AGENDA #6a
MEMORANDUM
TO: Mayor and Town Council
FROM: W. Calvin Horton, Town Manager
SUBJECT: Funding Sources for Pedestrian Improvements
DATE: April 23, 2001
This memorandum reviews sources of funding for pedestrian improvements suggested by the Chapel Hill Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Board.
At the February 14, 2001, Council work session with Town advisory boards the Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Board submitted a Report to the Council, which included several recommendations (Attachment 1). One recommendation was to pursue several alternative state and federal sources of funding for pedestrian improvements.
We have reviewed the list of proposed funding sources below:
President’s Council on Physical Fitness: This program is focused on the development of informational material to promote physical fitness. It does not provide grant or loan funds.
HUD Community Development Block Grants: Community Development funds can be used to make sidewalk and bicycle improvements. The use of funds must benefit low and moderate income persons or areas. For example, Chapel Hill has used funds to provide a sidewalk in conjunction with the Scarlette Drive affordable town homes project, and has used funds to build sidewalks serving lower-income neighborhoods.
TEA-21 Federal Funds: The Town has taken advantage of federal transportation funding provided by the TEA-21 legislation. Working with the Durham-Chapel Hill-Carrboro Transportation Advisory Committee we have been able to secure funding for various pedestrian improvements through the use of the Surface Transportation Program Direct Allocation fund. The Recommended 2001-2016 Chapel Hill Capital Improvements Program includes a provision for using Town funds as local match to leverage additional Direct Allocation funds for sidewalk construction.
Federal Transit Technical Assistance: This program “funds projects which develop, test and demonstrate innovative technologies, service concepts, techniques, and analytical tools for planning, operating and managing transit enterprises and improving customer service. It is unclear whether these funds could be used for implementing new technologies for pedestrian crosswalks as suggested by the Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Board. If the Council wishes to pursue this funding source staff could inquire further about the eligibility of the using these funds for crosswalk improvements.
1. Report to the Chapel Hill Town Council from the Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Board.