mile uh plan stretch a multi-use path and this is the first section of that that will get built um like I said this is about one 1.3 miles design is expected to be completed this fall with letting award uh sometime early 2027 uh this one also dates back to 2013 uh as you can imagine as we went through the design this one was also had a project deficit as far as funding goes uh we went through the same uh regional flexible funding bucket with m po uh February last year and was awarded another five point or awarded another 4.2 million dollars and with that comes a 1 million fifty three thousand dollar uh match which is about 20 percent um that funding has been approved through the FY27 uh budget capital budget and is available July 1st and I'm available for any questions on this project thank you any questions council member Scipio this is a wonderful uh project I've been we've talked about this at the Piedmont Triad Regional Council as well connecting our community to all of the other communities in the 14 counties and this is just a beautiful trail that they're uh envisioning so uh certainly in favor of that looking forward uh to walking that in the future do you have an idea of what the timetable is uh like I said design will be complete this fall uh probably you know midfall and then we will you know go pursue bidding and hopefully open bid sometime first of 2027 construction will last maybe a year year and a half something like that so we're probably looking at 2030 before the trail is complete and open probably first part of 2028 if everything goes according to plan 2030 thank you that would be great we are pro ten yes thank you chair uh my question to staff is and I've asked since a lot um we seem to always be doing the trails around the city other parts of the city greenways get redone things get redone but unfortunately for the uh marginalized communities there's not much action and I know we voted on all of this back early in my career on this council but one of the things that we were always concerned about is whether other parts of the city uh Mr.

Things get redone, but unfortunately for the uh marginalized communities, there's not much action.

And I know we voted on all of this back early in my career on this council, but one of the things that we were always concerned about is whether other parts of the city, uh, Mr.

Pay were getting the same attention.

Other parts of the city need greenways and trails as well.

And sometimes the trails and greenways on the marginalized cities may start, but they don't ever really get finished or there's no money.

Now I know where this money to do this came from.

Um Councilman McClark, the mayor and I, we sit on the uh transportation uh planning board, and the other communities and cities that are part of it always seem to be rather appreciative of Winston.

Uh everybody knows we've got the majority of the votes, but I believe that one of the things, and I even mentioned this in those meetings, that I always see these projects going on, but it seems that we're not advocating enough for other parts of the city to be able to experience the same uh quality of transportation projects.

Any quick answer to that or comment is to we can look into it, we can uh look and you know, do a comparative as to what is the next for our other parts of the city that don't get the attention.

And I know that we got the beltway, and that's coming up to that uh the state is gonna help us get that done.

But uh, and we gotta match it just like everything else.

But uh, I'm just wondering what's on the the drawing board that we maybe voted on years ago or is coming in the Capitol that's for other parts of the city.

I'd also in the future like to see some type of map that shows the projects that are new projects, projects, and I I see this in my transportation advisory meeting agenda.

New projects, projects that are being proposed, and projects that are on hold or projected, something to that effect.

So that I will have in the council and the citizens an idea of what planning is going on, even though it is going on.

Right, and Jeff can speak to this much better than I can actually, but we have a greenway master plan and trails, both both of these projects that you just are looking at are in the east board.

So that's uh that is on the side of the community, I think that you're referring to.

Uh the city as a whole is looking at greenways, trails, uh roadway projects across the city.

And so, as has just been mentioned by uh by Mike, both of these projects were approved, I think in 2013.

So we and when I came here, so that's that's before my time.

I know it was my time.

But there was a significant amount of projects that are in backlog for a variety of reasons, and the staff is doing a tremendous job of working to clear that backlog, which will then get these projects completed so that you will have the opportunity to then look at what are the next set of priorities that council wants to move forward on.

And if we're have our heavy in one area of the community and not in another area, then council will have uh all uh opportunities to suggest putting greenways or other projects in different places of the community.

To reprioritize and and I hear you, but uh again, I think we need to just like everything else that we've been doing the past couple of years, we need to take a look because things were decided on or done that we may again have to reshuffle and reprioritize so that our citizens with their high taxes feel like they are being heard as well and are part of a quality of life of these projects.

That's all I'm asking.

And that's a fair point.

