[00:00:04]
[CALL TO ORDER]
IT IS OCTOBER 27TH.THIS IS THE MOBILITY COMMITTEE.
I AM THE CHAIR, PAIGE ELLI, MAYOR PRO TEM OF AUSTIN.
I'M JOINED BY VICE-CHAIR ZOE CADRE.
AND COUNCIL MEMBER VANESSA FUENTES.
COUNCIL MEMBER HARPER MADISON.
AND KELLY WILL NOT BE ABLE TO JOIN US TODAY.
SO IT IS 1:06 PM AND WE WILL GET THIS MEETING STARTED.
[Public Communication: General]
WE HAVE A COUPLE, AT LEAST ONE PERSON, I THINK SIGNED UP FOR PUBLIC COMMENT.I THINK OUR SYSTEM HAD SOME ISSUES EARLIER TODAY.
SO IF YOU WERE SIGNED UP FOR PUBLIC COMMENT, YOU SHOULD CHECK WITH ANDRE DOWN HERE IN THE FRONT AND MAKE SURE THAT WE'VE GOT YOU ON THE LIST.
ANDRE, DO WE HAVE ONE PERSON SIGNED UP RIGHT NOW? ONE PERSON THAT I'M AWARE OF, YES.
YOU'LL HAVE THREE MINUTES TO ADDRESS US.
I'M A MEMBER OF THE PARKS BOARD SHUTTLE WORKING GROUP FOR ZILKER PARK.
TODAY I COME TO YOU AS ONE CITIZEN WITH A FEW REALISTIC SOLUTIONS THAT I THINK MAY HELP TO PROVIDE EQUITABLE ACCESS TO ZILKER PARK ON SUMMER WEEKENDS IN 2024.
PRIMARILY I HAVE AN IDEA FOR HOW CAT METRO CAN HELP VISITORS PARK AND RIDE TO ZILKER PARK.
SUMMER OF 2024 WILL BE AN EXPERIMENT IN THE PARK FOR TWO REASONS.
FIRST, COUNCIL WILL SEE SEVERAL RECOMMENDATIONS REGARDING THE NEAR TERM CLOSURE OF THE POLO FIELD FOR PARKING RECOMMENDATIONS FROM THE PARKS BOARD, THE ENVIRONMENTAL COMMISSION, AND POSSIBLY FROM THE JOINT SUSTAINABILITY COMMISSION.
I HOPE THE COUNCIL AGREES THAT THIS AREA IS READY TO BE RETURNED TO PARKLAND.
THIS WILL ELIMINATE ABOUT 350 PARKING PLACES NEAR THE POOL.
SECOND, 140 PARKING PLACES WILL BE TEMPORARILY REMOVED DUE TO THE BATHHOUSE REMODELING PROJECT AT THE POOL'S NORTH ENTRANCE.
WITH THESE NEW PARKING CONSTRAINTS, I HAVE SEVERAL IDEAS THAT RELY ON CONCEPTS OF DEMAND MANAGEMENT, A TIERED PAID PARKING DESIGN FOR SURFACE LOTS FROM EXPENSIVE TO FREE, ASKING PART STAFF TO MONITOR ENCLOSED PARKING LOTS THAT BECOME FULL, USING PORTABLE CONES OR SIGNAGE, PREPAID PARKING RESERVATIONS FOR A SUBSET OF THE SPACES.
A SYSTEM ALREADY IN EFFECT AT THE CITY'S ONG METROPOLITAN PARK.
AND CONTROLLING THE HOURLY VOLUME OF VISITORS TO BARTON SPRINGS POOL THROUGH A PREPAID TIMED ENTRY SYSTEM.
IDENTICAL TO WHAT PARD IMPLEMENTED DURING THE PANDEMIC.
CURRENTLY, A COMMON PRACTICE AT BUSY CULTURAL DESTINATIONS ACROSS AMERICA.
THE GOAL WOULD BE TO MAKE THE PARK VISITORS EXPERIENCE MORE PREDICTABLE AND THERE WOULD BE MUCH SHORTER QUEUING TIMES IN UNCOMFORTABLE OUTDOOR SUMMER ENVIRONMENTS IN THE PARK.
THERE IS ONE KEY COMPONENT TO SUCCESS THAT IS NEEDED CAP METRO.
I HAVE DATA FROM LABOR DAY WEEKEND THAT SUGGESTS THAT OVER 70% OF SUMMER WEEKEND VISITORS ARE TOURISTS.
THE CAP METRO NUMBER 30 BUS HAS SEVERAL STOPS WITHIN THE PARK AND BUS STOPS AT TWO EXCELLENT EXTERNAL PARKING SOURCES.
BARTON CREEK MALL AND ONE TEXAS CENTER ARRANGEMENTS SHOULD BE MADE SO THAT PARKING REMOTELY REMAINS A FREE OPTION FOR ZILKER PARK VISITORS.
TO ENCOURAGE THEIR PARTICIPATION, PLEASE CONSIDER AUTHORIZING A NEW CAP METRO MARKETING CAMPAIGN FOR THE NUMBER 30 BUS, A CAMPAIGN THAT WOULD BE DESIGNED TO REACH TOURISTS AND TO EXPLAIN THE CONNECTIVITY OF THE NUMBER 30 ROUTE AND THE TWO EXTERNAL PARKING SOURCES NEAR THE PARK.
THANK YOU FOR COMING TO SPEAK TO US.
DO WE HAVE ANYONE ELSE WHO HAD INTENDED TO SIGN UP FOR PUBLIC COMMUNICATION? IT DOES NOT APPEAR SO I WILL RUN DOWN THE SCHEDULE THAT WE'LL BE FOLLOWING TODAY.
SO WE HAVE, UH, APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES.
THEN WE'RE GONNA DISCUSS OUR MOBILITY COMMITTEE MEETING SCHEDULE, UM, FOR CALENDAR YEAR 2024.
SO THIS WILL BE SETTING UP ALL OF THE DATES OF THE MOBILITY COMMITTEE MEETINGS FOR NEXT YEAR, AND THEN AN UPDATE FROM THE URBAN TRANSPORTATION COMMISSION.
UM, THE CHAIR IS NOT AVAILABLE TODAY, SO WE WILL BE HEARING FROM VICE CHAIR REEN BROOKS, AND AFTER THAT WE WILL GO TO ITEM FIVE AND TAKE UP THE AUTONOMOUS VEHICLE CONVERSATION.
'CAUSE I THINK THERE'S SOME FOLKS HERE THAT ARE, UH, VERY INTERESTED IN THAT AND WANNA MAKE SURE THAT WE CAN ADDRESS THAT IN A TIMELY FASHION.
AND THEN WE'LL GO TO ITEM NUMBER FOUR, THE BARTON SPRINGS ROAD BRIDGE PROJECT, UH, FOLLOWED BY NUMBER SIX IS THE MOBILITY BOND PROGRAM UPDATES, AND THEN IDENTIFYING FUTURE ITEMS. SO
[1. Approve the minutes of the Mobility Committee meeting of September 28, 2023.]
THAT TAKES US TO APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES FROM SEPTEMBER 28TH, 2023, MOVED BY MOVE, MOVE ADOPTION BY VICE CHAIR CADRY AND SECONDED BY COUNCIL MEMBER FUENTES.[00:05:01]
ALL IN FAVOR SAY AYE.THE THREE OF US WHO ARE PRESENT HAVE APPROVED THAT ITEM.
[2. Discussion and possible action on the Mobility Committee meeting schedule for calendar year 2024.]
ON TO THE DISCUSSION AND POSSIBLE ACTION FOR THE MOBILITY COMMITTEE MEETING SCHEDULE FOR CALENDAR YEAR 2024.EVERYTHING LOOKS TO CHECK OUT PRETTY WELL WITH ALL OF OUR SCHEDULES.
I WILL VERBALLY AMEND, UM, ONE OF THE DATES.
IT IS ON JANUARY 24TH, WHICH IS A WEDNESDAY.
WE TYPICALLY HAVE OUR MEETINGS ON THURSDAYS DURING THE OFF WEEKS, UM, SO THAT WE'RE NOT INTERFERING WITH THE WEEKS THAT WE HAVE COUNCIL MEETINGS AND WORK SESSIONS.
SO I'LL PROPOSE WE CHANGE THE JANUARY 24TH DATE TO JANUARY 25TH, JUST TO KEEP US ON THURSDAYS AND REMOVE THE JUNE 27TH DATE SINCE WE USUALLY DON'T HAVE A MEETING IN JUNE.
AND OUR PRACTICE HAS BEEN TO HOLD OUR MEETINGS ON THURSDAYS HERE IN CHAMBERS.
SO WE INTEND TO KEEP THAT FORMAT MOVING FORWARD.
SO IS THERE A MOTION WITH THOSE AMENDMENTS MADE BY VICE CHAIR CADRE? SECONDED BY COUNCIL MEMBER FUENTES? ALL IN FAVOR OF ADOPTING THAT CALENDAR.
THE THREE OF US WHO ARE PRESENT HAVE MOVED ADOPTION OF THAT ITEM.
[3. Update from the Urban Transportation Commission (UTC) regarding actions from the September 5 and October 3, 2023, UTC meetings.]
URBAN TRANSPORTATION COMMISSION UPDATE.WELCOME IS THIS FOR BEING HERE TODAY.
HOW DO I MOVE ON TO THE, UH, CAN WE MOVE ON TO THE THIRD SLIDE BEFORE THE, I HAD MY DATES OUT OF ORDER.
UM, THE URBAN TRANSPORTATION COMMISSION MEETINGS HAVE DONE AN EXTENSIVE JOB OF INFORMATION GATHERING.
I DON'T KNOW, WHETHER'S, UH, SUSAN SUMMERS, WHO'S THE CHAIR HAS POINTED THIS OUT.
BUT, UM, A SLIGHT INNOVATION IS THAT WE TRY AND HEAR A PRESENTATION EACH TIME WE MEET ON WHAT'S HAPPENING IN THE TRANSPORTATION AND PUBLIC WORKS DEPARTMENT.
SO, FOR EXAMPLE, UM, THE GENERAL OVERVIEW OF ARTERIAL MANAGEMENT DIVISION AND THE PEDESTRIAN HYBRID BEACONS WERE TWO EXAMPLES OF THAT KIND OF OF WORK.
AND WE FIND EVERY ONE OF THESE PRESENTATIONS FASCINATING.
WE DIDN'T KNOW THAT WAS HAPPENING.
SO, UH, I DON'T KNOW WHETHER I COULD SUGGEST IT TO OTHER PEOPLE, BUT, UH, IT'S WORKED VERY WELL FOR US.
UM, SO HERE ARE SOME OF THE, UH, OTHER PRESENTATIONS.
WE HEARD A PRESENTATION FROM TRANSIT FORWARD ON SOME OF THEIR DATA COLLECTION.
WE HEARD A DISCUSSION ON THE CONGRESS AVENUE DESIGN PROJECT, AND NOW WE CAN GO BACK TO THE PREVIOUS SLIDE.
UM, AGAIN, THE SAFE ROUTES TO SCHOOL PROJECT WAS, UH, ANOTHER EYE-OPENER FOR US, THE HUGE AMOUNT OF IMPROVEMENT THAT HAS BEEN DONE IN MAKING SAFE ROUTES TO SCHOOLS.
WE ALSO HEARD A DISCUSSION THAT WAS, UM, ON THE RECOMMENDATION ON THE EQUITABLE TRANSIT ORIENTED DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM THAT, UM, I'LL COME BACK TO IF THERE ARE QUESTIONS, BUT THERE WAS A BIT OF DISCUSSION AROUND THAT, ALTHOUGH WE DID NOT GET AS FAR AS A RESOLUTION.
AND THEN PROBABLY MOST IMPORTANT FOR THE PRESENT TIME IS THAT WE DID, UM, INITIATE A RESOLUTION, UH, TO, ON THE ELIMINATION OF PARKING MINIMUMS. UM, LET'S GO ON TO THE VERY LAST SLIDE.
WE IN GENERAL SUPPORTED THE, A ADAPTION OF THE DRAFT ORDINANCE WITH SOME CHANGES THAT WE ARE SUGGESTING IN REGARDS TO THE HANDLING OF BICYCLE PARKING.
AND LET ME POINT OUT THAT THERE ARE TWO INNOVATIVE THINGS HERE.
ONE IS THAT OUR PARKING DECISION SHOULD BE BASED ON OUR STRATEGIC MOBILITY PLAN.
AND WHATEVER PARKING IS PROVIDED FOR A PARTICULAR MODE SHOULD REFER BACK WHATEVER PERCENTAGE OF PARKING OR AMOUNT OF PARKING SHOULD BE CONNECTED BACK TO OUR STRATEGIC MOBILITY PLAN.
AND THEN, UM, IN PARTICULAR, UM, RIGHT NOW THERE'S NO WAY, THERE'S NO SPECIFICATION OF ANY KIND, NO EVEN GUIDANCE TO, UH, COMMERCIAL DEVELOPERS ON THE AMOUNT OF BICYCLE PARKING PROVIDED.
AND, UH, WE SUGGEST THAT THE AMOUNT OF BICYCLE PARKING WHEN, UH, DEVELOPERS COME FORTH WITH A DEVELOPMENT PLAN FOR A LOCATION WHERE THEY HAVE CHOSEN THE AMOUNT OF PARKING, WHICH IS, WHICH IS WHAT THE MAIN RESOLUTION SUGGESTS,
[00:10:01]
HAPPENS THAT THERE ARE CERTAIN CONSTRAINTS APPLIED TO ENSURE THAT THERE IS A PROPORTIONATE AMOUNT OF BICYCLE PARKING.AND THAT THAT AMOUNT OF BICYCLE PARKING IS PROPORTIONED TO WHAT'S CALLED FOR IN THE AUSTIN STRATEGIC MOBILITY PLAN.
SO THAT'S WHAT WE HAVE BEEN UP TO AND WORKING ON.
UM, A BRIEF COMMENT ON THE, UH, UH, TRANSIT-ORIENTED DEVELOPMENT PLAN, OR THE EQUITABLE TRANSIT-ORIENTED DEVELOPMENT PLAN, AGAIN, RELATES TO THE AUSTIN STRATEGIC MOBILITY PLAN, WHICH CALLS FOR AN INCREASE IN FOURFOLD IN THE TRANSIT USAGE IN THE CITY OF AUSTIN.
AND WE'VE FELT, OR AT LEAST I FELT, AND I THINK OTHERS WERE SYMPATHETIC, THAT THE EAD PLAN OUGHT TO PROVIDE FOR THE GROWTH OF, UH, WHERE PEOPLE CAN LIVE THAT SUPPORTS THAT TRANSIT GOAL.
SO FOUR TIMES AS MANY PEOPLE ARE GOING TO BE USING TRANSIT FOUR TIMES AS MANY PEOPLE HAVE TO LIVE NEAR TRANSIT.
SO, ANY QUESTION, ANY OTHER QUESTIONS OR, I REALLY APPRECIATE THAT.
I HOPE THAT AS A COUNCIL WE CAN TAKE UP THE CONVERSATION AROUND BICYCLE PARKING.
I KNOW WE HAVE THE, UM, PRODUCTION OF PARKING MANDATES COMING TO US VERY, VERY SOON AS A CITY COUNCIL, BUT I KNOW THERE'S A COUPLE EXAMPLES I'VE SEEN IN TOWN WHERE, UM, PEOPLE HAVE INSTALLED THE BICYCLE PARKING IN A WAY THAT IS NOT REALLY FUNCTIONAL FOR E EITHER THE BICYCLE OR MAYBE OTHER PEOPLE WHO UTILIZE THE SIDEWALK AND YOU END UP WITH BICYCLE PARKING FACILITIES THAT JUST AREN'T FUNCTIONAL.
UM, SO I THINK THAT'S REALLY EXCITING.
DID, DID ANY OF MY COLLEAGUES HAVE ANY QUESTIONS OR, OR THOUGHTS THEY WANTED TO SHARE WITH THE VICE CHAIR OF UTC? I APPRECIATE YOU BEING HERE.
WE APPRECIATE THE UPDATE THAT WILL BRING US TO OUR PRESENTATION
[5. Autonomous Vehicles in Austin.]
ON AUTONOMOUS VEHICLES IN AUSTIN.AND AS THEY COME UP, I KNOW THAT THIS PRESENTATION HAS BEEN POSTED IN BACKUP.
I WILL START BY SAYING THAT DRIVERLESS VEHICLES HAVE BEEN A REALLY BIG TOPIC OF CONCERN IN AUSTIN.
UM, I KNOW THAT I'VE POSTED, UM, PUBLICLY ABOUT, UH, DRIVERLESS VEHICLES.
