CRISIS, the industry-led group that pushed unsuccessfully last year for a statewide gasoline tax to help fund badly needed highway and bridge projects, will meet next week to decide whether to lobby for Mayor Sharon Weston Broome’s proposed 5-mill property tax to support road and traffic improvement projects.
That’s provided, of course, that the Metro Council approves putting the measure on the November ballot at its meeting Wednesday afternoon,
While it’s not at all clear the council will even allow the measure to go before voters, CRISIS Executive Director Scott Kirkpatrick says his group is encouraged by what it has seen so far of Broome’s Better Transportation and Roads plan.
“I don’t want to get ahead of the (CRISIS) board because I don’t know what they’re going to do,” Kirkpatrick says. “But I can tell you we’ve been visiting with mayor’s staff and we’ve been encouraged by what we’ve seen, specifically, the smart city elements in the plan—the light synchronization.”
Among the 43 items in Broome’s $540.4 million plan, some $445.5 million of which would be paid for with money generated by the 20-year millage, is $40 million for a parish-wide traffic signal synchronization and communication system as well as new software to help better manage traffic.
The focus of CRISIS has been on finding data-driven solutions to the Capital Region’s chronic gridlock, which hampers not only economic development but the ability of companies and plants to conduct business on a daily basis. Kirkpatrick says his group has asked the Broome administration for additional data that will show how much traffic congestion the light synchronization project and communication software will really alleviate.
The CRISIS board will likely base its decision on whether to support the tax on the data the administration produces next week.
“Our leadership really wants to put an emphasis on data driven solutions,” Kirkpatrick says. “Preliminary results indicate this is a promising set of projects but we’re waiting to get the final results.”
—Stephanie Riegel