I think the the issue there is that if there are funds that have been allocated but have not been spent yet.

If council has a has changed their priorities of how those should be spent, then by all means council can give direction as to as to how to reprioritize those funds.

Um, and that will be within your prerogative as a part of our capital improvement plans.

Jeff, you want to add anything?

One comment spot on.

We are when I say we the transportation planning organization is just about to embark on an update to our greenway master plan to look a little bit more regionally.

You talk about this people about regional greenway, so we're gonna look a little bit bigger than just Winston Settlement footprint.

But basically, it'll provide the rubric and the guidebook to how we prioritize and fund projects moving forward, and it will be a better comprehensive look at an updated greenway plan.

Thank you, Mr.

Fancy, because you understand most people have no idea what their transportation plan and organization and the advisory committee, what we do and how these projects get prioritized based on a uh numbering uh that changed a few years ago because as you all know, you and Assistant Manager King, we weren't even in the queue to get the beltway done.

And because we were so at we were at the bottom, and until we took a more serious look and we lobbied for that, and they changed and we told them how unfair the uh the numbering or prioritization of projects were.

The fact that Winston Salem had no beltway or loop, and again, the largest city in the West, up above Charlotte, that that was something that you know all of us can that were here can say that we should have been on top of this a long time ago.

And I appreciate the fact that all the money that's coming in right now to help us finish this beltway slash loop.

But uh I appreciate the work that you all do.

You know, we work very closely uh with the Transportation Advisory Committee.

As a matter of fact, we got a meeting after this, a little meeting to discuss some things uh that need to take place in our meeting Thursday.

But thank you very much.

Okay, any additional questions?

Well, we're ready to vote on item G2.

Uh, can I get a motion?

I make a motion to pass Chief Two.

Sorry.

We're ready to vote electronically.

The motion passes.

Thank you.

City Clerk, would you read item G3?

Item G3 resolution authorizing the advancement of betterments for the third, fourth, and fifth street bridge replacement project.

Okay, Mr.

Fancler, tell us about this project.

Thank you, madam chair, members of the committee.

So the item before you uh is related to an NC DOT project, HB0031.

And um the things that I want to just talk through today is really um, and you've heard me talk a lot before about how NTDOT has bridge replacement projects that carry city streets.

And HB 0031 is just that.

That is the replacement of third, fourth, and fifth street bridge over US 52.

So major east-west connections across US 52 in our community.

Now, one of the things that we consider is really looking at at the comprehensive treatments for these bridges in relation to the adopted master plan in 2011 regarding the creative corridors, visionary master plan, and guidelines for uh some of our focal bridges and uh corridors identified in that plan, US 52 being one of those, and 4th Street also being one of the signature bridges identified in that plan.

So having said that, um, Winston DOT works very closely with both NC DOT and Creative Corridor for that matter to make sure that we are developing projects that uh satisfy those guidelines or move the project forward in terms of the city's responsibility because they're city streets, with NC DOT being the the having the ownership of the actual bridge structure.

So uh we were approached by creative corridors to uh to remind us of that plan and then develop a um a strategy to to to really get before you to get some guidance on how we move forward with these projects.

And so what I want to do is just take a moment to talk a little bit about betterments.

And today, uh, as you know, we we did this most recently with the Salem Parkway corridor where we had 11 bridges replaced and we had a betterment package that ultimately were funded in a number of ways, uh, bonds, city funds, other city funds, and then uh private partnerships with credit borders, et cetera.

Uh but the item before you today really is to consider uh is really to ask some direction from you guys to how we pursue uh these projects in terms of the betterments, and do we want to see betterments on these bridges?

So, what does that look like?

I'll just take a moment since we've got it pulled up and kind of walk through these.

Here's an example of an existing bridge, stadium drive or Rams Drive there at Winston Salem State over US 52 with limited enhancements.

And I say that because things like that green uh handrail that goes across there on the parapet wall there, that is considered a betterment.

We have sidewalk on both sides, that is considered a betterment because the previous bridge that it replaced did not have sidewalk on both sides.

Uh but very minimal, very minimum minimal uh betterments in terms of uh a betterment package regarding this example.