I KNOW THAT VICE CHAIR CADRY HAS, AS THE REPRESENTATIVE OF THE DOWNTOWN AREA, HAS SEEN, UH, QUITE A BIT MORE ISSUES HAPPEN WITH THESE VEHICLES.
UM, ONE OPERATOR IN OUR CITY CREW ANNOUNCED LAST NIGHT, THEY'RE TEMPORARILY SUSPENDING THEIR OPERATIONS WHILE THEY REASSESS THE PROCESS AND SYSTEMS AND REFLECT ON HOW THEY CAN BUILD BETTER TRUST WITH THE COMMUNITY THAT THEY'VE BEEN VERY ACTIVE IN.
PUBLIC TRUST IS A BIG TAKEAWAY FOR ME FROM THIS DECISION.
MORE IMPORTANTLY, PUBLIC SAFETY.
THANKFULLY THERE HAVE BEEN, THERE HAVEN'T BEEN INJURIES RELATED TO DRIVERLESS CARS IN OUR CITIES, BUT THEY'VE CAUSED THEIR FAIR SHARE OF FRUSTRATIONS.
AND THERE'S BEEN A LOT OF OTHER SITUATIONS THAT, UH, FOLKS HAVE BROUGHT TO MY ATTENTION SINCE THIS WAS ANNOUNCED YESTERDAY.
WE'VE SEEN VIDEOS ON SOCIAL MEDIA OF THEIR CARS MALFUNCTIONING, CAUSING TRAFFIC PROBLEMS AND A LACK OF IMMEDIATE SOLUTIONS.
AND IT'S IMPORTANT FOR AUTONOMOUS VEHICLE COMPANIES TO REALIZE THAT THESE DRIVERLESS CARS CAN BE DANGEROUS AND THAT OUR PUBLIC ROADS SHOULD NOT BE A TEST PLAYGROUND.
WE SHOULD NOT BE TREATED LIKE GUINEA PIGS WITH LIMITED STATE REGULATIONS IN PLACE.
IT'S IMPORTANT WE IDENTIFY WAYS FOR AUTONOMOUS VEHICLE PROVIDERS TO BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE FOR MALFUNCTIONS THAT THREATEN MOTORISTS, PEDESTRIANS, CYCLISTS, OR SLOW DOWN OUR PUBLIC SAFETY RESPONDERS.
I WANT TO THANK CITY STAFF FOR BRINGING US THIS IMPORTANT BRIEFING TODAY.
AND WHILE THEY DON'T SPEAK ON BEHALF OF THESE PRIVATE COMPANIES, I THINK IT'S IMPORTANT FOR THE PUBLIC TO KNOW THAT THE CITY IS TRYING TO BE AS RESPONSIVE AS POSSIBLE TO THE COMMUNITY CONCERNS AND ARE ACTIVELY WORKING TO MAKE OUR ROADS SAFER.
AND WITH THAT, DID YOU WANNA SAY A FEW WORDS? ABSOLUTELY.
I KNOW YOU CO-SPONSORED THIS WITH ME.
WE BOTH AT THE SAME MOMENT, I THINK SAID, MOBILITY COMMITTEE NEEDS TO BE TALKING ABOUT THIS.
AND THEN RIGHT AFTER THE, UH, MARATHON, UH, MEETING YESTERDAY, I, I CAME UP TO YOU AND I'M LIKE, I THINK CRUISE IS, CRUISE IS SUSPENDING OPERATIONS.
I JUST WANNA MAKE A A FEW QUICK WORDS.
UH, YOU KNOW, I'M, I WAS PLEASED TO HEAR LAST NIGHT THAT CRUISE HAS DECIDED TO VOLUNTARILY SUSPEND THEIR OPERATIONS.
I'VE SAID FROM THE BEGINNING THAT I DON'T THINK THIS TECHNOLOGY IS READY FOR PRIME TIME.
UH, AND BY THEIR OWN OPERATIONS, THEY'RE, THEY WERE AVOIDING LARGER STREETS, MAINTAINING A SMALLER FOOTPRINT, UH, AND STAYING AWAY FROM SPECIAL EVENTS WITH HIGHER VOLUMES OF TRAFFIC, UH, AND ALSO REDUCING SERVICES DURING INCLEMENT WEATHER.
UH, THAT TELLS US THE COMPANY DIDN'T HAVE ENOUGH FAITH IN THEIR OWN TECHNOLOGY TO OPERATE IN THE BASIC URBAN DRIVING CONDITIONS HUMANS DEAL WITH EVERY SINGLE DAY.
UH, AND EVEN WITH THESE RESTRICTIONS, WE STILL HAVE EVIDENCE OF DISRUPTIONS THAT RANGE FROM, UH, JUST BEING AN NUISANCE TO POTENTIAL THREATS TO SAFETY.
UH, IT'S UNFORTUNATE, UH, AS, AS THE CHAIR SAID, THAT STATE LAW DOESN'T ALLOW US TO REGULATE, UH, THIS UNPROVEN TECHNOLOGY
[00:15:01]
IN OUR STREETS, UH, THAT THESE COMPANIES ARE ESSENTIALLY USING, UH, IN THIS CASE, AUSTIN AS A, AS A TESTING LAB.UH, BOOSTERS HAVE BEEN SAYING FOR YEARS THAT SELF-DRIVING CARS ARE JUST AROUND THE CORNER.
I THINK SKEPTICS WOULD EVEN ADMIT THAT WE'VE SEEN A LOT OF ADVANCES IN THE PAST FEW YEARS, BUT I THINK WE'RE ONLY ABOUT 10% OF THE WAY THERE.
AND THAT MIGHT BE BEING A LITTLE BIT GENEROUS.
UH, I THINK THE INDUSTRY IS GONNA HAVE TO DO A LOT MORE DILIGENCE TO GET US TO A PLACE WHERE THESE VEHICLES CAN SAFELY OPERATE, UH, WITH ALL OF THE OTHER PEOPLE ON OUR STREETS, WHETHER THEY'RE IN CARS, FIRE TRUCKS, AMBULANCES ON BIKES ON THEIR FEET, OR WHATEVER THEY MIGHT BE DOING.
SO, SO TWO THINGS THAT I, I JUST KIND OF WANNA END ON.
ONE, I DO HOPE OUR STATE LAWMAKERS SEE WHAT'S HAPPENING AND GIVE SOME SERIOUS THOUGHT TO GIVING LOCAL COMMUNITIES THE POWER TO REGULATE SAFETY ON THEIR OWN STREETS.
TWO, WE SHOULDN'T JUST SIT BACK AND WAIT FOR ROBOT CARS TO SOLVE OUR MOBILITY PRO PROBLEMS. WE NEED TO REMAIN LASER FOCUSED ON THE GOALS OF OUR STRATEGIC MOBILITY PLAN TO MAKE IT EASIER TO GET AROUND AUSTIN WITHOUT A CAR.
AND WE CAN DO THAT THROUGH OUR PUBLIC INVESTMENTS AND TRANSIT AND BIKE LANES AND TRAILS AND SIDEWALKS, AND ALSO BY UPDATING OUR LINE DEVELOPMENT CODE TO ALLOW MORE WALKABLE, ACTIVE NEIGHBORHOODS.
UH, THOSE ARE SHINING NEW TECHNO, UH, TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS, BUT THEY'VE BEEN PROVEN TO WORK IN CITIES AROUND THE WORLD.
AND AS FAR AS I'M CONCERNED, WE CAN MAKE AUSTIN MORE ACCESSIBLE MOBILE CITY WITHOUT HAVING TO REINVENT THE WHEEL.
SO WITH THAT, I'LL PASS IT OFF BACK TO YOU.
I'LL, I'LL CHIME IN HERE TO SAY I ECHO MY COLLEAGUES AND THEIR COMMENTS, AND ALSO JUST SHARE THAT AUSTIN IS AN INNOVATIVE CITY, AND THAT'S PART OF THE FABRIC AND CORE OF WHO WE ARE AS A COMMUNITY.
AND WHILE I WELCOME NEW TECHNOLOGY, ESPECIALLY IN IMPROVING THE WAYS AUSTINITES GET CONNECTED, UH, THERE ARE METHODS AND MODS THAT ARE PROVEN TO WORK THAT WE SHOULD CONTINUE INVESTING IN.
UH, AND I ASK THAT THE INDUSTRY, IF YOU, WE KNOW THAT AV TECHNOLOGY, AUTONOMOUS VEHICLES ARE OUT THERE ON THE MARKET.
THEY'RE ONLINE, THEY'RE GONNA BE PART OF OUR WORLD MOVING FORWARD, UH, THAT WE WORK TOGETHER COLLABORATIVELY TO ENSURE THAT, UM, WHATEVER'S DEVELOPED IS DONE WITH SAFETY IN MIND.
UM, AND THEN IN, I WOULD LIKE TO END ON JUST POINTING OUT, UH, FOR OUR COMMUNITY WHO'S REACHED OUT TO US REGARDING THESE, UH, ROBOT CARS ASKING FOR US TO INTERVENE, UH, JUST TO POINT OUT THAT UNFORTUNATELY OUR STATE LEGISLATURE IS MORE INTERESTED IN, IN USURPING OUR LOCAL FREEDOMS AND OUR ABILITY TO DO WHAT'S IN THE BEST INTEREST OF THE PEOPLE THAT WE SERVE.
UH, SO IT'S UNFORTUNATE THAT OUR STATE LAWMAKERS CONTINUE TO TAKE AWAY TOOLS AND POLICIES THAT WE CAN EMPLOY ACTIVELY AT THE LOCAL LEVEL.
AND MY LAST FINAL WORDS BEFORE I TURN IT OVER TO YOU.
UM, I KNOW THAT OUR TRANSPORTATION AND PUBLIC WORKS, AND A LOT OF OUR OTHER PUBLIC SAFETY DEPARTMENTS THAT WORK IN THE CITY ARE COMMONLY PUT IN A POSITION WHERE THERE'S NEW TECHNOLOGY AND THE CITY IS HAVING TO APPROACH THE CONVERSATION IN A WAY THAT IS VOLUNTARY AND COLLABORATIVE AND SAYING, WE'RE HERE FOR YOU, WE WANNA HELP SORT THIS OUT.
SO THERE ARE SOME FRUSTRATIONS THAT CAN COME WITH BEING AN INNOVATIVE CITY, UM, BUT I KNOW THAT OUR DEPARTMENTS ARE ALWAYS WILLING TO STEP UP AND OFFER HELP AND, AND DO EVERYTHING THAT WE CAN AS A MUNICIPALITY TO, TO HELP TRY TO MAKE SURE WE KNOW HOW TO OPERATE IN THESE SPACES.
AND WITH THAT, I WILL TURN IT OVER TO YOU.
GOOD AFTERNOON, UH, CHAIR AND THE MEMBERS OF THE MOBILITY COMMITTEE.
UM, THANK YOU FOR SHARING YOUR THOUGHTS.
UM, I THINK Y'ALL TEED UP THIS BRIEFING VERY WELL.
MATTER OF FACT, YOU COVERED MOST OF IT, SO, BUT WE'LL GO AHEAD AND DO IT ANYWAYS.
I'M DIVISION MANAGER OF THE SMART MOBILITY OFFICE, AND I'M HERE WITH MY COLLEAGUE RACHEL CAST FROM, UH, THE MOBILITY OFFICE AS WELL.
AND I'D ALSO LIKE TO SAY THAT WE HAVE SOME OF OUR COLLEAGUES FROM, UH, PUBLIC SAFETY, AND I'D LIKE TO GO AHEAD AND JUST READ THEIR NAMES INTO THE RECORD.
AND, UH, AGAIN, THANK THEM FOR COMING.
THEY'VE BEEN A BIG PART OF OUR RESPONSE TO, UM, AUTONOMOUS VEHICLES IN THIS COMMUNITY.
UH, FROM FIRE, WE HAVE ASSISTANT CHIEF DELAROSA, UH, BATTALION CHIEF HOLMES, AND CAPTAIN ROY FROM, UH, EMS. WE HAVE COMMANDER PATTERSON AND DIVISION CHIEF PARKER.
AND FROM OUR POLICE, WE HAVE LIEUTENANT WHITE.
AND AGAIN, I CAN'T EXPRESS HOW MUCH WORK THEY'VE PUT INTO, UM, THE RESPONSE TO THE AUTONOMOUS VEHICLE, UM, WORKING GROUP AND, UM, AND KIND OF PUTTING TOGETHER A CITY RESPONSE TO THE AUTONOMOUS VEHICLES IN THE COMMUNITY.
SO, UH, I'D LIKE TO HANDLE THOSE IN THREE SECTIONS.
ONE IS TO, AS YOU ALL HAVE RECOGNIZED, TALK ABOUT THE REGULATORY ENVIRONMENT THAT WE HAVE AND DISCUSS THE, UM, SENATE BILL 2205.
THEN I'D LIKE TO TALK BRIEFLY ABOUT THE HISTORY OF AUTONOMOUS VEHICLES IN OUR COMMUNITY.
AND THEN I'M GONNA HAND THE PRESENTATION OVER TO RACHEL, WHO WILL TALK ABOUT OUR AUTONOMOUS WORKING GROUP.
HOPEFULLY WE'LL HAVE SOME TIME AT THE END, UH, TO ANSWER ANY OF YOUR QUESTIONS.
AND OUR FRIENDS FROM COLLEAGUES FROM PUBLIC SAFETY WILL BE AVAILABLE TO ANSWER QUESTIONS AS WELL.
[00:20:01]
SO, UH, NEXT SLIDE, PLEASE.UM, A POLITICAL SUBDIVISION OF THIS STATE OR STATE AGENCY MAY NOT IMPOSE A FRANCHISE OR OTHER REGULATORY REGULATION RELATED TO THE OPERATION OF AN AUTOMATED MOTOR VEHICLE OR CON DRIVING SYSTEM.
SO THE BOTTOM LINE IS, WE, AS A LOCAL GOVERNMENT MUNICIPALITY WITHIN THE STATE OF TEXAS, WE CANNOT REGULATE AUTONOMOUS VEHICLES.
AND THAT GOES FOR OBVIOUSLY, DALLAS AND HOUSTON, ANY OTHER CITY.
UM, WE CANNOT REQUIRE, UH, COMPEL SHARING OF DATA INCIDENCES, UM, GEO-FENCING WITHIN CERTAIN AREAS.
ALL OF THIS IS, AS WAS MENTIONED BY Y'ALL, IS KIND OF ON A VOLUNTARY COMPLIANCE BASIS.
SENATE BILL, UM, 2205 WAS BROUGHT INTO LAW IN 20 2017.
AND THAT WAS ACTUALLY THE SAME YEAR THAT THE THEN CALLED TRANSPORTATION DEPARTMENT.
NOW TRANSPORTATION AND PUBLIC WORKS PUBLISHED THE SMART MOBILITY ROADMAP.
AND IT WAS ACTUALLY ENVISIONED BACK THEN THAT WE WOULD NEED TO HAVE A CITYWIDE INTERDEPARTMENTAL RESPONSE TO EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES.
THEY CAME IN TO BE ABLE TO COMMUNICATE, EDUCATE, AND TRAIN.
UM, 2019 FORD, ARGO BEGAN TESTING IN THE CITY OF AUSTIN, AND THEY HAD A SMALL FLEET.
AND IN THE TESTING THEY HAD A SAFETY DRIVER.
AND THEY DID THAT FOR A NUMBER OF YEARS.
CREWS CAME IN IN 2022, AND THEY TOO, WERE IN TESTING MODE.
AND BY TESTING, TYPICALLY THE CARS ARE DRIVING AROUND AND THEY'RE MAPPING THE AREA.
THEY'RE GONNA GET VERY HIGHLY DETAILED MAPS WITHIN THEIR SYSTEMS SO THAT THEY KIND OF KNOW WHERE THEY ARE IN SPACE TO GO ALONG WITH THE ADDITIONAL TECHNOLOGY THEY HAVE AS FAR AS LIDAR, RADAR CAMERAS AND MICROPHONES.
UM, IN ABOUT THE, THE WINTER OF 2023 CREWS BEGAN A COMMERCIAL ENTERPRISE IN WHICH THEY STARTED THE ROBO TAXII, ESSENTIALLY ATNC MODEL.
UM, TAKING, TAKING ON CUSTOMERS AND DRIVING THEM AROUND ON A VERY LIMITED BASIS WAS KIND OF A SOFT LAUNCH BASED UPON, UH, THE DEMAND FOR THE SYSTEM.
UM, AND THEN THEY TRANSITIONED TO NOT HAVING ANY DRIVER AT ALL, A FULLY AUTONOMOUS, UM, A FULLY AUTONOMOUS ROBO TAXII, UH, SERVICE.
