The Columbus City Council approved the second reading of an ordinance 7-0 to appropriate $80,000 to go towards three different projects.
Council members Frank Miller, R-District 4, and Jerone Wood, D-Distrct 3, were absent.
Each year the Columbus Area Metropolitan Planning Organization (CAMPO), which handles transportation planning for the city and county, receives federal money for road construction projects. The federal money covers 80 percent of the projects’ cost and the city and county pay the remaining 20 percent.
“What we propose here is to really capture some amount of the federal funds for the MPO department that are already allocated to Columbus, we just need to identify use and provide the 20 percent match for those,” City/County Planning Director Jeff Bergman said.
The city is using $64,000 of CAMPO’s federal allocation and pairing it with the required 20 percent match of $16,000.
Of the $80,000, $30,000 would be used for engineering safety audits at up to five of the city’s top crash intersections, $20,000 would go toward a consultant contract for a review of the city’s flood risk management plan and flood response and evacuation plan and another $30,000 would be used for the purchase of a combination of stationary and mobile bicycle and pedestrian counters to be used on the People Trails.
City Engineer Andrew Beckort said city officials recently wrapped up their crash analysis for 2023 and listed the five top crash intersections.
They include:
- Central Avenue and 25th Street
- Central Avenue and Rocky Ford Road
- Central Avenue and 10th Street
- Marr Road and 25th Street
- Gladstone Avenue and 10th Street
The city had used CAMPO funds in the past to help with flood analysis and because the most frequent flooding type that occurs in the city is road flooding, Bergman said.
“… We’re getting to the point where we need to update that flood plan, so the additional appropriation will help us bring a consultant on board and do some scoping around that,” Bergman said on June 4 during the first reading.
Senior Planner and city bike pedestrian coordinator Jessie Boshell said they intend to work with the parks department to use the counters to tabulate traffic on the People Trails, but also get before and after numbers on road improvement projects.