But moving forward, uh we have worked with creative corridors to develop, you know, kind of a preliminary list of things that we'd like to or creative corridors that's ask us to consider that is consistent with the the plan adopted in 2011.

And I'll highlight those and we'll go through a couple of renderings here in just a moment.

But those could be in terms of decorative retaining walls.

You see those along Salem Parkway, there's those are the ones with the brick veneer that you see along the port uh on the parkway.

Things like parapet and bridge girder treatments, as an example.

You can see if you write on sample parkway, you notice the arch facade as you go under and the black painted girder that looks kind of like that arch and that gird in-girter disappears as you ride under from the parkway vantage.

Things like protective bike lanes, decorative noise barriers.

Think of the example on Peter Street Parkway with the green noise wall.

Those are just trying to make the connection of what betterments were previously approved that were consistent with the plan that could be considered for this project, third, fourth, and fifth, fifth street.

So in general, things like that are betterments in terms of introducing those project elements to an NC DOT bridge replacement project.

And that's really what's before you today is to get some direction to staff to work with predator corridors to work with NC DOT to figure out how far we want to go in terms of the betterment package.

And I'll I'll run through these a little bit.

Here's an here's the vantage from US 52 looking at the 4th Street and Third Street bridge as they exist today.

And so here's the uh typical that is approved.

And if you remember, I stood before you late last year and we talked about this these projects in terms of replacing the fourth street bridge.

And we asked again for guidance on what you thought would be the best treatment for 4th Street, and we all landed on the fact in well, we were approved it being a vehicular bridge, uh not just a uh a modal bridge or something with bike pet space.

That item was considered by this body and ultimately city council late last year.

And this is the typical section, which essentially just what it would look like in real space if you're on that bridge in terms of the lane geometry and assignment.

Two vehicle lanes, obviously bicycle lanes that are that are that have a buffer zone there uh separating them from traffic, and then eight foot wider sidewalks.

This is where we landed when we come out of that discussion in partnership with NC DOT as what the city's preference was as a multimodal bridge that includes the vehicular movement for four street.

But again, what you see is what currently is being designed uh being designed.

So the question becomes is this what we want?

This is uh again creative corridors visionary master plan takes it a step further and and asks for things, particularly four street being the signature bridge recommendation.

So things like this could be considered uh if you want to see very similar typical section with the two travel lanes.

You have the buffered bike lanes uh with some type of buffer, you know.

This is a rendering of planters being that buffer, the wide sidewalks, noise barrier, and street lights being uh an example of what could be considered uh on that bridge with the similar typical section.

From the 52 vantage, something even uh similar scale looking at from the 52 vantage, what you might see again.

This takes it a comprehensive treatment and would take significant investment to do that, but uh an understanding of what the creative corridors master plan uh would uh consider uh on the four street bridge replacement if we choose to pursue that.

Fifth street, uh, similarly, but if you recall when our discussion last year, this was going to be a uh a transit-centered, a really a uh a transit priority, what we call the route, being the wider travel lanes, wide sidewalks for bus stop amenities if we need to do that, uh, and then having that um center turn lane because of Fish Rick currently has that center turn lane there and carrying that typical across.

But if we could enhance that further, uh utilizing the same space with the same geometry and have something that is uh has an opportunity for uh maybe public art, again, maybe a still using the eight-foot sidewalk, but have the opportunity for something that would buffer the vehicle from the walking pedestrians, uh just as in terms of a betterment consideration.

Uh, all of these elements you see on this screen that are the uh the vertical separation to planters, anything that would be outside of what one would consider a more standard treatment like this would be considered a betterment ask of NC DOT to design.

So, having said all that, having uh gone through these renderings, uh really what I think I'd like to just highlight as a closing remarks would be the fact that you know this is something identified in the master plan adopted in 2011.

Uh we would need to work with NC DOT to define that in terms of actual betterments in terms of a lot more specifics and associated cost.

And that's where I'll spend the next few months talking about the associated cost because today there is no funding source capital program allocated to these improvements.

This will be something that uh we would have to bring back to this committee and city council for consideration and if you choose to fund this moving forward.

And so uh on the backside of that, it would not only be a capital investment for the implementation of these betterments, should you choose to pursue them, it would also have to develop.