AND AS YOU POINTED OUT, UH, THAT SERVICE HAS BEEN SUSPENDED, CRUZ HAS SUSPENDED THAT SERVICE.
AS OF LAST NIGHT, UM, AGAIN, IN JULY OF 2023, WE STARTED TO SEE THE INCREASE OF THE FLEET OF AUTONOMOUS VEHICLES AND REALIZED WHAT WE NEEDED WAS AN INTERDEPARTMENTAL RESPONSE TO THIS, A WAY OF COMMUNICATING AND TRAINING AND TOUCHING BASE WITH PURE CITIES AND LOOKING AT THE REGULATIONS, SHARING THOSE REGULATIONS, TRYING TO HAVE STREAMLINED COMMUNICATIONS WITH THE COMPANIES.
AND IN ORDER TO DO ALL OF THAT, UH, SMART MOBILITY OFFICE, ESTABLISH THE, UM, AUTONOMOUS VEHICLE WORKING GROUP.
AND I WILL JUST TRANSITION OVER TO RACHEL TO LET HER, UH, FILL YOU IN ON ALL THE WORK THAT THEY'VE BEEN DOING.
UM, SO JUST AN FYI, UH, TYPICALLY THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT, WHICH IS MAINLY THE NATIONAL HIGHWAY TRANSPORTATION SAFETY ADMINISTRATION, UM, REGULATES THE SAFETY OF VEHICLES AND THE STATE, THE DMV USUALLY REGULATES THE SAFETY OF DRIVERS.
SO HERE WE HAVE A VEHICLE THAT IS A DRIVER, A DRIVER THAT'S A VEHICLE, AND THAT'S WHY THERE'S, UM, SOME TENSION BETWEEN FEDERAL AND STATE REGULATIONS THAT WE'VE SEEN.
UM, BUT WE KNOW THAT THE FEDERAL AGENCIES ARE REALLY ENGAGED IN THIS.
UM, WE ARE HELPING THEM GATHER DATA, UM, YOU KNOW, SHARING OUR INCIDENTS WITH THEM.
SO WE ARE IN CONVERSATION WITH NITSA.
UM, JUST SO THAT YOU'RE AWARE, NEXT SLIDE.
THIS WAS, UH, TRUE AS OF FRIDAY.
UM, AND LIKE HE SAID YESTERDAY, CRUZ DECIDED TO SUSPEND THEIR FULLY DRIVERLESS OPERATIONS.
UM, WE HAVE FOUR AV COMPANIES OPERATING IN AUSTIN THAT WE KNOW OF.
CRUISE WAYMO, ADMT, VOLKSWAGEN, AND AV RIDE.
UM, AND YOU CAN SEE THEIR VEHICLES THERE, KIND OF ABOUT WHAT WE BELIEVE THEIR FLEET IS TO BE.
UM, THEY DON'T HAVE TO DIVULGE ANY DATA OR INFORMATION TO US.
UM, SO WE DO HAVE, TRY TO BUILD THESE GOOD RELATIONSHIPS WITH THEM SO THAT WE CAN, UM, TALK AND WE CAN SEE WHERE THEY'RE OPERATING AND WE CAN KIND OF UNDERSTAND THEIR FLEET.
AND SO FAR, THAT'S BEEN PRETTY SUCCESSFUL.
UM, SO IN JULY, WE CREATED THIS AV SAFETY WORKING GROUP.
UH, THE PURPOSE OF THIS GROUP, UH, WAS TO COLLABORATE AND DEFINE SOLUTIONS TO THE ISSUES THAT WERE BEING RAISED BY AVS.
THE FOCUS IS REALLY RISK REDUCTION.
UM, AND SO YOU CAN SEE IT'S POLICE FIRE, UM, AUSTIN, TRAVIS COUNTY EMS, AND WE ALSO HAVE THE SUPPORT OF THE LAW DEPARTMENT.
[00:25:01]
WE, SO FIRE KIND OF BEGAN BY HAVING TRAININGS WITH THESE, AND WE FACILITATED EXPANDING THOSE TRAININGS TO POLICE AND EMS, UM, EXPANDING HOW WE COLLECT DATA, AND THEN MAKING SURE WE'RE ALL, ALL FOUR OF OUR DEPARTMENTS ARE SAYING THE SAME THINGS TO RESIDENTS, UM, AS WELL AS TO TECH STAT TO DPS, UM, TO ALL THE STAKEHOLDERS.UM, SO IT'S REALLY, REALLY HELPFUL FOR THE, OUR DEPARTMENTS TO SHARE EXPERTISE AND DATA AND RESOURCES.
AND FIRE HAD ALREADY CREATED AN INCIDENT DOCUMENT, UM, AND HAD BEEN HAVING THESE TRAININGS, SO NOW POLICE AND EMS HAVE ACCESS TO ALL OF THOSE RESOURCES.
AND WE MADE AN EXPECTATIONS DOCUMENT FOR AV COMPANIES.
ALL OF US KIND OF CAME TOGETHER, TOOK A LOOK AT, EVEN THOUGH WE CAN'T REGULATE WHAT OUR EXPECTATIONS, WHAT WOULD THE BEST POSSIBLE WAY BE, WE HAVE THAT IT'S A ONE PAGER.
WE SEND IT TO ANY COMPANIES THAT ARE CONSIDERING COMING IN.
AND WE DO HAVE A LOT OF INTEREST IN AUSTIN AS A CITY.
UM, AND WE'VE ALSO HAD A LOT OF CONVERSATIONS WITH PEER CITIES, BOTH SAN FRANCISCO AND PHOENIX WHEN WE WERE STARTING OUT, SINCE THEY HAVE A HISTORY OF AVS AND THEN TAKING WHAT WE KNOW AND OUR KNOWLEDGE AND, UH, TALKING TO HOUSTON, CHARLOTTE, NASHVILLE, PLACES THAT ARE GETTING AVS.
SO WE'VE BEEN REALLY PART OF A REALLY GOOD CITY TO CITY EXCHANGE, UM, OF PROCEDURES AND POLICIES, WHAT WORKS AND WHAT DOESN'T WORK.
WE ALSO HAVE TEXAS DPS, TEXAS FACILITIES COMMISSION AND UTPD INVOLVED WITH US.
UM, ALL OF THOSE ARE PEOPLE WHO SEE A LOT OF AVS AND AV INCIDENTS.
UM, SO WE LIKE TO TALK TO THEM, MAKE SURE THAT THEY CAN COME TO US AND SHARE ALL OF OUR RESOURCES WITH THEM.
IT IS CURRENT AS OF THURSDAY MORNING OR TUESDAY MORNING.
WE HAVE ACTUALLY HAD A COLLISION SINCE THEN.
UM, BUT WE USE THIS TOOL TO DETERMINE SPECIFIC AREAS THAT HAVE A LOT OF AV ISSUES.
UM, LIKE THE MOODY CENTER IS KIND OF A HOTSPOT AND FIRE STATION TWO, WHICH IS ON EAST MLK.
UM, AND THEN WE CAN TAKE REMEDIAL STEPS AND WE ALWAYS SAY WE DON'T CHANGE FOR AVS.
AVS NEED TO LEARN TO DRIVE IN AUSTIN.
UM, SO WE DO BRING THE AV COMPANIES TO THESE HOTSPOTS, WALK AROUND, TALK ABOUT WHAT THE ISSUES ARE, WHY THE CARS ARE HAVING THESE ISSUES.
AND SO THIS HAS BEEN A REALLY HELPFUL TOOL TO DETECT WHERE THE PROBLEMS ARE AND TO WORK ON SOLUTIONS FOR IT.
IT ALSO REALLY HELPS US DEPLOY LIMITED RESOURCES WHERE THEY'RE GOING TO HAVE THE MOST IMPACT.
UM, SO YOU CAN KIND OF SEE RED RIVER, WE KNOW TO BE KIND OF A HOTSPOT, UM, MLK WEST CAMPUS.
SO TXDOT IS MODELING THEIR STATEWIDE AV DASHBOARD OFF OF THIS ONE.
UM, BECAUSE WE HAVE GATHERED A LOT OF DATA AND THEY'RE BEGINNING THEIR DATA COLLECTION PROCESS.
WE ALSO KNOW THIS IS NOT ALL OF THE INCIDENTS.
THESE ARE ONLY INCIDENTS THAT COME IN THROUGH 3 1 1 OR THAT, UM, ONE OF YOUR OFFICES HAVE SENT TO ME OR THAT CAME IN THROUGH FIRE POLICE EMS INCIDENT REPORTING.
UM, MAYBE SOMEONE IN PARKING SAW THAT'S, THOSE ARE THE TPW ONES.
UH, SO I KNOW THAT WE SEE INCIDENTS ON SOCIAL MEDIA, AND WE DO NOT PUT THOSE IN THIS DASHBOARD UNLESS THE PERSON REACHES OUT TO US.
WE NEED TO HAVE THE TIME, THE DATE, AND THE LOCATION OF THE INCIDENT TO BRING IT BACK TO THE AV COMPANIES AND TALK ABOUT SO THEY CAN PULL THE VIDEO ON THEIR SIDE, WHAT HAPPENED.
AND I THINK THAT THAT IS IT FOR US.
UM, WE'RE HAPPY TO TAKE ANY QUESTIONS OR HAVE OUR PUBLIC SAFETY COLLEAGUES TAKE ANY QUESTIONS.
UM, JUST ONE QUESTION, IS THERE, AND I'M NOT SURE WHO ANYONE WHO CAN, WHO CAN ANSWER THIS.
UH, IS THERE ANY WAY TO COMPEL, UH, THESE ROBIC CAR COMPANIES TO PROVIDE EDA ACCESSIBLE VEHICLES? NOT THAT I KNOW OF, BUT I THINK THOSE CONVERSATIONS ARE OCCURRING AT THE FEDERAL LEVEL.
I'M CURIOUS IF, UH, IF THIS IS REGULATED OR, OR NOT REGULATED AT THE STATEWIDE LEVEL, IS THERE ANY LEVERAGE THAT UT POLICE DEPARTMENT WOULD HAVE THAT MAYBE OUR LOCAL POLICE WOULDN'T, SIMPLY BECAUSE THERE ARE STATE OPERATED ROADWAYS.
UM, WE KNOW LIKE LAMAR, CESAR CHAVEZ, UM, THERE'S A COUPLE OTHER ROADWAYS IN TOWN THAT ARE TECHNICALLY STATE OWNED RIGHT OF WAY THAT THE CITY PARTNERS IN THE MAINTENANCE AND OPERATIONS OF THOSE.
UM, IS THERE ANY BENEFIT THAT UTPD OR DPS HAS MORE AUTHORITY TO, TO WORK WITH THESE COMPANIES THAN THEN THEY WOULD ALLOW OUR LOCAL POLICE DEPARTMENT TO DO? I'M NOT SURE ABOUT THAT.
I DON'T KNOW IF LIEUTENANT WHITE, UH, HE SAYS NO.
UM, THESE UTPD TEXAS FACILITIES, WHICH HAS, UM, A LOT OF ISSUES ON 15TH AND MLK, UM, THEY'RE ALL IN CONVERSATION WITH TXDOT TO THE EXTENT THAT TDOT HAS ANY REGULATORY AUTHORITY, WHICH IS UNCLEAR.
I THANK YOU FOR THE PRESENTATION.
[00:30:01]
OF THE FEEDBACK THAT CAME IN FROM BOTH OUR PUBLIC SAFETY PERSONNEL AND FROM RESIDENTS TO BE SUPER ENLIGHTENING.CAN YOU SHARE A LITTLE BIT MORE ABOUT THE DISTINCTION BETWEEN A, UM, A REPORT THAT'S CATEGORIZED AS NUISANCE VERSUS A NEAR MISS? SURE.
UM, ALL OF THE INCIDENTS, AND WE HAVE, IT'S ALL PUBLIC, UM, PUBLICLY AVAILABLE.
IF SOMEONE SAYS IT ALMOST MISSED ME, WE CATEGORIZE IT AS A NEAR MISS.
A NUISANCE IS MORE LIKELY TO BE, THE LIGHTS BOTHER ME.
I SEE A LOT OF THEM IN MY NEIGHBORHOOD.
UM, SO WHEN SOMEONE USES, UH, KIND OF THE SAFETY TERM SIMILAR TO THE 3 1 1, UM, TRIGGERS FOR, FOR DANGEROUS VERSUS, UH, LESS DANGEROUS THINGS, THAT'S HOW WE CATEGORIZE NUISANCE VERSUS NEAR MISS.
AND IT SEEMS THAT A NEAR MISS COMPLAINTS HAVE BEEN THE MAJORITY OF COMPLAINTS THAT HAVE COME IN.
A LOT OF PEOPLE, UM, HAVE SAID THAT THEY HAVE HAD NEAR MISSES.
AND, AND CAN YOU ELABORATE A LITTLE BIT MORE ON THAT? WHAT, WHAT DOES THAT LOOK LIKE FOR OUR COMMUNITY? UM, UH, WE CAN OF COURSE SEND YOU THE INCIDENT REPORTS.
THEY GO DIRECTLY FROM EITHER THE 3 0 1 EMAIL OR THE INCIDENCES WRITTEN BY, UM, OUR FIRE POLICE OR EMS INTO THE REPORT.
SO, AND I THINK THAT FIRE HAS HAD SOME NEAR MISSES THAT THEY MIGHT WANNA TALK ABOUT.
YEAH, CHIEF HOLMES CAN TALK ABOUT THE EXPERIENCES THAT FIRE HAS HAD.
A LOT OF NEAR MISSES ARE RELATED TO EMERGENCY VEHICLES.
UM, YEAH, AS RACHEL WAS SAYING, SO TO KIND OF GIVE YOU MORE CONTEXT OF MAYBE WHAT YOU'RE ASKING FOR, I CAN THINK OF AT LEAST TWO INCIDENTS.
UH, PROBABLY FIRE STATION TWO OFF MLK.
UH, TYPICALLY WHEN THEY COME BACK FROM A CALL, THEY'RE, THEY'RE, THEY'RE CODE ONE, WHICH MEANS NO LIGHTS AND SIRENS.
THEY'RE SLOWING DOWN, BUT THEY'RE GONNA HAVE TO BACK THEIR RIG INTO THE STATION.
SO TYPICALLY THE PROCEDURE IS THEY TURN ON THEIR LIGHTS, THEY WAIT FOR PEOPLE TO STOP, AND THEN THEY HAVE TO ANGLE THEIR VEHICLE OUT IN TRAFFIC, SOMETIMES SUPPOSING TRAFFIC AND BAG IT IN.
THERE'S AT LEAST ONE INSTANCE.
WE'VE GOT IT ON VIDEO AND WE'VE ACTUALLY CONVERSED WITH AN, AN AUTONOMOUS VEHICLE COMPANY WHERE THE AV STOPPED.
AND THEN AS THE LIGHTS ARE ON AND THE, AND OUR ENGINE IS BACKING UP, IT WOULD ACTUALLY COME CLOSER AND CLOSER AND CLOSER TO THE FIRETRUCK WITHIN, I'D SAY LESS THAN FIVE FEET.
AND EVEN WITH FIREFIGHTERS STANDING THERE TRYING TO USE HAND SIGNALS TO STOP.
AND SO WE'RE KIND OF STOPPED, STILL STUCK OUT IN TRAFFIC WITH LIGHTS ON, AND THEN THE VEHICLE JUST DECIDES TO IMMEDIATELY GOOD TO SKULL AROUND IT FOR WHATEVER REASON.
SAME THING HAPPENED AT STATION THREE WITH OUR LADDER TRUCK.
UH, OTHER INSTANCES WHERE, UM, WE'VE HAD TRAINING ON HOW TO REMOTELY OR, OR GO IN AND ACTUALLY TAKE ACTIVE CONTROL OF AUTONOMOUS VEHICLE WHERE THEY ALLOW YOU TO SIT IN THE SEAT, TAKE CONTROLS AND MOVE A VEHICLE OUT OF THE WAY.
WE'VE HAD TRAINING ON THAT AS WELL WITH ONE OF OUR AUTONOMOUS VEHICLE PARTNERS.
THEY GAVE US TRAINING ON IT WHERE YOU SAW A VIDEO OR A PICTURE OF ALL THE PEOPLE THERE.
UH, FIRE POLICE, EMS WERE ALL THERE.
UH, I KNOW THAT WE ATTEMPTED TO DO THAT LIKE A WEEK OR SO LATER.
UH, AND THE VEHICLE COMPANY DID NOT RECOGNIZE OUR PERSONNEL WHO WERE IN UNIFORM AND SAYS, NO, WE CANNOT VERIFY THAT YOU ARE NOT CIVILIANS.
