Advisory Committee On Transportation Sets Sept. Open Houses

(KFOR NEWS September 5, 2019) Mayor Leirion Gaylor Baird today encouraged the public to attend the September open houses to discuss the new street work to be funded by the voter-approved quarter-cent sales tax. The Advisory Committee on Transportation (ACT) has scheduled open houses from 5 to 7 p.m. in each of the City’s quadrants:

Northwest – Thursday, September 12, Eiseley Branch Library, 1530 Superior Street
Southeast – Tuesday, September 17, Gere Branch Library, 2400 S. 56th Street
Southwest – Wednesday, September 18, Walt Branch Library, 6701 S. 14th Street
Northeast – Tuesday, September 24, Dawes Middle School, 5130 Colfax Avenue

An additional open house will be Wednesday, September 25, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., on the first floor at Bennett Martin Public Library, 136. S. 14th Street. Residents may attend any or all of the meetings.

The open houses will include information on City street conditions and the various types of treatments to improve them. The public will be able to provide input on the criteria used for prioritization of street improvements and where work should be done.

Voters approved the quarter-cent sales tax increase in April. It will provide an estimated $13 million annually for six years. The new tax takes effect October 1, 2019, and the City will begin to receive the revenue in December. The first work to be funded by the new dollars will begin in the spring of 2020.

The specific projects to be funded by the new voter-approved tax will be determined by the City’s Capital Improvement Program (CIP) with the guidance of the ACT. The 14-member ACT was appointed by the Mayor, and its charge is to provide an additional level of oversight, collaboration, and advocacy regarding transportation infrastructure investments funded by the tax for each year it is in effect. The committee is scheduled to make its recommendations by the end of October on the priority street projects for the first year of construction.

In November, the public will have another opportunity to comment on the ACT recommendations when the City Council holds a public hearing and considers amendments to the CIP.

Co-chairs of the ACT are Shannon Harner and Mike DeKalb, and the other members are neighborhood quadrant residents Ken Cooper (NE), Megan Stock (SE), Genelle Moore (SW), and Brett Ebert (NW); at-large community residents Russell Miller, Pablo Cervantes, and Amy Eidenmiller; growth and development representatives Don Linscott, Rick Krueger, and Todd Wiltgen; transportation advocate Barb Fraser; and engineering industry representative Jeanne McClure.

More information is available at streets.lincoln.ne.gov.