This is something that we'd have to work with uh other departments, not just transportation in terms of a long-term maintenance strategy.

Uh, because I think these treatments we have been notorious, we we we do a good good job presenting what they could be, and then we'd have to build in the uh the recurring operating cost to uh to preserve to preserve them long term if we want to get serious about that.

So at a high level, the item before you is to consider uh advancing these betterments in terms of engaging NC DOT to pursue them in the design.

There will be a cost associated with that design.

And if that is something you choose to do, we would come back once we know more what those betterments could cost, and at such time we have to have a discussion about uh should we choose to fund those or not?

So I'm happy to take any questions or defer to the city manager's office council member Scipio.

There is a cost to include them in the design if that and what is that cost?

So it's undefined today.

We estimate it to be probably somewhere in the $50,000 range.

That is an estimation, it would depend on how much we asked them to design.

So there's a fee to do the design, but then there is a cost that will be associated with the actual design work for that, right?

That's correct.

The maintenance issue.

Um what are you talking about for maintenance?

Is it just the surface street maintenance?

Because I'm thinking the treatment for the bridges underneath would still be DOTs.

Any of the substructure would be DOT responsibility, but we were talking about any of the the structural components in terms of the vertical barriers for separation, the noise walls, the decorative street lights, any site the NCDOT doesn't even maintain sidewalk, so sidewalk maintenance will be on the city of Woodson Salem.

So there's a number of elements in terms of ongoing recurring operating expense we would have to consider.

Okay.

Thank you.

Okay.

We have additional questions.

I'll start with Scott and move around.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Mr.

Fansler.

Um, I love the tie-dye middle, so that's my recommendation.

No, um I did chuckle when that came up.

Not I loved your presentation, but that made me laugh.

Um, so I I think that I like the idea of adding betterments things.

I know that we're we're looking at or it we're gonna have to see what they are and how much they cost first.

I think that's that should that'll be an important next step to I don't think there's anything how much what costs to get to that point.

Yeah.

You said that I think that's what you were asking there to be.

Um yeah, I think that to know where the how much of the things cost, I think that we're we're having to struggle with budget things, and we don't want to have to raise things too high.

Um I'm a big fan of public art and uh I like telling history through art.

Um so if I I was gonna make a recommendation um other than the tie-dye, if there was some kind of uh public art reflecting the history of that area before uh highway 52 came in.

I think that would be a recommendation that I have, but I definitely think that we need to see how much that would cost uh before we get there.

Thank you.

Councilmember Clark.

I see cutting my light on.

Um I see a lot of cost in the construction area.

You talking about widening these bridges 10, 15 feet, maybe more.

Um any order of magnitude, and how much money do we have set aside I I I can answer it, but it sounds like the city manager wants to refer.

Um there's no capital program currently identified for these betterments.

That is true.

Uh a lot of these recommendations are intended to be within the existing footprint of the typical section, so not too much widening.

There will likely be some largely in terms of structural debt, though, because you'll load them for the girders will grow, which is a large expanse.

So significant dollars, no doubt, in terms of just the design cost.

Other comment, and I am certainly not the expert on these three bridges, but would it make sense to give would all bridges get the same treatment, or would we say this one we want a little nicer than this one because more traffic's on it or whatever?

You know, and and uh the creative corridors master plan had four street being the signature bridge.

And so that would be a conversation that we would uh have to have to discuss with credit corridors and then try to work with to make sure that we're consistent with adopted plan.

But four street is a signature bridge recommendation, and it would likely be the one that recommends a higher level betterments if we choose to fund them at all.

Okay.

Okay, thank you.

City manager.

Just uh to remind uh council as well on this one.

Uh I I've asked the same questions you have.

What are we talking about in terms of scope?

Uh just to be clear, this is probably seven, eight digits.

Just what's being shown there.

So you you're not you're talking probably in the tens of millions if you do all the things uh that are there.

Things like public art, I Jeff, you correct me if I'm wrong, but typically that's put in as a dollar amount that you're willing to spend on public art.

I don't think NC DOT is going to design any public art for this.

But if you said we want one percent of the cost, or if council says we want to put a million dollars worth of public art, whatever that case may be, and that would be things like painting or or other things that you could have in there.