SO WE'VE SINCE HAD SOME DIALOGUE WITH THAT COMPANY AND THEY'VE SUPPOSEDLY FIXED IT.
BUT THOSE ARE THE KIND OF THINGS THAT WE'RE, WE'RE KIND OF DEALING WITH, OBVIOUSLY, SAFETY TO OUR FIRE PERSONNEL, SAFETY TO THE, THE PUBLIC IS, IS FOREMOST IN, IN OUR MINDS.
UH, WE'RE ALREADY DEALING WITH AN EMERGENCY SCENE THAT IS VERY DYNAMIC.
NOW YOU'RE ADDING ANOTHER UNPREDICTABLE FACTOR INTO THOSE SCENES.
AND SO THINGS THAT WE'RE ASKING FOR, I THINK I'VE HEARD, UH, EXCLUSION ZONE GEOFENCING.
THOSE ARE TERMS THAT ARE VERY, VERY IMPORTANT TO US.
UH, LAST SUNDAY FIRE, A HIGH RISE FIRE AT 91ST, UH, 90, UH, 9,100, NO, 91, UH, RED RIVER, THE QUINCY MM-HMM.
ACTIVELY SET FIRE TO A BUNCH OF BOXES.
ACTIVE FIRE, WE'RE SENDING ABOUT 30 FIRE PERSONNEL AND SEVEN BIG LARGE VEHICLES THERE.
APD ARRESTED, THIS INDIVIDUAL, DETAINED 'EM ON THE FIRST FLOOR.
WE WERE ABLE TO MANAGE THAT BECAUSE THE BUILDING SPRINKLER SYSTEM PUT THE FIRE OUT.
BUT IF IT HADN'T, WE WERE GONNA DOUBLE THAT TO PROBABLY ANOTHER 20 TO 30 FIRE AND A PROBABLY ANOTHER SEVEN TO 10, UH, APPARATUS.
WE NEED TO BE ABLE TO HAVE ASSURANCES FROM OUR, FROM OUR AV PARTNERS THAT THEY'RE GONNA BE ABLE TO GEO-FENCE THAT, THAT THEY'RE NOT GONNA HAVE THEIR VEHICLES IN THAT AREA.
AND SO HAVING DIALOGUE WITH THEM AND UNDERSTANDING HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE FOR US, FOR OUR DISPATCH TO ALERT YOU THROUGH ACTIVE 9 1 1, TO WHERE YOU GET THAT INFORMATION, YOU GIVE IT TO YOUR VEHICLES TO GIVE US THAT SPACE, THAT BUBBLE OF SAFETY, UH, THE INFORMATION WE'RE GETTING BACK IS, IS VARIED BETWEEN, UH, COMPANIES, WHETHER FROM ONE MINUTE RESPONSE TO DO THAT TO UP TO 10 MINUTES.
AND SO THAT'S A BIG, BIG THING FOR US.
I MEAN, YOU'VE PROVIDED SEVERAL, YOU KNOW, INTERESTING EXAMPLES OF JUST HOW DANGEROUS IT IS, YOU KNOW, WORKING WITH AVS WHEN THEY'RE
[00:35:01]
NOT, WHEN THEIR TECHNOLOGY IS NOT AT THE LEVEL TO BE ABLE TO RESPOND TO EMERGENCY SITUATIONS AND, AND IN FACT, MAKING EMERGENCY SITUATIONS WORSE.AND SO I, I APPRECIATE YOU SURFACING THESE EXAMPLES.
DO YOU HAVE MORE QUESTIONS? YEP.
YOU WANNA GO? I, I WAS JUST GONNA ASK GENERALLY ABOUT THE, THE REPORTING.
I KNOW THAT YOU SAID SOME OF THESE ARE COMING THROUGH 3 1 1 AND SOME OF THEM ARE FROM OUR PUBLIC SAFETY DEPARTMENTS DIRECTLY TO YOU.
IS THIS DASHBOARD PUBLICLY FACING FOR PEOPLE TO BE ABLE TO CLICK AROUND AND SEE WHAT SOME OF THESE ISSUES HAVE BEEN HAPPENING? LIKE IF IT'S CLOSE TO WHERE THEY LIVE OR CLOSE TO WHERE THEY WORK? I'M SURE PEOPLE WOULD WANNA KNOW MORE DETAILS ABOUT WHAT HAPPENED.
THE DASHBOARD IS, UH, CURRENTLY NOT PUBLIC, BUT WE CAN MAKE IT PUBLIC.
I THINK THERE'S A LOT OF CURIOUS MINDS IN HERE THAT JUST WANNA KNOW MORE ABOUT IT.
UM, YOU KNOW, WE HEARD, UH, SITUATIONS IN OTHER COMMUNITIES WHERE I THINK THERE WAS AN AUTONOMOUS VEHICLE BLOCKING A FIRETRUCK FROM BEING ABLE TO GET OUT OF ITS BAY AND BE ABLE TO RESPOND TO A 9 1 1 CALL.
AND SO I THINK THERE'S DEFINITELY SOME, UH, FURTHER VETTING THAT IS DESPERATELY NEEDED FOR THIS TECHNOLOGY.
DID YOU WANNA ASK YOUR OTHER QUESTION? I HAVE LIKE ONE OR TWO MORE, BUT YEAH, I MEAN, I KNOW YOU PROBABLY ARE GETTING MORE CONSTITUENT EMAILS DIRECTLY TO YOU.
YEAH, NO, I MEAN, I, I I MEAN, I, I THINK IT'S, IT'S, IT'S UM, KIND OF BEEN ANSWERED.
I WAS, I WAS GONNA ASK ABOUT THE 3 1 1.
UM, SO YOU ANSWERED, YOU ASKED IT.
UM, I HAD ANOTHER QUESTION ABOUT THE LOG THAT SAYS, IGNORE APD DIRECTION.
WHAT TYPES OF DIRECTION ARE BEING IGNORED? LIKE, WHAT IS IT, WE DON'T KNOW HOW TO GET THIS VEHICLE OUT OF THE WAY, IS IT? SURE.
AND I'LL HAVE LIEUTENANT WHITE BEHAVING IN OTHER WAYS THAT ARE DANGEROUS TO THE PUBLIC AND NOT HAVING A, A HUMAN TO, TO PULL OVER.
UH, AVS CAN'T, SOME AVS CANNOT FOLLOW HAND TRAFFIC CONTROL.
AND I THINK LIEUTENANT WHITE CAN TALK MORE ABOUT HOW THIS IS AN ISSUE AROUND ESPECIALLY SPECIAL EVENTS AND THAT KIND OF, ESPECIALLY AROUND THE MOODY CENTER.
SO YEAH, AS, AS RACHEL MENTIONED, THE BIGGEST PROBLEM I HEAR FROM MY OFFICERS IS THAT IT DOESN'T RECOGNIZE HAND SIGNALS, UH, THE OFFICER'S EITHER TRYING TO TELL TO STOP OR TO TURN, FOR EXAMPLE, AROUND SPECIAL EVENTS.
YOU KNOW, YOU OBVIOUSLY HAVE OFFICERS AND VEHICLES STATIONED OUT THERE BECAUSE THERE'S ROADS SHUT DOWN.
SO THEY'RE OUT THERE DIRECTING TRAFFIC, TELLING PEOPLE WHERE TO GO, ESPECIALLY AROUND THE MOODY CENTER IS ONE OF THE BIG AREAS.
AND I'VE GOTTEN FEEDBACK FROM MANY OFFICERS THAT SAY THE VEHICLE WILL CONTINUE TO APPROACH THEM JUST LIKE HE DESCRIBED WITH THE, THE FIRETRUCK.
UH, IT WOULD CONTINUE TO APPROACH TO WITHIN FEET OF THEM, EVEN THOUGH THEY'RE STANDING THERE TRYING TO GET IT TO STOP.
BUT IT WAS ODD TO THEM AND THEY FEARED THAT THEY WERE ACTUALLY GONNA GET HIT BECAUSE IT JUST CONTINUED TO APPROACH 'EM.
EVEN THOUGH THERE WERE LIGHTS ON, THERE'S AN OFFICER STANDING THERE GIVING IT HAND SIGNALS TRYING TO STOP IT, TELL IT TO TURN.
AND THEN AT NIGHT, OFFICERS USE, UH, BATONS WITH LIGHTS ON IT, TRYING TO DIRECT IT TO MAKE IT MORE VISIBLE.
AND FROM WHAT WE'VE SEEN, IT DOESN'T, IT DOESN'T RECOGNIZE THESE THINGS AND IT CAN'T PICK UP ON IT.
AND I'M ASSUMING THESE HAND SIGNALS ARE PROBABLY PRETTY UNIVERSAL ACROSS DIFFERENT CITIES THAT ABSOLUTELY THEY'RE NOT, NOT DIFFERENT FROM PLACE TO PLACE.
ANY, ANY DRIVER IN THE PUBLIC WOULD RECOGNIZE IF AN OFFICER IS STANDING THERE AND GOES LIKE THIS, THAT I NEED TO TURN THAT WAY.
OR IF THEY GO LIKE THIS, IT MEANS TO STOP, BUT THE VEHICLES DO NOT RECOGNIZE THIS.
AND THEN WITH THE REPORTING SYSTEM, IS THERE A WAY, I KNOW WITH APD INCIDENTS, THERE'S USUALLY A WAY TO FILL OUT FORMS ABOUT WHAT HAD HAPPENED.
UM, IS AUTONOMOUS VEHICLES PART OF THAT REPORTING PROGRAM OR IS THIS COMING ANECDOTALLY BETWEEN DEPARTMENTS? SO IT'S ANECDOTALLY, BUT WHEN WE RECEIVE THE INFORMATION ANECDOTALLY BASED ON THE, UH, REPORTING SYSTEM THAT RACHEL AND AFD SET UP, WE CAN FILL OUT A FORM THAT THEN WE CAN ADD IT TO A LOG THAT, THAT RACHEL KEEPS.
SO THE 3 1 1 IS, IS STANDARDLY HOW THEY'RE REPORTED.
SO WE DON'T HAVE ANYTHING THAT WE CAN LOOK IT UP OTHER THAN THROUGH THAT REPORTING SYSTEM WHERE IT GETS SHARED WITH US AND THEN WE, WE, UH, GIVE IT OVER TO RACHEL TO ADD IT TO INCIDENTS OR IF THEY EMAIL, I TELL, I'VE TOLD ALL THE OFFICERS IN THE DEPARTMENT, ANY ENCOUNTER YOU HAVE, LET ME KNOW AND I'LL FILL OUT THE FORM OR THEY CAN DO IT THEMSELVES.
AND I SENT THEM ALL OUT THE, THE LINK TO FILL IT OUT THEMSELVES IF THEY NEED TO.
'CAUSE I'M CURIOUS IF FOLKS, UM, OR EVEN THE COMPANIES THEMSELVES WANT TO KNOW WHAT ARE THE COMPLAINTS COMING IN SO THAT THEY CAN BETTER ADDRESS THE SITUATION.
IS THAT INFORMATION THAT'S EASY TO COMPILE? IS IT READY TO GO? OR WE CAN SAY, HEY, COMPANY A,
[00:40:01]
HERE'S ALL THE REPORTS WE'VE GOT COMPANY B, HERE'S EVERYTHING THAT'S GOING ON WITH YOUR VEHICLES.UM, BUT I APPRECIATE THIS BEING SET UP BECAUSE I THINK THAT AT THIS STAGE OF THE GAME, THIS IS A GREAT THING FOR US TO, UM, BE ABLE TO SORT OUT AND MAKE SURE THAT WE CAN LEAD BY EXAMPLE AND, AND ANALYZE THAT DATA AND BE ABLE TO GET AHEAD OF THE ISSUES OR PREVENT FURTHER ISSUES FROM HAPPENING DOWN THE ROAD.
WE SEND THE INCIDENT REPORT EVERY WEEK, UM, TO THE AV COMPANIES OF JUST THEIR SPECIFIC INCIDENTS, UM, SO THEY CAN SEE EXACTLY HOW WE'RE COMPILING THEM, WHERE THEY WERE, WHAT TIME THEY WERE SO THAT THEY CAN DO THE WORK ON THEIR END.
ARE THERE ANY OTHER QUESTIONS? VICE CHAIR? GO AHEAD.
UM, WHAT IS THE BEST WAY FOR THE PUBLIC TO REPORT, UH, COMPLAINTS? IS IT, IS IT 3 1 1? IT'S 3 1 1.
UNLESS IT'S AN EMERGENCY, PLEASE CALL 9 1 1.
I I THINK WE'VE ASKED ALL THE QUESTIONS THAT WE COULD COME UP WITH.
THIS IS OBVIOUSLY AN EVOLVING SITUATION SINCE WE JUST LEARNED LAST NIGHT THAT ONE OF THE COMPANIES IS PULLING OUT OF TOWN.
UM, BUT I, I WOULD JUST URGE FOR OUR, UH, TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION FOLKS THAT WE KNOW AND LOVE HERE IN AUSTIN, PLEASE COMMUNICATE WITH THE CITY.
PLEASE COMMUNICATE WITH TRANSPORTATION, PUBLIC WORKS, PUBLIC SAFETY OFFICES, BECAUSE IT'S NOT THE FIRST TIME WE'VE HAD NEW TECHNOLOGY ON OUR STREETS.
WE DEALT WITH THIS WITH SCOOTERS WHERE THERE I THINK WAS ONE COMPANY THAT WAS COMING TO THE CITY ASKING A LOT OF QUESTIONS, WANTING TO BE A GOOD PARTNER.
THERE WAS ANOTHER COMPANY THAT JUST PUT ALL THE SCOOTERS OUT OVERNIGHT AND REALLY HADN'T HAD THAT DIALOGUE.
BUT OUR TRANSPORTATION STAFF AND OUR PUBLIC SAFETY OFFICIALS HAVE BEEN THROUGH NEW TECHNOLOGY BEFORE AND CAN TELL YOU WHERE THE PITFALLS ARE GOING TO BE AND WHAT NEEDS TO BE CONSIDERED WITH NEW TECHNOLOGY.
SO I KNOW AS SLIDE ONE SHOWED, UH, THE, THE STATE HAS DECIDED THEY WANT THE RULES TO BE MANAGED BY THE STATE OR EQUAL ACROSS ALL MUNICIPALITIES.
AND IF THAT'S THE CASE, THEN I WOULD HOPE THAT WE CAN OPEN THAT DIALOGUE UP SO THAT WE COULD ALL COME TO SOME SORT OF AGREEMENT ABOUT WHAT IS BEST FOR THESE NEW TECHNOLOGIES AND HOW TO KEEP THE PUBLIC SAFE WHEN THEY'RE OUT ON SIDEWALKS AND USING THE STREETS AND IN THE BIKE LANES.
UM, 'CAUSE THERE'S CLEARLY SOME TROUBLESHOOTING THAT STILL NEEDS TO HAPPEN.
UM, WE DON'T HAVE A LOT OF LEVERAGE AT THE CITY.
UM, BUT I DO THINK WE HAVE GREAT EXPERTS WHO HAVE SEEN THIS BEFORE AND CAN PROVIDE A LOT OF WORDS OF WISDOM TO PEOPLE WHO WANNA LAUNCH NEW TECHNOLOGY OUT ON OUR STREETS.
SO I LOOK FORWARD TO SEEING HOW THE CONVERSATION CONTINUES AND HOW UH, COMPANIES ARE BETTER ABLE TO, TO BALANCE THE PUBLIC INTEREST AND, AND THE INNOVATION THAT COMES WITH WITH THIS.
[4. Barton Springs Road Bridge project update.]
IS GOING TO BE, I THINK IT'S, DID I SAY BARTON SPRINGS ROAD BRIDGE? I DID.AND I'LL GIVE THIS ONE A BRIEF INTRO AS WELL TO TEE US UP AS YOU'RE GETTING INTO PLACE IN THE 2020 ACTIVE MOBILITY BOND.
WE INCLUDED PRELIMINARY ENGINEERING FOR THIS PARTICULAR BRIDGE AS EARLY AS 2015.
I REMEMBER ATTENDING A PRE-BID MEETING THAT THE CITY OF AUSTIN HELD BEFORE I WAS IN OFFICE MYSELF, AND IT WAS A CONVERSATION AROUND THE BARTON SPRINGS ROAD BRIDGE AND THE REDBUD BRIDGE.
THEY BOTH HAVE SOME, UH, HISTORIC COMPONENTS TO THEM.
AND SO I KNOW THAT DEPARTMENTS WANTED TO BE ABLE TO COMMUNICATE WITH THE PRIME AND SUBCONTRACTORS THAT MIGHT WORK ON THESE PROJECTS.
