Work on 22 MovEBR projects is expected to begin immediately, city-parish officials announced today, giving a timeline to the top-prioritized slate of more than 50 projects planned for the $1 billion road improvement program.
“This progress comes with temporary discomfort, but we’re working as fast and as smart as we can to fix this,” says Mayor Sharon Weston Broome. “Solving infrastructure issues is at the top of my daily to-do list.”
Using data gathered from program managers CSRS and Stantec, a 10-member committee also solicited community input to ultimately prioritize 51 MovEBR projects by developing a weighted scoring system based on five criteria: readiness to construct (meaning the project has already advanced into the design and right-of-way process), safety, congestion relief, Complete Streets and quality of life. The committee ranked projects “green,” “blue” or “purple” in terms of their priorities, top to bottom.
Moving forward with funding from an initial bond sale, the 22 “green-priority” projects will provide both new capacity and enhancements to major existing roadways, such as Airline Highway, Florida Boulevard, Jones Creek Road, Pecue Lane, College Drive, Harding Boulevard, Groom Road and others.
Procurement of design services, purchase of right-of-way and utility relocations will begin immediately for “green priority” projects, with projects identified with an orange shovel icon expected to move into the construction phase within the next 24-36 months.
Meanwhile, work on 15 “blue priority” projects is expected to start in the next few months, with construction also beginning within the next 24-36 months based on funding availability. As some green priority projects are completed, other blue priority projects could be released in advance.
Lastly, work on 14 “purple priority” projects will begin as funding becomes available through future bond sales or other funding sources. Some purple priority projects are dependent on others in green- or blue-priority lists being completed first.
On a separate track, Broome says projects involving signalization, sidewalks and ADA projects are already moving forward and will be delivered in the first half of 2020 as preconstruction is completed and funding allows. Light synchronization should be finished by 2020.
Today’s announcement comes more than four months since the Metro Council unanimously approved two, 18-month program manager contracts to oversee the MovEBR program. Since then, CSRS and Stantec have been working with the city-parish to establish a management system, determining the roles and responsibilities of the 16 firms involved in the two contracts.
Check out the full project prioritization list online.
