OPERATION SAFEWALKS
City of Columbus
Operation SAFEWALKS was created by Mayor Coleman in February 2007 and aims to provide safe pedestrian routes along major arterial roadways through the investment in new roadway infrastructure, including sidewalks, within older areas of the City of Columbus incorporated by 1958.
The program signals a more meaningful cooperation between the Departments of Public Utilities and Public Service in how they manage their Capital Improvement Programs (CIP) to advance pedestrian safety. Issues to be addressed by any projects under Operation SAFEWALKS include:
- Provision of safer pedestrian routes along older arterial roadways;
- Installation of storm sewers, curbs and gutters along roadways where flooding occurs;
- Resolution of roadway and adjacent property flooding;
- Replacement of old roadway pavement.
The project consists of the following activities:
Community Benchmarking:
Information will be collected about the policies and programs pertaining to sidewalk construction and assessments in 10 benchmark cities selected in consultation with Columbus staff.
Columbus Sidewalk Construction, Policies and Recommendations:
The process for determining sidewalk installation methods will be documented. In addition, sidewalk policies will be compared with benchmark communities and develop recommended changes to the policies based on the results of the comparison.
CIP Process Review and Geographic Information System (GIS) Tool Development:
Existing process used by Columbus to develop its CIP will be documented. A GIS tool will be developed allowing the Departments of Public Service and Public Utilities to better coordinate the identification, design and scheduling of CIP projects. The purpose of the tool is to encourage City agencies to partner projects in the same areas to reduce costs and avoid repeated disruption and construction of the same infrastructure.
Sidewalk Priorities and Implementation Plan:
The City of Columbus was engaged in several projects aimed at improving pedestrian travel prior to Operation SAFEWALKS. A list of sidewalk projects and a mechanism for project prioritization will be developed and build on prior work.
Public and Stakeholder Engagement:
A process of obtaining input from the general public and stakeholders will be developed and conducted. The input will include gathering additional information about sidewalk policies in Columbus and elsewhere and opinions about what should be changed about existing Columbus policies to satisfy the intent of Operation SAFEWALKS. This web site is to serve as one of the tools in the public/stakeholder engagement process.
Deliverables:
City Process Documentation
Sidewalk Prioritization Criteria
GIS Tool - Autumn 2008
Meetings:
City Stakeholders Meeting - December 14, 2007 - COMPLETED
Public Stakeholders Meeting 1 - January 30th, 2008 - COMPLETED
Public Stakeholders Meeting 2 - February 19th, 2008 - COMPLETED
Meeting summary
Contact Us or Leave a Comment
Write to us with your comments/feedback at safewalks@morpc.org or contact Chris Gawronski (614 233 4166) at the Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission for more information on this portion of the Operation SAFEWALKS program.
For general information about the Operation SAFEWALKS program, contact Program Manager Kathleen Dussault at the City of Columbus, 109 N. Front St., Columbus Ohio 43215