I I think what Jeff needs right now is that NC DOT is ready to move forward with the getting the designs done of these bridges.

If we want them to cost things out, we'll have to pay for that.

But that really is just a matter of giving a rough estimate of cost that then would come back and say if you want to add these in, then you're committing to paying for the design of these, paying for the construction of these, and then paying for the ongoing maintenance or replacement of those.

So the issue is really for us is what is the uh back to the Mayor Pro Tim's point earlier.

What what is the order of magnitude that you think the community would like to see on these three bridges versus other priorities that you have also identified in the community?

Um but this this one is is moving fast now, so if you want better information on this one, then we'll have to get that, but we have to pay for it, and then we'll have to pay for anything that you actually want.

That's broader than what just the normal NCDOT standards are.

Mayor Pro Tim Adams.

Yes, just like the ending of the cart says at this stage, the physical impact cannot be fully qualified into NC DOT value weight the betterments and provides a cost estimate.

If council supports advancing the betterments, well, the Salem DOT will coordinate with NC DOT to develop detailed capital cost estimates and long-time maintenance projections for future council consideration on approval.

But as the city manager and others, Mr.

Fanfler, this is not like five million dollars.

This is like 50 million.

Mayor Pro Tem, I want to let Jeff just chime in on that a little bit, just to put out a little bit more color on that.

Yeah, I I know when that we're trying to work within the structural footprint of that bridge.

I I don't think it's going to be in the tens of millions of dollars, probably in the four or five million dollar range.

Uh just we would have to, it's really subject to how far we want to take these betterments.

Now, if it does come out where we have to do some significant bridge widening for whatever region that comes up in design, we would have to be transparent and come back before this committee.

But at a high level, we do not see it being that costly at this time.

Okay.

But I want to be clear.

I don't think this council or myself have any issues with the creative quarters and the plan that was given that we voted on.

Well, most of us didn't, but some of us were here.

Um the point is we all know the cost of construction as council member card said is unreal.

DOT NC DOT is struggling with the gas tax, which used to give us all the money we used to want to build roads and bridges and everything.

The floor is where it is right now.

That money is no longer there like that.

Um I think we need to be realistic again.

Let staff and you all go do what you do with DOT.

But I also need to uh make sure that creative carters understand.

We support this.

We just they gotta have the information in order to see how much money they have to go raise as well, because this is gonna be a very collaborative betterment initiative that's not just gonna require the city, but others as well.

And like you said, it's the upkeep.

The state will take care of the base infrastructures of the bridges.

That's theirs.

But anything we put on it beside it, the walls, whatever, that's gonna be up to Weston Salem and the creative quarters and other philanthropic groups that want to give uh to this initiative.

But again, it's about the money and our citizens understanding again where we are putting our efforts to spend their money because the taxes are always gonna continue to go up, like I see.

Mayor Pro Tim, I'll just make one comment to that because I think you're right.

I think the intent of this item today is to just in general give some direction to staff.

Do we want to go to NCDOT to include uh a request to include betterments for this project and in general what those those flavor of betterments could be?

And if that answer is yes, then we'll do that.

But it is not a funding commitment today because we frankly don't know what that is, and I'll just be transparent.

It will be real cost.

Uh, we have to come back and determine uh to what extent, you know, it's almost like an a la carte menu at that point.

Where we want to turn have a conversation about how much we can fund and to what extent we want to pursue these.

And that will what you'll see once we advance the design if we put choose to move this along.

Is there any money in the uh tech arena when we discuss this later down the road?

Uh that's a fair question.

Uh these betterments uh most of them would not qualify for funding at the TAC.

Things like sidewalks, things like that could be if you want to carve out components of that, but the administrative oversight for the betterment that may be that juice may not be worth the squeeze to fund it through the TAC.

But the bike lanes, the sidewalks, the curbing.

Well, and see the bike lane, the sidewalk, and all that is part of what's already recommended, and we're asking to just enhance that those modes and those facilities and those enhancement pieces.

I would have to go back and do some due diligence before I can safely answer that to see what could be eligible, giving our funding constraints with FHWA.

Let me do that.

Thank you.