AND I KNOW THE CONVERSATION STARTED EVEN BEFORE THAT PRE-BID MEETING SO MANY, MANY YEARS AGO FOR THIS PARTICULAR BRIDGE.
I KNOW THERE WAS SOME CONVERSATION AND MAYBE EVEN A PUSH TO EXPAND THE NUMBER OF LANES THROUGH HERE.
UM, AND I THINK THE NEIGHBORS WHO LIVE NEARBY AND THE FOLKS THAT HAVE TRAVELED THROUGH ZILKER PARK KNOW THAT WE DIDN'T NECESSARILY WANT SOMETHING THAT WAS A MAJOR HIGHWAY STYLE THOROUGHFARE.
UM, SO I'M GLAD THAT THIS IDEA HAS GONE BY THE WAYSIDE AND THAT RIGHT NOW WE'RE SOLELY FOCUSED ON MOVING PEOPLE THROUGH THIS INTERSECTION IN A WAY THAT IS SAFER FOR THE WALKERS, BIKERS, PEOPLE USING WHEELCHAIR CAT METRO BUSES AND CAR DRIVERS.
SO I KNOW THERE'S A LOT OF CONVERSATION RIGHT NOW ABOUT WHAT IS THE STRUCTURAL DESIGN ULTIMATELY GOING TO BE, AND THERE'S SOME VISUAL COMPONENTS THAT WERE PRESENTED AT THE PUBLIC MEETING THAT WAS A COUPLE OF MONTHS AGO.
UM, BUT AT THE END OF THE DAY, WE NEED TO MAKE SURE EVERYONE COMING THROUGH THIS BRIDGE IS SAFE AND THAT THE BRIDGE ITSELF IS WELL MAINTAINED AND FUNCTIONAL FOR THE FUTURE.
I'M THE ACTING DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF CAPITAL DELIVERY SERVICES.
UM, AND WE'RE HERE TO REVIEW THE RECOMMENDED OPTION IN THE PRELIMINARY ENG ENGINEERING REPORT FOR THE BARTON SPRINGS ROAD BRIDGE.
I WANNA START OFF WITH A LITTLE BIT OF BACKGROUND HERE.
UM, THE BARTON SPRINGS BRIDGE, UH, WAS FIRST BUILT IN 1926, IS A TWO LANE BRIDGE OVER, UH, BARTON SPRINGS.
IN 1946, IT WAS EXPANDED TO ITS CURRENT CONFIGURATION WITH FOUR LANES IN EACH DIRECTION.
[00:45:01]
THIS BRIDGE, AS EVERYONE KNOWS, IS A KEY ENTRANCE TO ZILKER PARK AND THE MANY USERS WHO GO THERE, AS WELL AS THE, THE EVENTS THAT ARE HELD THERE.IN ADDITION, IT HAS A DAILY VE VEHICULAR CIRCULATION OF 20,000 VEHICLES.
SO IN ADDITION TO PEOPLE ACCESSING THE PARK, THERE ARE ALSO PEOPLE THAT GET IN AND OUT OF THE CITY VIA THE BARTON SPRINGS BRIDGE.
DID YOU, UM, SO TALKING ABOUT FUNDING, THE PRELIMINARY AND DESIGN PHASES HAVE ACTUALLY BEEN AROUND SINCE 2012.
UM, SO THE PORTIONS OF THE 20 12, 18 AND 2020 BOND PROGRAMS, THE FULL DESIGN OF THE BRIDGE, UH, IS FUNDED VIA THE 2020 BOND PROGRAM UNDER THE MAJOR CIP BUCKET THAT'S IN THERE.
UM, WE ARE STILL, UM, THE CONSTRUCTION HAS NOT BEEN, CONSTRUCTION FUNDING HAS NOT BEEN IDENTIFIED TO DATE.
UM, IN ADDITION, THE ELI THE PRELIMINARY BUDGET FOR THE PROJECT WAS $37 MILLION.
UM, THIS INCLUDED, UM, NOT ONLY CONSTRUCTION COSTS BUT ALSO, UM, SOFT COSTS SUCH AS DESIGN, INSPECTION, UH, TESTING AND PROJECT MANAGEMENT.
PRIMARY GOAL DURING CONSTRUCTION IS TO MAINTAIN ALL FOUR LANES OF TRAFFIC, UM, AS WE MOVE FORWARD WITH THE PROCESS, AS WELL AS THE, UM, CAPACITY OF THE AZ MORTON, UH, BARTON SPRINGS INTERSECTION.
UM, IF YOU'RE DRIVEN IN THE AREA IN THE MORNINGS, YOU CAN HAVE SEEN, UM, TRAFFIC TENDS TO STACK UP ON AZ MORTON, TURNING ONTO BARTON SPRINGS.
SO WE WANNA MAKE SURE THAT WE'RE ALLOWING, UH, VEHICULAR TRAFFIC GET THROUGH THERE, AS WELL AS, UM, PROVIDING IMPROVED ACCESS, UH, ACROSS BARTON SPRINGS TO ZILKER PARK FOR ALL OF THE, UH, YOU KNOW, LIVE EVENTS AND THINGS SUCH AS ACL THAT JUST WRAPPED UP THERE.
UM, AND, AND TRAIL LIGHTS, BLUES ON THE GREEN, ALL THE OTHER, UH, YOU KNOW, GREAT EVENTS THAT WE HOST IN THE PARK.
UM, SO THE NEW BRIDGE DESIGN, YOU CAN SEE A OVERVIEW HERE, UM, WILL INCLUDE, YOU KNOW, WIDER BIKE LANES, PEDESTRIAN ACCESS, UH, MAINTAINING THOSE FOUR LANES OF VEHICULAR TRAFFIC, UM, AS WELL AS IMPROVING THE TRANSITIONS ON AND OFF THE BRIDGE BOTH INTO, UH, ZILKER PARK AS WELL AS ONTO BARTON SPRINGS ROAD.
SO THIS IS A, UM, ROUGH OVERVIEW OF THE SEQUENCE OF CONSTRUCTION.
UM, THIS WILL REMAIN ROUGHLY THE SAME REGARDLESS OF THE OPTION CHOSEN DUE TO THE CONSTRAINTS THAT ARE NEEDED, UM, TO MAINTAIN TRAFFIC.
SO, UH, IF YOU LOOK, UM, YOU CAN SEE THE ADDITIONAL DECK WIDTH THAT WE WILL NEED TO ADD TO ACCOMMODATE THE PEDESTRIAN AND BICYCLE ACCESS.
UH, THE FIRST PHASE BEGINS BY CONSTRUCTING THE NEW STRUCTURES ON THE NORTH AND SOUTH SIDES OF THE EXISTING BRIDGE.
THEN TRAFFIC SHIFTS, UM, TO THE HALF OF THE EXISTING BRIDGE, AS WELL AS THE NEW STRUCTURES THAT WERE BUILT ON THE NORTH AND SOUTH SIDES.
THEN TRAFFIC IS SHIFTED AGAIN TO THE NEW, UH, SOUTH INTERIOR SECTION.
AND THEN FINALLY IT'S ALL PIECED BACK TOGETHER AS YOU SEE IN THE FINAL BRIDGE, UH, VERSION THERE WITH THE MULTI-USE PATH BIKE LANES, FORD TRAFFIC LANES CENTER MEDIAN, AND, UH, BIKE LANES ON BOTH THE AND PEDESTRIAN WALKWAYS ON THE NORTH AND SOUTH SIDES.
SO NEXT I'M GONNA WALK THROUGH THE PROJECT OPTIONS THAT WE'VE CONSIDERED.
UM, AT A VERY HIGH LEVEL, WHEN ENGINEERS EVALUATE, UM, PROJECT OPTIONS, WE CONDUCT WHAT'S CALLED A PRELIMINARY ENGINEERING REPORT OR PER, UH, FOR THE BARTON SPRINGS ROAD BRIDGE.
THE CITY HIRED AECOM WAS A WORLD-CLASS, UH, ENGINEERING FIRM THROUGH A COMPETITIVE SOLICITATION PROCESS TO DEVELOP THIS PER AECOM EVALUATED VARIOUS OPTIONS AVAILABLE, INCLUDING THE, INCLUDING TAKING NO ACTION OR THE DO NOTHING OPTION, REHABILITATING THE EXISTING STRUCTURE OR A FULL REPLACEMENT.
THE PROJECT TEAM CONSIDERED FIVE OPTIONS PLUS THE DO NOTHING OPTION.
UH, EARLY ON IT WAS DETERMINED THAT THE DO NOTHING AND LIGHT TOUCH REHABILITATION OPTIONS WERE NOT FEASIBLE DUE TO THE AGE AND CONDITION OF THE EXISTING BRIDGE.
THROUGH EXTENSIVE TESTING, IT WAS DETERMINED THAT THE REINFORCING STEEL WITHIN THE CONCRETE OF THE BRIDGE, UM, WAS SHOWING SIGNS OF CORROSION.
AND AT A MINIMUM, THE EXISTING BRIDGE DECK AND SPANDREL COLUMNS WOULD NEED TO BE COMPLETELY REPLACED IN ORDER TO EXTEND THE SERVICE LIFE.
AND IF YOU SEE IN THE PICTURE ON THE, UH, LEFT-HAND SIDE OF THE PRESENTATION THERE, THE SPANDREL COLUMNS ARE THE VERTICAL SECTIONS THAT SUPPORT THE BRIDGE DECK OVER THE ARCHES.
UM, AND AGAIN, WHEN WE WERE LAST HERE IN MAY, UM, TO DISCUSS THIS PROJECT, WE HAD A CONCERNED, UH, ENGINEER PRESENTING A LETTER STATING THAT PER HIS VISUAL INSPECTION, UH, LIGHT TOUCH REHABILITATION, INCLUDING FIBER WRAPPING THE COLUMNS AND INSTALLING, UM, AN ANTI CORROSION SYSTEM WAS THE BEST OPTION FOR THE BRIDGE.
THE PROJECT TEAM, UM, MET SUBSEQUENTLY WITH THIS ENGINEER AND COUNCIL MEMBER RYAN ALTER'S STAFF TO DISCUSS, UM, THE OPTIONS AND PROVIDE IN ADDITIONAL INFORMATION FROM AECOM THE DESIGN ENGINEER ABOUT THE CONDITION AND THE CORROSION WITHIN THE EXISTING CONCRETE, AND THAT THE TRUE RISK TO THE STRUCTURE LIES WITHIN THE, THE CONCRETE OF THESE EXISTING STRUCTURE AND CAN'T BE SEEN FROM A VISUAL INSPECTION.
UM, THIS IS OFF OFTEN THE CASE IN BRIDGES OF THIS AGE WITH THIS USE WHERE THE, UM, INTERIOR STEEL
[00:50:01]
HAS A USEFUL LIFE WHERE IT TENDS TO CORRODE OVER TIME AND EVENTUALLY NEEDS REPLACEMENT.UM, SO THE OTHER OPTIONS THAT WE, UM, STUDIED, INCLUDING THREE SUB OPTIONS OF FULL REPLACEMENT.
SO YOU CAN SEE HERE THE SINGLE SPAN OPTION, A TWO SPAN OPTION, AND A THREE SPAN OPTION.
UM, SO ALL IN ALL, WE CONSIDERED, UM, YOU KNOW, FIVE ALTERNATIVES AND WE FULLY EVALUATED FOUR OF THOSE, INCLUDING A FULL REHABILITATION AND THE THREE REPLACEMENT OPTIONS, AND WE'LL DIVE INTO THOSE A LITTLE BIT LATER IN THE PRESENTATION HERE.
IN ADDITION TO TO DEVELOPING THE, UH, ENGINEERING DESIGN ALTERNATIVES, WE ALSO HELD AN EXTENSIVE COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT EFFORT.
WE HAD IN-PERSON AN IN-PERSON COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT, UH, MEETING ON APRIL 4TH, AS WELL AS A VIRTUAL OPEN HOUSE FROM MARCH 2ND TO APRIL 18TH, WHERE COMMUNITY MEMBERS COULD REVIEW THE DESIGN OPTIONS AND PROVIDE FEEDBACK.
AT THE IN-PERSON MEETING, WE RECEIVED 11 COMMENTS AT THE VIRTUAL MEETING, RECEIVED 1600 VIEWS AND 176 COMMENTS.
SO YOU CAN SEE FROM THE PIE CHART ON THE RIGHT HERE, THE COMMENTS WERE PRETTY EVENLY SPLIT BETWEEN THE REHABILITATION AND REPLACEMENT OPTIONS, EACH RECEIVING APPROXIMATELY 30% OF THE POSITIVE RESPONSES AND THE DO NOTHING OPTION RECEIVED, UH, 20% OF THE SUPPORT HERE.
NEXT I WANNA PROVIDE A QUICK OVERVIEW OF THE VIABLE REHABILITATION AND REPLACEMENT OPTIONS.
UM, THE FIRST IS STRUCTURAL REHABILITATION.
AS I MENTIONED PREVIOUSLY, DUE TO THE CONDITION OF THE EXISTING BRIDGE DECK AND SPAN VILLE COLUMNS, UM, ALL OF THE STRUCTURE, THE UPPER STRUCTURE WOULD NEED TO BE, UH, REPLACED TO SUCCESSFULLY EXTEND THE USEFUL LIFE OF THE BRIDGE CONSTRUCTION WOULD START IN PHASES.
UM, AS I MENTIONED AT THE BEGINNING, UM, BY PLACING THE NEW BRIDGE SPANS, WHICH YOU CAN SEE IN LIGHT GRAY AT THE TOP AND BOTTOM OF THE PICTURE UNDER THE HEADING NUMBER THREE, AND THEN REMOVING AND RECONSTRUCTING THE DECK COLUMNS OF THE EXISTING BRIDGE AS WELL AS THE SPAN DRILLS, THEN THE TRAFFIC SHIFTING TO THE NEW STRUCTURE.
UM, AT THE END OF THE DAY, THIS OPTION WOULD LEAVE LESS THAN HALF OF THE EXISTING STRUCTURE IN PLACE AND REQUIRE ALL OF THE REMAINING STRUCTURE TO BE RESURFACED IN ORDER TO, UH, EXTEND ITS USEFUL LIFE.
BASICALLY, THE EXISTING BRIDGE WOULD NO LONGER HAVE THE SAME LOOK AS IT DOES NOW DUE TO THE STRUCTURAL NEEDS OF REPLACING, UH, THE COLUMNS AND ADDING THE WIDTH TO INCREASE THE LIFE.
UM, THE CONSTRUCTION COST OF THE REHABILITATION OPTION IS 14.8 MILLION IN CONSTRUCTION COST, BUT THE TOTAL PROJECT COST OF 37.8, AGAIN, THAT'S A PRETTY BIG GAP.
BUT THAT WORK ALSO INCLUDES IMPROVEMENTS TO THE APPROACHES AS WELL AS, YOU KNOW, RETAINING WALL WORK AND IMPROVING THE, UH, PEDESTRIAN CIRCULATION IN AND OFF THE BRIDGE.
NEXT, THE PROJECT TEAM STUDIED THREE REPLACEMENT OPTIONS, SINGLE SPAN, TWO SPAN, AND THREE SPAN OPTIONS.
UH, THE PROS AND CONS OF EACH OPTION ARE, UM, LAID OUT IN THE SLIDE HERE AND FOCUS ON THINGS SUCH AS STRUCTURAL COMPLEXITY, VISUAL OPENNESS, CONSTRUCTABILITY, AS WELL AS COST.
UM, IN THE END, THE THE SINGLE SPAN OPTION IS PROBABLY IS THE MOST COMPLEX STRUCTURAL SYSTEM IN ADDITION TO, UM, OBSTRUCTING, OBSTRUCTING THE VISUALS, UH, FOR USERS OF, UM, BARTON SPRINGS AS IT ENTERS, UM, TOWN LAKE AS WELL AS BEING THE MOST COMPLEX TO BUILD.
UM, AS, AND IN ADDITION, IT'S ALSO THE MOST EXPENSIVE OPTION.
UH, THE TWOP SPAN OPTION IS LESS COMPLEX.
UH, IT'S MORE VISUALLY OPEN AND PROVIDES LESS OF AN OBSTRUCTION ALONG THE CREEK AND HAS THE FEWEST NUMBER OF FOUNDATIONS THAT ARE IN THE WATER.
UM, BUT THE BRIDGE CONSTRUCTION COSTS THERE IS, UH, ALSO PRETTY SIGNIFICANTLY HIGHER THAN THE THREE SPAN OPTION.
THE THREE SPAN OPTION, AGAIN, IS THE LE THE LEAST COMPLEX OF THE OPTION.