And to your point earlier, MPT, I think that's something we'd want to look carefully at how we're prioritizing those dollars for the MPO to see what those highest needs are there to allocate those dollars towards those.

Councilmember Scipio.

Yes, thank you.

One of the things that uh I'm concerned about is when we did the Salem Parkway, you know the bridge that goes the walking bridge.

Was that a ri in the original design?

It was.

It was.

And I think at the request of the city, but it was included in the original.

Okay, and that's the kind of enhancement we want for our community and neighbors to enjoy these bridges.

Um the third, fourth, and fifth street bridges leads anyone in from the east ward into downtown.

So if you don't know where those bridges are, those are the three bridges that go across 52 from the east side of town.

And there is a lot of sentiment that 52 divided this city.

When it was built, it did indeed take out uh sizable parts of the built African American community at that time.

Um I will say that it it may have created a division, but that wasn't because black people didn't go to the west side.

We still went to the west side.

It was the west side didn't come to the east side.

So the division wasn't because of us, our action, it was others.

So the creative corridors people, which I'm I really enjoy working with them, they have visions about healing this community in many ways and making it more mobile for all residents to feel a part of every part of the community.

And these enhancements or betterments are designed to make that kind of statement, the kind of statement that we made on Salem Parkway, that it's beautiful, it's appealing, and it's part of this community.

And I think that as we heal our city, we have to make sure we are saying the city is for everyone, and that we are going to have equity on both sides of the community.

So I am very much in favor of at least getting a cost on what those enhancements, betterments are.

But I think there's a trade-off.

It may not be that we have to have 10 foot wide sidewalks, but I think the planters might work, but I think you have to look at it in lieu of whatever our maintenance would be on an ongoing basis.

But I think the city DOT, it's up to you guys to say, yeah, we want our city to be to look the same across all parts of the community.

Now I will say this editorial comment.

The last items we looked at affected the East Ward.

The first item was approved in 2011.

Um that's like 15 years.

And now we're moving on it.

The second item was 2013.

That was 13 years.

Um if this goes, how long is it going to take?

20 years for us to see it, because we're still waiting for Martin Luther King Jr.

streetscape.

That was around 2008.

So I am thoroughly in favor of anything that's going to make the East Ward more viable and more connected to this city.

Um, but I really am getting weary about the time it takes for us as a city to do those enhancements.

That's the underserved population in this community.

Thanks.

Any additional questions or comments?

Well, um, I would like to ask about um, I believe council member Clark, you mentioned something about the uh widening of the bridges.

That cost will fall on NC DOT.

Am I right?

It depends depends.

Is this is a broad answer?

Um any widening that would be let's say we wanted a bigger than a six-foot sidewalk as show on your screen.

We wanted eight or ten.

That would mean the bridge would have to widen.

Right.

That cost would be on the city of Wince and Satan.

But what I tried to articulate is that these are the approved typicals already.

And so anything there is a cost because MCDOT typically would only do a five or six-foot sidewalk.

These are eight.

So we are we are going to pay for that widening already, but anything in addition to that would fall onto the city, yes, including those additional width for the sidewalk that we've asked them to enhance already.

So to answer your question is if it's above their standard and it results in widening the bridge, that does fall to the city to fund.

Okay.

Thank you so much.

And then I just wanted to say the enhancements that you showed, they are beautiful, and that's what we need.

And it would make a tremendous difference.

And I'm agreeing with uh what SIP council member Scipio said.

I would want to find out, get an itemized cost for everything you showed us, each individual thing, planters and itemized costs.

You've already told us the design plan would be about $50,000.

That would help us as we move forward.

And any research that we can do to discover locate funding that could be used to pay for these, I call them enhancements, and I know that they are betterments.

Um I think it would just really make a tremendous difference in the beautification of our city.

Uh any additional questions?

If not, we're ready to vote.

Okay, we're ready for an electronic vote.

Uh can I get a motion to approve?

So move.

Second.

Okay, all in favor.

Let us get that vote.

Thank you.

Um, Mr.

King, any uh comments, any updates.

I can't think of any councilmember Burke.

I will note um I think the city manager has mentioned this, a couple of his updates.