BASICALLY THE Y'S ARE JUST TURNED SIDEWAYS, ALLOWS THE MOST CLEAR VISUAL FOR USERS THROUGH UNDERNEATH THE BRIDGE, AND IT HAS THE LEAST NUMBER OF, UM, CONSTRUCTION CHALLENGES AS WE MOVE FORWARD WITH THE CONSTRUCTION CONTRACT.
THE END OF THE DAY, THE PRELIMINARY ENGINEERING REPORT AS WELL AS THE STAFF RECOMMENDATION IS TO RECOMMEND, UM, REPLACEMENT OPTION THREE, WHICH YOU CAN SEE HERE IS THE THREE SPAN, UH, OPTION WITH THE, WHICH PROVIDES THE LOWEST COST EASIEST CONSTRUCTABILITY, UM, AS WELL AS THE LEAST OBSTRUCTION OF THE VIEWS FOR THE USERS.
UM, ON THE WATERWAY UNDERNEATH THE BRIDGE, UM, YOU CAN SEE HERE A RENDERING THAT SHOWS ALSO THE ADDITIONAL, UH, PEDESTRIAN AND UH, TRAIN ACCESS ON THE LEFT HAND SIDE THERE FOR THE ZIL OR EAGLE.
UM, AND IF YOU GO TO THE NEXT SLIDE, WE CAN SEE A RENDERING OF WHAT THE TOP OF THE BRIDGE STRUCTURE WOULD LOOK LIKE.
UM, AGAIN, TWO LANES IN EACH DIRECTION, IMPROVED PEDESTRIAN AND BICYCLE ACCESS ON BOTH SIDES, AS WELL AS, UM, THE CENTER MEDIAN THERE, UM, ADDING SOME, SOME GREENERY AND SOME VISUAL IMPACT.
SO, UM, YOU KNOW, WHAT COMES NEXT FOR THIS PROJECT? RIGHT NOW
[00:55:01]
WE ARE PRESENTING THE, UH, THE CONCEPT ENGINEERING REPORT.UM, THE NEXT STEP ON OUR SIDE IS WE ARE TAKING THIS, UH, WE ARE LOOKING TO TAKE THIS RECOMMENDATION TO THE FULL CITY COUNCIL TO COMPLY WITH THE 2020 BOND LANGUAGE WHERE THE COUNCIL CAN REVIEW THE, UH, THE PRELIMINARY ENGINEERING REPORT AS WELL AS THE ENGINEERING AND STAFF RECOMMENDATIONS FOR THE, UH, REPLACEMENT OPTION.
AND THEN ONCE COUNCIL TAKES ACTION, HOPEFULLY TO APPROVE THIS OPTION, WE'LL MOVE FORWARD INTO TO THE DESIGN PHASE, WHICH IS FUNDED BY THE 2020, UH, BOND PROGRAM.
SO, UM, TWO IMPORTANT THINGS TO NOTE HERE.
FIRST OF ALL, THAT THIS PROJECT IS FULLY FUNDED THROUGH THE DESIGN PHASE, BUT WE HAVE NOT, UH, IDENTIFIED CONSTRUCTION FUNDING YET.
AND SECOND IS THAT, YOU KNOW, ONE THING, THE SECOND THING IS THAT, UM, YOU KNOW, Y'ALL HAVE SEEN A RECENT MEMO TO MAYOR AND COUNCIL REGARDING THE BRIDGE AND THE CITY'S, UH, TRANSPORTATION PUBLIC WORKS DEPARTMENT RECENTLY INSTALLED SIGNS INDICATING THAT EASTBOUND HEAVY VEHICLE TRAFFIC ON THE BRIDGE IS REQUIRED TO USE ONLY THE RIGHT LANE.
UH, THIS RECOMMENDATION CAME FROM THE ENGINEERING CONSULTANT AECOM AS A PREEMPTIVE MEASURE TO EXTEND THE LIFE OF THE BRIDGE AND DELAY OR AVOID MORE SIGNIFICANT MEASURES SUCH AS LOAD POSTING, WHICH EFFECTIVELY LIMITS THE WEIGHT OF VEHICLES THAT ARE ABLE TO CROSS THE BRIDGE.
JUST WANTED TO CAP OFF BY SAYING IT IS VITALLY IMPORTANT THAT WE MOVE FORWARD THROUGH THE DESIGN PROCESS ON THIS BRIDGE AND, UM, GET THE REPLACEMENT, UM, UNDERWAY SO THAT WE CAN AVOID A POTENTIAL FUTURE, UM, YOU KNOW, EMERGENCY TYPE OF SITUATION IF SOMETHING WERE TO HAPPEN.
AGAIN, THE LIFESPAN OF BRIDGES IS DIFFICULT TO PREDICT, BUT THIS BRIDGE IS AT THE END OF ITS USEFUL LIFE AND IS IN NEED OF SOME SIGNIFICANT STRUCTURAL IMPROVEMENT.
SO, UM, WITH THAT, I'LL OPEN IT UP TO QUESTIONS.
I APPRECIATE THAT PRESENTATION.
I WAS THINKING ABOUT SOME OF THE AMENITIES ON THE TOP OF THE BRIDGE.
MM-HMM,
UM, THE VISION ZERO PROGRAM IS DOING A PILOT ALONG BARTON SPRINGS, UP TO THAT BRIDGE.
AND SO I KNOW THERE'S CONVERSATION HAPPENING ABOUT TRYING TO REMIND PEOPLE AS THEY DRIVE THROUGH THAT AREA, THAT IT'S NOT A HIGHWAY AND THERE'S A LOT OF FOLKS THAT TREAT IT THAT WAY BECAUSE IT'S KIND OF DESIGNED THAT WAY RIGHT NOW.
SO IS THERE A DISCUSSION HAPPENING ABOUT HOW TO, HOW TO MAKE SURE PEOPLE SEE THAT THEY'RE ENTERING A PARK AND POTENTIALLY HAVE SOME AMENITY OR ROAD ADJUSTMENTS AND TRYING TO MAKE SURE THAT TRAFFIC IS SLOWING DOWN TO A, A SAFE LEVEL TO BE RIGHT NEXT TO BICYCLISTS? YES, ABSOLUTELY.
AS YOU MENTIONED, THE THE PILOT PROJECT THAT'S CURRENTLY UNDERWAY ALONG BARTON SPRINGS ROAD IS A PART OF THAT.
UM, AND REALLY AS WE GO THROUGH THE DESIGN PHASE, THAT IS ONE OF THE THINGS THAT THE DESIGN TEAM IS GONNA BE WORKING WITH.
UM, YOU KNOW, UH, THE PARKS AND RECREATION DEPARTMENT AS WELL AS THE TRANSPORTATION PUBLIC WORKS IN TERMS OF HOW TO BEST MANAGE SPEEDS, UM, ALONG THAT CORRIDOR AND WHAT WE CAN DO TO MAKE SURE THAT, THAT, UH, CARS ARE TRAVELING AT A SAFE SPEED, UM, WHEN THEY'RE INTERACTING WITH BOTH BIKES AND PEDESTRIANS.
SO YES, THAT'S DEFINITELY A PIECE THAT WILL BE INVESTIGATED DURING THE DESIGN PHASE, UM, AND AS THAT, AS THAT MOVES FORWARD.
AND I KNOW THERE ARE MAY BE MORE CONVERSATIONS ABOUT OTHER ASPECTS OF BARTON SPRINGS ROAD, UM, PARTICULARLY THERE'S, UM, THE SHARED USE PATH AROUND THE BOTANICAL GARDEN THAT MY OFFICE WAS ABLE TO ALLOCATE QUARTER CENT FUNDING MANY YEARS AGO TO BE ABLE TO INSTALL THOSE IMPROVEMENTS.
BUT I KNOW THE SIDEWALK PROGRAMS ALSO VERY INTERESTED IN HOW THE BIKE LANE AND SIDEWALK, UM, CONNECTIONS WORK THROUGH THE OTHER SECTIONS OF THE PARK, BETWEEN THE BRIDGE AND THE BOTANICAL GARDEN.
ARE THERE QUESTIONS FROM COLLEAGUES ON THIS ITEM? I DON'T BELIEVE SO.
I BETTER COME UP WITH SOME MORE QUESTIONS THEN.
UM, WHAT IS THE OUTREACH WITH COUNCIL GOING TO LOOK LIKE? ARE YOU, UM, HOW ARE WE SUPPOSED TO COME UP WITH THIS DECISION ABOUT YOUR RECOMMENDATION? YEP.
WILL IT COME TO A CITY COUNCIL MEETING WHERE WE WILL VOTE TO APPROVE YEP.
IT'LL COME TO A CITY COUNCIL MEETING.
WE'RE CURRENTLY TARGETING THE NOVEMBER 30TH MEETING, UH, FOR A RECOMMENDATION FOR COUNCIL ACTION TO, UM, NUMBER ONE HOLD A PUBLIC HEARING AS IS REQUIRED BY THE BOND LANGUAGE.
BUT THEN ALSO, UM, WE'LL THE STAFF WILL COME FORWARD WITH A RECOMMENDATION TO PROCEED WITH THE FULL REPLACEMENT OPTION IN THE RECOMMENDATION FOR COUNCIL ACTION THAT YOU GOT.
Y'ALL WILL SEE ON AN UPCOMING AGENDA, WE'RE GOING TO WORK WITH THE CITY MANAGER'S OFFICE IN TERMS OF ANSWERING QUESTIONS FOR COUNCIL MEMBERS AS THEY COME UP IN THE WEEKS LEADING UP TO THE, THE RCA GETTING POSTED AND, AND THE COUNCIL TAKING ACTION.
I KNOW THIS BRIDGE IS VERY CLOSE TO THREE DIFFERENT COUNCIL DISTRICTS.
IT'S ACTUALLY THE BORDER BETWEEN MY DISTRICT AND RYAN ALTER'S DISTRICT.
AND SO, UM, I'M SURE WE'LL ALL BE GETTING SOME QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS FROM CONSTITUENTS AND JUST TRYING TO MAKE SURE WE'RE ALL SENDING THE INFORMATION TO THE APPROPRIATE PERSON.
WELL, I LOOK FORWARD TO SEEING THE NEXT STEPS ON IT.
[6. Mobility Bond program updates.]
SIX, THE MOBILITY BOND PROGRAM UPDATES.[01:00:03]
SO THE CITY OF AUSTIN GETS A LOT OF, WELL-DESERVED CREDIT FOR BEING FORWARD THINKING WHEN IT COMES TO TRANSPORTATION AND MOBILITY.THE TRUTH IS, THE CITY SERVES AND LISTENS TO PEOPLE OF AUSTIN, AND WHEN THE CITY PUTS MOBILITY BONDS ON THE BALLOT, AUSTINITES HAVE TIME AND TIME AGAIN VOTED TO INVEST IN TRANSFORMING OUR TRANSPORTATION SYSTEM TO BE SAFER, EASIER, MORE AFFORDABLE, MORE SUSTAINABLE, AND MORE WELCOMING FOR ALL.
AUSTINITES ARE EAGER TO WALK, BIKE, ROLL, BUS, TRAIN, AND SOMETIMES DRIVE ON BETTER AND SMARTER INFRASTRUCTURE AND THE CITY OWES IT TO THE VOTERS TO GET THESE BONDS SPENT AND THE INFRASTRUCTURE BUILT AS EFFICIENTLY AS POSSIBLE.
WE HAVE USED THE MOBILITY COMMITTEE TO BIRD DOG THIS WORK, AND I'M SO GLAD THAT WE HAVE THE NEW CAPITAL DELIVERY SERVICES DEPARTMENT AS A PARTNER AND A LEADER IN GETTING IT DONE.
AND WITH THAT, I WILL HAND IT OFF TO CAPITAL DELIVERY SERVICES INTERIM DIRECTOR JAMES SNOW.
THAT WAS A THANK YOU FOR SUCH A WELCOME.
IT WAS A NICE LEAD AND I APPRECIATE IT.
I APPRECIATE THAT YOU USED BIRD DOG IN THERE.
ACTUALLY, I LIKE, I LIKE WORKING DOGS.
UM, I ALWAYS THINK IT'S ALSO NICE TO HAVE A LITTLE INTRO SO YOU DON'T JUST WALK UP AND AND KNOW, DON'T KNOW WHEN IT'S TIME TO GET GOING.
WELL, WELL, I APPRECIATE, I APPRECIATE IT.
I FEEL WELCOMED AND IN SPEAKING ARRANGEMENT, IT'S GOOD TO SEE YOU.
UH, ALSO, I KNOW IT'S FRIDAY AFTERNOON.
THIS IS, YOU KNOW, UNFORTUNATELY WHEN YOU FOLLOW ONE OF YOUR OWN EXECUTIVES THAT HAS SUCH A GREAT PICTURES AND VISUALS, I HAVE THAT, YOU KNOW, IDEA SHOW YOU THAT I'M JUST NOT AS CREATIVE.
UH, THE PURPOSE OF THIS PRESENTATION WAS, UH, IN THE APRIL 26TH AUTUMN FINANCE COMMISSION MEETING, WE CAME THROUGH AND THEY SHOWED, UH, THEY SHOWED A REPORT AS FAR AS UNSPENT UH, BONDS.
AND ONE OF THE HIGHLIGHTS WAS THE MOBILITY BONDS.
AND THERE'S AT THAT POINT, I THINK A $806 MILLION.
THE PURPOSE OF THIS PRESENTATION, TO GIVE YOU AN UPDATE ON THAT AND SPECIFICALLY AN UPDATE ON THE PROGRAM WE USE, WE'RE USING THE WORD IT IS AN UPDATE, BUT REALISTICALLY WE'RE TALKING ABOUT A MOBILITY ACTION PLAN SHOWS HOW WE CAN SPEND THAT MONEY AND GET BACK ON TRACK TO WHERE, WHERE WE INITIALLY SPENT.
SO WE'LL DO TODAY REAL QUICK, TELL YOU A LITTLE BIT ABOUT CAPITAL DELIVERY SERVICES, LIKE I SAID, THE PURPOSE OF THE MEETING AND TALK ABOUT WHAT WE FOUND, WHAT WE'VE DONE, WHAT WE'LL DO, AND THE, AND A QUICK ACTION PLAN OVERVIEW.
SO IN APRIL WE TALKED ABOUT THAT WE NEEDED A NEED FOR A DEPARTMENT TO FOCUS ON CAPITAL DELIVERY.
CAPITAL DELIVERY SERVICES IS THAT DEPARTMENT.
AND JUST LIKE TO GIVE YOU A LITTLE HIGHLIGHT OF WHAT WE DO, THE MAIN THING IS WE'RE LOOKING AT ONE CITY, ONE TEAM APPROACH TO EFFECTIVELY AND EFFICIENTLY DELIVER, UH, PUBLIC PROJECTS.
RIGHT NOW WE HAVE OVER 500 ACTIVE PROJECTS, WHICH IS ABOUT $7 BILLION WORTH OF WORK.
BUT IN THAT, IT'S NOT INCLUDING IN THAT NUMBER.
IT'S THE FOLLOWING THINGS THAT WE'RE ALSO HELPING EITHER MANAGE DELIVERY OR ALSO DELIVER.
AND THAT'S, I WOULD SAY WE'RE WORKING WITH, UH, ATP FOR PROJECT CONNECT.
WE HAVE $5 BILLION, UH, AIRPORT EXPANSION AND $2 BILLION CONVENTION EXPANSION, THE ONE THAT WAS VOTED ON LAST WEEK AND MOVE FORWARD WITH.
BUT AS I MENTIONED BEFORE, WHAT WE'RE FOCUSED ON IS IN THE APRIL 26TH AUDIT AND FINANCE.
UH, THE HIGHLIGHT TODAY IS SPECIFICALLY THE MOBILITY BOND PROGRAM.
BETWEEN 2006 AND 2020, WE, THE VOTERS APPROVED $1.68 BILLION WORTH OF VOTER APPROVED BONDS TO HELP US ADDRESS SOME OF OUR MOBILITY ISSUES.
UH, 2016 THROUGH 2020, WE ACTUALLY GOT 1.34 BILLION.
BUT TO GIVE YOU A LITTLE HIGHLIGHT ABOUT JUST 2016, THE 2016 BOND ITSELF, WHICH WAS $732 MILLION, I BELIEVE WAS ITSELF ACTUALLY THE LARGEST AT THAT POINT IN TIME OF THE, IF YOU ADDED UP ALL THE BONDS THAT WE HAD FOR MOBILITY AT THAT POINT IN TIME, IT ACTUALLY TOPPED OUT THE TOTAL.
AND AS YOU CAN SEE, SINCE THAT WE'VE, WE'VE ACCUMULATED A LOT OF, UH, VOTER SUPPORT TO DEAL WITH OUR MOBILITY ISSUES.
BUT AT THE SAME TIME, WHAT CAME ABOUT WAS IN THAT PRESENTATION THAT WE HAD $803 MILLION OF UNSPENT.
SO SINCE THEN WE'VE DONE SOME ANALYSIS AND WE'RE LOOKING AT IT.
AND ACTUALLY AS OF OCTOBER, 2023, WE HAVE 880, UH, 866 MILLION UNSPENT.
AND LEMME EXPLAIN FOR A SECOND.
WHAT UNSPENT MEANT IS BEFORE WHEN YOU SHOWED THE PRESENTATION ON THE SLIDE, IT SHOWS, UH, ENCUMBRANCES BALANCES AND EXPENSES WE'RE SPECIFICALLY DOING IS WE'RE TAKING CONFERENCES AND ALSO THE MONEY THAT HAS NOT BEEN PROGRAM, UH, NOT SPENT AND PUT IT TOGETHER.
'CAUSE THERE WAS A CONFUSING THERE OF, YOU KNOW, A LOT OF THE ACCOUNTING PEOPLE SAY, WHAT DOES THIS MEAN? THAT MEAN WHAT WE REALLY LOOK AT IS EITHER IT'S BEEN SPENT OR NOT SPENT, AND THAT'S WHAT THE NUMBERS IS.
SO THE NUMBERS ARE A LITTLE BIT DIFFERENT.
I'D LIKE TO GO THROUGH EACH BOND REAL QUICK.
UH, 2016 BONDS, UH, THE PRE, UH, ON YOUR RIGHT IS ACTUALLY THE CHART THAT WAS PRESENTED AT AUTO FINANCE AND WHAT THE TRENDING SHOWED IT.
THE 2016 BOND WAS SUPPOSED TO BE AN EIGHT YEAR BOND PROJECT OR BOND PROGRAM.
IT WAS SUPPOSED TO FINISH SEPTEMBER, 2024.
CURRENT TRENDING HAS IT FINISHING SEPTEMBER, 2028.
SO INSTEAD OF BEING AN EIGHT YEAR, IT TURNS OUT TO BE A 12 YEAR BOND PROJECT.
THE LARGEST UNSPENT BALANCES RIGHT NOW ARE THE CORRIDOR PROGRAM, WHICH IS ABOUT 269 MILLION
[01:05:01]
IN REGIONAL MOBILITY, WHICH IS 64 MILLION.THIS IS WHERE THE COLORFULNESS OF MY CHARTS COME OUT.
THAT'S AS COLORFUL AS I CAN BE TODAY.
UH, WHAT WE'RE TRYING TO SHOW YOU IS WE HAVE A GREEN, ORANGE AND PURPLE.
THE GREEN IS SHOWING THE AMOUNT OF MONEY THAT'S ACTUALLY ON TRACK AND WILL BE SPENT BY FY 24.
AND THEN THE YELLOW SHOWS WHAT WE'LL SAY IS JUST ONE YEAR OUT.
AND THEN ANYTHING PAST ONE YEAR IS RED.
SO AS YOU CAN SEE, SOME OF THE PROGRAMS AS YOU WE HIGHLIGHT, ARE DOING VERY WELL AS FAR AS THEIR SPENDING, BUT WE DO HAVE SOME THAT ARE, UH, OFF TRACK OR COMPLETELY OFF TRACK THAT WE NEED TO GET BACK INTO OR ON TRACK.
FOR THE 2018 BOND, WE HAD $160 MILLION AND RIGHT NOW WE, 90 MILLION OF THAT IS UNSPENT.
WHEN WE INITIALLY, IT WAS INITIALLY SUPPOSED TO BE AN EIGHT YEAR PROGRAM, BUT THE BOND CYCLE RIGHT NOW IS TRENDING TO A 10 YEAR.
THE LARGEST UNSPENT BALANCES ARE THE BRIDGE STRUCTURES, WHICH IS ONE BRIDGE IN ITSELF, WHICH IS THE REDBUD TRAIL BRIDGE AND THEN THE STREET REHABILITATION PROGRAM.
BUT AS YOU CAN SEE, WHEN WE DO A LITTLE DEEPER DIVE, YOU'LL SEE THAT A LOT OF THE PROGRAMMATIC WORK IS MOVING FORWARD STREET.
UH, THE STREET PROGRAM IS A LITTLE OFF, UH, THE PERFORMANCE BASELINE AND THE TRAFFICS AND, UH, TRAFFIC SIGNALS AND BRIDGE STRUCTURES ARE SIGNIFICANTLY BEHIND OR MORE BEHIND THAN THE OTHERS.
ON 2020 IS, UH, THAT'S THE MOST CURRENT BOND.
IT WAS, UH, SUPPOSED TO BE A SIX YEAR CYCLE.
THE UNSPENT AMOUNT IS 409 MILLION.
THE TRENDING RIGHT NOW IS INSTEAD, INSTEAD OF THE BASELINE OF BEING 2027, WHERE THE WORK WILL COMPLETE IN 2029, UH, LARGEST UNSPENT BALANCES.
RIGHT NOW, AS YOU SEE, THIS IS MULTIPLE BUCKETS, BUT AGAIN, IT'S THE NEWEST ONE.
ONLY THING I WANT TO POINT OUT IS THE SIDEWALKS, EVEN THOUGH IT SHOWS IT'S LARGE, IT IS, IT IS TRACKING ON SCHEDULE IS JUST THAT BECAUSE YOU HAD SO MUCH, UH, BONDS, UH, COMMITTED IN 16 AND 18, IT JUST SHOWS A LARGER BALANCE.
BUT THEY'RE WORKING THROUGH EACH OF THE BOND PROGRAMS. AGAIN, AS, UH, THE SHOWS USING TO DO A DEEPER DIVE.
MOST OF THE WORK IS ON SCHEDULE OR AT LEAST TO THE PERFORMANCE BASELINE.
BUT WE DO HAVE CONCERNS WITH THE URBAN TRAILS PROGRAM AND THE CAPITAL RENEWAL PROGRAM.
SO WHAT DID WE FIND DURING THE ANALYSIS? SINCE APRIL TO, UH, SEPTEMBER WE'VE BEEN DOING ANALYSIS AND WORKING ON A ACTION PLAN.
WELL, FIRST I WANNA START OFF WITH, AS YOU SAW, SOME OF THE SLIDES SHOW THAT STAFF HAS BEEN WORKING EXTREMELY HARD TO DELIVER THE $1.34 BILLION.
UH, AS YOU CAN SEE, SOME OF THE PROGRAMS ARE DOING QUITE WELL.
BUT WHAT WE DID FIND IS SOME OF THE PROGRAMS THAT WERE LAGGING, THERE'S TWO MAIN ISSUES.
ONE IS IDENTIFIED ISSUES AND RISKS WERE EITHER LEFT UNRESOLVED AND BECAUSE THERE ARE UNRESOLVED THAT CAUSE DELAYS OR OVERRUNS.
THE OTHER ONE IS THAT BECAUSE OF THAT, WHAT HAPPENED WAS THE EVER-CHANGING PERFORMANCE BASELINES AND INCONSISTENT SPENDING PLANS.
SO PART OF THIS PLAN THAT WE BRING TO YOU TODAY OR TALK TO YOU AT LEAST SUMMER EARLY, IS TO ADDRESS THOSE ISSUES.
WHAT HAVE WE DONE? WELL, UH, WE'VE BEEN MEETING WITH, UH, THE ASSET OWNER TRANSPORTATION PUBLIC WORKS IN MEETINGS SINCE MAY.
FIRST WE FOCUS ON THE QUARTER AND THEN WE WORKED AT THE OVERALL BOND PROGRAM.
WE, UH, MET BIWEEKLY AND THEN WE CREATED, UH, NOT ONLY A RE-SCALING OF THE CORRIDOR PROGRAM, BUT ALSO A NEW PERFORMANCE BASELINE FOR THE OVERALL PROGRAMS. WHAT WILL WE DO? WELL, WE HAVE A LOT OF WORK AHEAD OF US, BUT ONE OF THE THINGS I WANT TO PROVIDE TO YOU OR HIGHLIGHT IS THAT, UH, WE HAVE A MEETING NOW STARTING THIS MONTH, WE HAVE WHAT WE CALL A MONTHLY, UH, PROGRAM HEALTH ASSESSMENT.
IN THAT WHAT WE DO IS WE ACTUALLY REVIEW THE PROGRAM HEALTH WHERE WE STAND ON THE PER OF SPACE LINES ISSUES.
AND WHAT WE DO IS, IT'S JUST NOT A STATUS MEETING, BUT WE SPECIFICALLY FOCUS ON ISSUES THAT NEED TO BE RESOLVED.
AND IF THEY CANNOT BE RESOLVED IN THAT MEETING, THEN WE ESCALATE THEM TO MAKE SURE THAT WE CAN GET THE PERFORMANCE BACK ON TRACK.
ONE OF THE THINGS COMING OUTTA THAT MEETING, AND I HIGHLIGHTED IN BLUE FOR THIS PRESENTATION, IS THIS MEETING WILL BE WHAT WE FOUND OUT TOO IS IN OUR ANALYSIS IS SOME COMMITTEE SAID, WELL, WE GOT PRESENTATIONS AND IT SHOWED US ONE THING AND THEN THERE WAS ANOTHER PRESENTATION THAT SHOWED US SOMETHING ELSE.
WHAT THIS MEETING WILL PROVIDE US TO DO IS THAT WILL BE THE ONE SOURCE OF TRUTH COMING FORWARD.
SO AS IF THERE'S QUESTIONS FROM COUNCIL OR PRESENTATIONS BE MADE, THIS WILL BE THE SOURCE OF THAT INFORMATION SO WE CAN MAKE SURE THERE'S ONE SOURCE MOVING FORWARD.
AGAIN, THE DATA WASN'T DIFFERENT, BUT RATHER WHAT HAPPENED WAS JUST CONTEXTUALLY THE WAY IT WAS PRESENTED.
SO WE WANT TO TRY MAKE SURE THAT EITHER WITH THIS COMMITTEE, UH, AUDIT AND FINANCE OR THE BOND OVERSIGHT COMMISSION, WHICH WE'RE NOW MANAGING, WE MAKE SURE THAT'S A CONSISTENT REPRESENTATION REPORTING.
SO THERE'S NOT A A MISUNDERSTANDING AS FAR AS CONTEXT.
SO HERE'S THE MEAT OF THE PRESENTATION AND A LOT OF WORDS ON THE SLIDE, BUT WHAT I WANNA LEAVE YOU TO, UH, LEAVE YOU WITH THE UNDERSTANDING THAT WE BELIEVE THAT WE CAN GET THIS WORK ALL BACK ON TRACK OR AT LEAST BACK CLOSER TO WHERE IT SHOULD BE.
AND REALISTICALLY CUT PROBABLY TWO YEARS OFF OF, UH, THE LAG FOUR YEARS THAT WE HAVE AS A STANDARD.
A LOT OF WORDS ON THIS SLIDE ALSO.
AND UH, THIS PRESENTATION IS FOR A TAKEAWAY TOO, SO YOU CAN LOOK AT IT AND, AND LATER I'LL TALK ABOUT
[01:10:01]
HOW WE'LL COME VISIT TO THE INDIVIDUAL COUNCILMEN FOR OUR OFFICES TO TALK ABOUT THE ACTION PLAN AND SPECIFICALLY IN THEIR DISTRICT.UH, BUT AS YOU CAN SEE, WHAT WE'RE TRYING TO DO IS WE WILL, WE ARE TRYING TO MEET THE GOALS OR WE WILL MEET THE GOALS OF 90% OF THE PROJECTS WILL BE EITHER COMPLETED OR SUBSTANTIALLY COMPLETED BY DECEMBER 20, 26.
AND 95% OF THE PROGRAMS WILL BE EITHER COMPLETED OR SUBSTANTIALLY COMPLETED BY 2027.
SO WHAT DOES THAT LOOK LIKE? WELL, IF WE GO BACK TO THE CHARTS THAT WE STARTED, UH, CURRENTLY FOR 2016 WE'RE TRENDING THAT SEPTEMBER, 2028 WAS WHEN WE'D BE COMPLETED WITH WORK.
NOW WITH THE ACTION PLAN, WE BELIEVE THAT WE'LL BE FINISHING IN DECEMBER, 2026.
UH, IF YOU LOOK AT THE CHARTS, AND I USE THAT COLOR CODING, UH, BEFORE, IF YOU, UH, ONE GOAL IS TO SUSTAIN THE PROGRAMS THAT ARE EITHER ON SCHEDULE OR SLIGHTLY OFF, WHICH IS, UH, SHOWN IN THE GREEN AS BEING THE $10 MILLION THAT'S ON 16 MILLION SLIGHTLY OFF.
THE PROGRAMS ARE LISTED BELOW IT.
AND THEN WE'LL ACCELERATE THE PROGRAMS, UH, TO THE NEW BASELINE.
THAT BEING THE CORRIDOR PROGRAM, CAPITAL RENEWAL AND THE REGIONAL MOBILITY FOR 18.
UH, AS YOU CAN SEE AGAIN THE TREND OF WE'RE GOING TO CUT TWO YEARS OUT OF THE LAG THAT WE'VE CREATED AND GET US CLOSER BACK ON TRACK.
UH, WE'VE, WE EXPECT THAT WE'LL BE DONE BY DECEMBER 20TH, 2016, EXCUSE ME, 2026.
AND AS YOU CAN SEE AGAIN SHOWING THE DELINEATIONS BETWEEN KEEPING CERTAIN PROGRAMS ON TRACK AND GET THE SLIGHTLY ONES BACK ON TRACK AND THEN ACCELERATE THE PROGRAMS THAT ARE A LITTLE OFF TRACK 2020 AGAIN, UH, AS YOU CAN SEE, THE TREND IS IT'S CUTTING TWO YEARS.
UNFORTUNATELY, UH, THIS CHART DID NOT GO OUT TO 2029
THAT'S THE CURRENT TRENDING, BUT WE BELIEVE THAT WE'LL BE BACK, UH, ON UH, BE ABLE TO DELIVER THE WORK BY DECEMBER, 2027.
WELL, NEXT STEPS FOR THIS IS, AS I MENTIONED, ALLUDED TO EARLIER, WE'LL BE MEETING WITH THE INDIVIDUAL COUNCIL OFFICES TO TALK ABOUT SPECIFICALLY DI THE PROJECTS IN THEIR DISTRICTS AND THE STATUS SO THEY CAN UNDERSTAND WHAT, WHAT THIS ACTION PLAN MEANS TO THEM.
THE OTHER THING THAT WE'LL BE DOING IS WE'LL BEGIN QUARTERLY REPORTING STARTING THE SECOND QUARTER OR RIGHT AFTER, UH, CHRISTMAS AS FAR AS THE STATUS OF THIS PLAN.
AND UH, A LOT OF THE DETAIL WORK THAT WE NEED TO DO IS GO BACK THROUGH EVERY SPENDING PLAN AND MAKE SURE EVERYTHING ALIGNS AND FINALLY TRACK AND IMPLEMENT THE CONSISTENT SPENDING PLANS DEVELOPMENT THROUGH THE FY 25 BUDGET PROCESS.
AS AGAIN, IT'S FRIDAY AFTERNOON.
I WAS TRYING TO KEEP IT QUICK, FAST.
SOMETIMES I SPEAK TOO FAST, I APOLOGIZE.
I LIVED IN THE NORTHEAST FOR A COUPLE YEARS, SO I'LL WORK ON SLOWING DOWN.
BUT, UH, OPEN UP TO QUESTIONS FOR THE INDIVIDUAL MEMBERS.
AND I WAS JUST REMINDED THAT YOU ARE NOW THE PERMANENT DIRECTOR OF CAPITAL DELIVERY, SO CONGRATULATIONS.
I JUST FIGURED I'D JUST FORGET THAT ONE AND JUST KEEP ON GOING.
I WANNA MAKE SURE I'M GETTING TITLES CORRECT.
LET'S START WITH COUNCIL MEMBER FUENTES.
I REALLY APPRECIATE THIS UPDATE.
I'M EXCITED FOR THIS NEW DIVISION.
I THINK IT'S GONNA MAKE A BIG DIFFERENCE IN HOW QUICKLY WE'RE ABLE TO GET THESE MOBILITY IMPROVEMENTS OUT INTO OUR COMMUNITIES SO OUR COMMUNITIES CAN SEE THE DIFFERENCE, UH, IN, IN SAFETY IMPROVEMENTS THAT ARE MUCH NEEDED.