We are working for some new signage for the downtown parking program to rebrand that to make it closer aligned with city colors, city color scheme to further differentiate on street city parking from the private lots to help our residents understand a little bit clearly which lot which spaces we regulate versus which ones the private sector regulates.

Jeff is working on that with Reed.

I believe our signs are on the way in.

They got here at one o'clock.

Good timing.

They got here at one o'clock.

So we're going to be working over the summer over the summer to switch out the signs that are there and do a little bit of marketing um and advertisement to inform the community about that project.

So that's going to be going on.

Um I'll give Jeff a little bit on the spot as he's walking up time to think about this.

Um we have gotten some of our new um buses in on WISTA, and maybe he just wants to give maybe just a quick update on where we're headed with respect to our service changes in um August might be of interest to the committee.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr.

King.

I'm happy to say that through the diligent work of this committee and our city, we have taken possession of four of the five new latest to our fleet uh hybrid electric buses funded by our FY24 load no grant application to US DOT.

They're here, they're they're getting commissioned now with taxes titles and all the upfit and our our equipment on the buses, but they expect to be in service by July 1st.

We're waiting on the fifth one that's supposed to be here before the end of the week, so that's great.

All this is ramping up, right?

We've talked a lot about West over the last 24 months, but we've talked you've approved the service changes that will start in August.

And this is part of that uh fleet modernization and and right sizing our fleet with reliability so we can prov provide that service that we are so intentional about with the frequency we want to deliver.

So come August, we're gonna make good on the commitment to roll out those service enhancements, and then we're still marching on for that January of the goal line for those two microtransit zones.

And one final comment.

We also have the very first fully electric uh trans aid vehicles in possession in possession now, and they are those are also getting commissioned, and they will be rolling out hopefully by July 1st as well.

So uh got to commend Kelly and our work at WISTO, they are doing a tremendous job.

I can just tell you there's there's more energy now that we're putting in the Pumak transit system than my entire 13 years, and that's a lot to be commended of this box, the work that you all do.

So thank you very much.

Well, that's a lot, and thank you for this update.

Thank you, and thank you to your team and to the WISTA team for all that you're doing to cause these updates to happen.

Thank you.

And I also wanted to say uh, Mr.

King, uh, it was great to see that we are moving toward uh changing the signage for downtown parking.

I think a lot of our residents have been confused about uh the private parking and the city parking, and this will really help.

I wanted to ask a question though.

Someone uh told me that QR codes are being placed uh on some of the parking uh signage and uh that is causing a problem for them and their bank accounts.

Have you all heard of any of that?

So, Councilmember, you may remember that was a piece of the conversation we had when we implemented this.

There's really two methodologies for how you kind of do the digital payment for parking apps.

One is just getting a QR code, and you can enter into a website there, make your payment through the QR code.

The other is um getting on the app and then the sign will have a zone number on it, a five-digit number 31264, and you would enter that in and make your payment through the app.

We chose to go the second route on the city side to have the zone numbers placed on there because as we were getting ready to embark on this program, we saw instances where other communities were folks were putting fake QR codes over the real QR codes and it was leading to some nefarious places.

And so we we opted to go the second route.

So any city um monitored parking lots or parking spaces, we don't do the QR codes on those.

Those are strictly zone numbers.

So I would say, and I can't speak for the private lots, if they're using zone numbers or QR codes, that's on them.

But I would say if if residents are seeing city parking spaces with QR codes, they need to report those into us so that we can go in and get those taken off of there and correct any issues of those signs, but they should not be on our signs.

Thank you.

Thank you.

We'll pass that along again.

Thank you.

If there's nothing else, uh uh Councilmember Andrew Bowen.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

So uh thank you for the update on the buses.

Um, I have my own little update.

Uh so last week I rode the the bus just about every day.

I have uh three drivers in my household and only two cars.

Uh so I was busing pretty much uh to working back into to city council meetings and the uh the new uh UMO app, UMO app has just been a really easy way to get around the city, plan plan my trip.

I'm like, okay, I got to walk five minutes to my bus stop, so I would leave at that time.

And just the the the payment was just is it was was seamless and really easy.

So uh I'm grateful for that.

Thank you.

Great, great.

Councilmember Scipio.

Okay.

If there's uh nothing else, we will stand adjourned.