I'M CURIOUS HOW THE, THIS PLAN, UH, IN GETTING SOME OF OUR DOLLARS OUT, PARTICULARLY WITH, UH, SAFE ROUTES TO SCHOOL AND SIDEWALK REPAIRS, HOW IS THAT GONNA PAIR WITH THE FEDERAL GRANT DOLLARS THAT WE JUST GOT FOR SAFE STREETS FOR ALL, UM, AND ANY FUTURE MOBILITY DOLLARS WE MIGHT GET THROUGH THE INFRASTRUCTURE LAW? WELL THAT, THAT IS ONE OF THE INTERESTING OPPORTUNITIES THAT WE HAVE TRYING TO WORK WITH THAT WE'RE TRYING TO MINIMIZE THE IMPACT.
'CAUSE OBVIOUSLY GETTING FEDERAL DOLLARS, THERE'S SOME COMPLICATIONS ALSO, UH, IMPACT TO THE SCHEDULE.
BUT WORKING WITH, UH, THE TRANSPORTATION PUBLIC WORKS DEPARTMENT, WE FEEL THAT WE CAN, WE CAN, UH, ABSORB THAT IMPACT AND MAKE SURE THAT WE CAN STAY ON THE PERFORMANCE.
SO IS THERE, I MEAN, I GUESS MORE SPECIFICALLY, IS THERE SOMEONE IN YOUR DIVISION THAT'S COORDINATING WITH THE GRANT WRITER AND, WELL, THE GRANT, THE GRANT WRITING IS BEING DONE BY A DIFFERENT DEPARTMENT, WHICH IS TRANSPORTATION PUBLIC WORKS.
MY DEPARTMENT WORKS HAND IN HAND WITH THEM AS FAR AS THE DELIVERY OF THOSE.
SO WHAT WE DO IS AS THOSE FUNDS COME IN, WE WORK AND HOW TO INCORPORATE THOSE FUNDS TO MAKE SURE THAT WE CAN KEEP ON SCHEDULE AND, UH, DELIVER THE, THE EXPECTATION.
SO ANY GRANT DOLLARS WILL GO FOR ANY, WILL AUGMENT THE CAPITAL PROJECTS.
YOU KNOW, THAT, THAT IS THE PLAN IN PLACE AND ESPECIALLY IF IT'S PROGRAMS THAT ALLOW US TO DO MORE IN THE CAPITAL PROGRAM, SPECIFICALLY, EITHER SIDEWALK VISION ZERO.
AND, UM, WHEN CAN WE EXPECT THE MEETING WITH YOU TO DISCUSS DISTRICT LEVEL IMPROVEMENTS? WE EXPECT TO, YOU KNOW, I I I LIKE TO SAY NEXT MONTH, BUT NEXT MONTH IS SO CLOSE, BUT IT IS IN NOVEMBER THAT WE PLAN TO START SCHEDULING HAVING MEETINGS, ONE-ON-ONE WITH EACH DISTRICT TO TALK ABOUT THE WHAT THE, WHAT IS THE IMPACT OF THAT PLAN IN YOUR SPECIFIC DISTRICT AS FAR AS THE PROJECTS.
AND THAT'LL COME WITH THE TIMELINES.
COULD I ALSO REQUEST TO HAVE, UM, KIND OF A RECAP OF THE LAST TWO OR THREE YEARS OF IMPROVEMENTS THAT HAVE BEEN MADE IN THE DISTRICT UTILIZING THESE DOLLARS? YES, WE CAN DO THAT.
UH, UH, WHEN WE MET, UNFORTUNATELY
[01:15:01]
THE FIRST ONE WE GOT TO MEET WITH WAS, WAS THE CHAIR OF AUTO AND FINANCE.'CAUSE I GAVE SIMILAR PRESENTATIONS.
SO SHE HAS SOME OF THOSE QUESTIONS, BUT WE'LL COME IN AND GIVE YOU A RECAP OF WHAT'S BEEN DONE TO DATE AND WHAT IS GOING FORWARD IN YOUR, UH, INDIVIDUAL DISTRICTS.
UH, JUST ONE QUE WELL, TWO QUESTIONS, REAL QUICK QUESTIONS.
UH, AND FIRST AND FOREMOST, I APPRECIATE THE PRESENTATION AND UH, HOW, HOW QUICKLY IT WENT ON A ON A FRIDAY, UM,
UH, WHAT EFFECTS HAVE INFLATION SUPPLY CHAIN ISSUES AND LABOR SHORTAGES, UH, YOU KNOW, HAVE HAD ON THE, ON THE SCALE AND SCOPE OF THE, OF THE PLANS ON AN INDIVIDUAL BASIS? A LOT OF THE PROJECTS HAD CONTINGENCIES.
WHEN WE LOOKED AT THE QUARTER, IT HAD A SIGNIFICANT IMPACT BECAUSE THE AMOUNT OF WORK AND THE SCOPE DEFINITION THAT WAS GOING ON AT THE SAME TIME THOSE IMPACTS CAME IN, UH, GOING FORWARD WITH A PLAN THAT WE ACTUALLY INCORPORATE THOSE IMPACTS AS FAR AS THE SCHEDULE AND ALSO THE PERFORMANCE.
THEN SECOND QUESTION, UH, AND THEN TO THE EXTENT THAT A LOT OF THIS WORK IN OUR QUARTERS WILL CON, UH, COINCIDE WITH TECH DOTS I 35 EXPANSION AND OUR LIGHT RAIL CONSTRUCTION, WHAT ARE WE DOING TO MITIGATE LARGE SCALE DISRUPTIONS, UH, TO OUR CITYWIDE MOBILITY NETWORK? WE'RE WORKING WITH TRANSPORTATION PUBLIC WORKS THAT IS ALSO LOOKING AT A, I, I BELIEVE IT'S, UH, CONSTRUCTION MANAGEMENT PLAN OVERALL.
'CAUSE EVERYTHING THAT'S HAPPENING IN THE CITY RIGHT NOW AND TRYING TO MAKE SURE THERE'S A, THERE'S A COORDINATION.
UH, THE PROJECT CONNECT OFFICE ACTUALLY IS UNDER OUR DEPARTMENT NOW.
SO WE'RE WORKING CLOSELY WITH THEM TO MAKE SURE WE MITIGATE.
UH, WE ALSO WORK WITH LOOKING FORWARD AS FAR AS THIS DEPARTMENT JUST DOESN'T MANAGE MOBILITY, SO WE ALSO WORK WITH OUR OTHER, UH, ASSET OWNERS LIKE AE AUSTIN WATER AIRPORT, THE CONVENTION CENTER, AS FAR AS MAKING SURE THAT ALL THE PROJECTS, 'CAUSE REALISTICALLY THIS DEPARTMENT WILL EITHER MANAGE OR OR INFLUENCE BETWEEN 17 TO $22 BILLION WORTH OF WORK OVER THE NEXT 10 YEARS.
SO THE COORDINATION IS VERY IMPORTANT.
UH, WE HAVE A DELIVERY SUPPORT GROUP THAT'S WORKING JUST ON THE COORDINATION AND ESCALATION OF THINGS TO MAKE SURE THAT WE TRY TO MAKE IT BE, UH, AS LESS DISRUPTIVE AS POSSIBLE.
UH, BUT WE KNOW THERE'S A LOT OF WORK HAPPENING AT THE SAME TIME.
'CAUSE YOU ALSO HAVE WORK, UH, ON MOPAC AT THE SAME TIME FROM, FROM UH, TXDOT.
SO THERE'S A LOT OF WORK HAPPENING IN CENTRAL, CENTRAL TEXAS AT THIS TIME.
THERE IS A LOT OF WORK HAPPENING IN CENTRAL TEXAS AT THIS TIME.
THERE IS, THERE'S GONNA BE SOME GOOD JOBS FOR PEOPLE TOO.
THERE'S, THERE'S SO MUCH GOING ON.
I THINK THAT'S REALLY EXCITING.
UM, THERE WAS A PREVIOUS MEETING WHERE I THINK COUNCIL MEMBER VELA HAD ASKED ABOUT EAST 51ST STREET PROJECT AND I THINK THAT'S FROM THE, THE OH SIX TO 2012 BUCKET.
CAN, DO YOU KNOW WHERE THAT'S AT RIGHT NOW? AND IS THAT BEING KIND OF BROUGHT INTO YOUR CURRENT WORK PLAN? I'M TURN, UH, ERIC I THINK CAN ANSWER THAT ONE.
I I, I, I THINK I HAVE THE ANSWER, BUT I'LL LET ERIC DO.
THE, THE EAST 51ST STREET PROJECT IS ONE OF THE ONES THAT WE'RE WRAPPING UP FROM THE 2012 BOND.
UM, THERE HAVE BEEN SOME ISSUES IN TERMS OF PERMITTING, BUT I AM GLAD TO REPORT THAT WE ARE IN THE FINAL STAGES OF PERMITTING THAT PROJECT AND WE SHOULD BE ADVERTISING IT FOR BID HERE THIS WINTER.
SO IN THE DECEMBER JANUARY TIMEFRAME THAT SHOULD BE GOING OUT.
AND THEN IT'LL BE UNDER CONSTRUCTION, UM, IN THE LATE SPRING, EARLY SUMMER, UM, IN TERMS OF A NOTICE TO PROCEED FOR THE CONTRACTOR.
I, I KNOW I'VE HEARD IT A COUPLE TIMES, SO I THINK PEOPLE ARE EAGER TO SEE SOME MOVEMENT FORWARD ON IT.
UM, CAN YOU REMIND ME THE, THE FEDERAL GRANT MATCH FOR THE RED BUD BRIDGE? I, I FEEL LIKE I KNEW WHERE THIS WAS PROBABLY ABOUT A YEAR AND A HALF AGO AND THEN THERE'S BEEN OTHER PROJECTS ON OUR MINDS.
I I I WOULD HAVE TO GET BACK TO YOU ON THAT ONE.
AS FAR AS SPECIFICALLY THE FEDERAL, UH, THE GRANT DEALING WITH THAT ONE.
I JUST REMEMBER THAT ONE BEING OUT THERE.
UM, AND THEN THERE IS UH, 50 MILLION IN THE 2018 BONDS FOR BRIDGES AND STRUCTURES.
ARE THOSE PROJECTS ALL ASSIGNED AND ALLOCATED OR IS THERE ANY USE FOR THE 50 MILLION IS JUST FOR THAT ONE PROJECT.
SO IT CAN'T BE USED ON STITCHES OR ANYTHING LIKE THAT? NO MA'AM.
CAN ANY OF THESE BUCKETS BE USED ON STITCHES? UH, WELL I'LL SAY EVEN THOUGH THE WORDS UNSPENT IS IN THERE, THEY'VE ALL BEEN PROGRAMMED.
BEEN PROGRAMMED TO UH, EITHER BEEN ASSIGNED SPECIFIC PROJECTS OR TO SPECIFIC PROGRAMS LIKE SIDEWALKS, BIKES, BIKEWAYS AND SUCH.
AND I KNOW YOU ADDRESSED THE TERMINOLOGY AND TRYING TO HAVE MORE COHESIVE NUMBERS COMING OUT 'CAUSE I REALIZE THERE'S A DIFFERENCE BETWEEN UM, SOMETHING THAT'S BEEN ALLOCATED AND SOMETHING WHERE THE CHECK HAS ACTUALLY GONE OUT THE DOOR AND I KNOW THAT TRYING TO MAKE SURE WE KNOW WHERE ALL THE DOLLARS ARE FOR THESE PROJECTS IS IMPORTANT.
SO, UM, I'M GLAD THAT Y'ALL ARE GOING TO BE WORKING ON THAT.
AND THEN WITH THE W THE WALK BIKE ROLL PLANS, I KNOW THAT THAT IS SOMETHING THAT HAS BEEN WORKED ON BEHIND THE SCENES FOR THE PAST COUPLE OF WEEKS OR SO AND IT'S BEEN ON OUR AGENDA A FEW TIMES AND, UM, AND POSTPONED, DO YOU KNOW WHEN THAT IS LIKELY TO BE TAKEN UP AND IF IT'S CLOSE TO BEING READY FOR DIRECTOR MENDOZAS HERE.
[01:20:01]
HELLO? HELLO.UH, WE HAVE THAT COMING TO YOU ON NOVEMBER 30TH, AGENDA FOR ADOPTION.
THAT WAS A VERY QUICK AND SUCCINCT RESPONSE.
UM, I DON'T THINK I HAVE ANY MORE QUESTIONS.
DID ANY OF MY COLLEAGUES COME UP WITH ANY FURTHER CLARIFICATIONS THAT THEY WANTED? ALRIGHT, WELL THANK YOU FOR THE UPDATE.
WE LOOK FORWARD TO GETTING THESE PERIODICALLY.
UM, ALWAYS APPRECIATE THE INFORMATION AND ARE EAGER TO SEE WHAT IS GOING ON BEHIND THE SCENES BECAUSE WE KNOW YOU HAVE A LOT OF STAFF WORKING VERY HARD TO DELIVER THESE PROJECTS.
THANK YOU VERY MUCH AND HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND.
[7. Identify items to discuss at future meetings.]
ITEM IS JUST TO IDENTIFY FUTURE ITEMS. SO THESE ARE SOME CONVERSATIONS THAT HAVE COME UP PREVIOUSLY.UM, AUSTIN ENERGY E-BIKE INCENTIVE PROGRAM.
WE KNOW THERE'S BEEN A NUMBER OF FANTASTIC E-BIKE SALES GOING ON OVER THE PAST COUPLE OF WEEKS AND WE'RE VERY EAGER TO LEARN ABOUT, UM, HOW MANY PEOPLE HAVE APPLIED FOR E-BIKE REBATES AND HOW MUCH WE ARE ENCOURAGING PEOPLE TO PRACTICE MODE SHIFT BY TRYING ALTERNATIVE METHODS OF TRANSPORTATION.
UM, THE SAFE RUSH TO SCHOOL PROGRAM UPDATE.
I THINK WE MAY HAVE, UM, WANTED TO TAKE THAT UP AT THE LAST MEETING.
AND WE'RE JUST, AS YOU CAN SEE, HAVE A LOT OF GREAT TOPICS THAT ARE TIMELY THAT WE NEEDED TO ADDRESS.
SO IT'S STILL ON OUR RADAR THAT WE NEED TO BRING THAT ONE UP.
UM, TDOT IS NOW DOING THEIR FIRST EVER STATEWIDE ACTIVE TRANSPORTATION PLAN AND THEY HAVE A PUBLIC COMMENT PERIOD CLOSING NOVEMBER 30TH AND THEY'RE ALSO DOING A STATEWIDE MULTIMODAL TRANSIT PLAN.
SO IT'S AN IDEA THAT WE COULD GET TOGETHER AND LEARN MORE ABOUT THAT.
WE'RE EXCITED THAT THE STATE IS THINKING ABOUT DOING MORE WORK ON MULTIMODAL PLANNING AND ACTIVE TRANSPORTATION.
SO, UH, WE LOOK FORWARD TO HEARING MORE ABOUT THAT.
AND THEN WE HAVE REGULAR PROJECT CONNECT UPDATES, ETOD PLANNING I 35 IS A CONVERSATION THAT WILL CONTINUE.
AND THEN THERE'S BEEN SOME DISCUSSIONS ABOUT CONNECTIVITY, ZILKER PARK MOBILITY IMPROVEMENTS.
I KNOW THE SPEAKER THAT CAME TO US TODAY WAS TALKING ABOUT THE 30 CAP METRO ROUTE AND OTHER FORMS OF CONNECTIVITY THAT WE CAN HELP MAKE SURE THAT PEOPLE HAVE ACCESS TO ALL OF OUR PARKS.
HOPEFULLY NOT JUST ONE, UM, COMPREHENSIVE TRAIL SYSTEM AND GAPS LEFT TO FILL METRICS ABOUT BIKE LANES BEING FREE OF DEBRIS SO THAT WE CAN MAKE SURE THAT PEOPLE USING BIKES OR WHEELCHAIRS CAN ACTIVELY USE THEM.
UH, AGGRESSIVE DRIVING VISION ZERO TRAFFIC, SAFETY ENFORCEMENT IS ANOTHER ISSUE.
AND THEN WE KNOW THAT OUR AIRPORT IS DOING AN EXPANSION AND SO THERE MAY BE CONVERSATIONS PERTAINING SPECIFICALLY TO MOBILITY THAT WE THINK WOULD BE, UM, WELL TO BE VETTED HERE.
AND MAYBE I'LL LEAN ON COUNCIL MEMBER FUENTES AS THE REPRESENTATIVE OF THAT AREA TO HIGHLIGHT IF THERE'S APPROPRIATE TIMELINES AND CONVERSATIONS THAT WOULD BE HELPFUL FOR MOBILITY.
AND IF THERE ARE NO OTHER QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS, I'LL SAY WE'RE ADJOURNED.