Inflation may claim its latest Charlotte victim: sidewalk and traffic safety projects
Sidewalks and traffic safety projects could be the latest victims of inflation as the city of Charlotte crafts its 2024 budget.
A package of street improvement projects already approved by voters will cost millions more dollars than expected due to changes in the construction industry, including rising prices for materials and labor.
Of the $226 million total OK’d on 2022 ballots, $77 million wasn’t assigned to a particular project. That money will be used to cover the increased cost of projects. But the city’s programs to reduce traffic fatalities and build sidewalks could take a future hit because of inflated costs.
The city of Charlotte has a bond referendum on the ballot every two years. Municipal bonds are a major funding source for the city’s big capital projects. The $226 million passed last year included money for housing, neighborhoods and transportation. There’s no referendum in 2023.
The next ballot proposal in 2024 will decrease to $210 million, staff told City Council members during a budget workshop Thursday, due to rising interest rates and city revenue and spending assumptions. Rising interest rates negatively impact municipal bond prices because they prompt investors to sell.
City staff told the council during a budget workshop Thursday that Vision Zero, the city’s goal to eliminate traffic deaths, could receive just $4 million from 2024 bonds, a sharp decrease from the $17.1 million the program received in 2022.
The city’s sidewalk program is expected to receive $20 million from the 2024 bond to repair and build sidewalks across Charlotte, $30 million less than the program received in 2022.
Meanwhile, the bond allocation for planned road projects could more than double in 2024, with $28.3 million needed to cover rising costs.
The discussion comes as new reporting from The Charlotte Observer found traffic fatalities declined at the same time as the city is investing more money in Vision Zero and building more pedestrian and cyclist infrastructure.
Some council members expressed worry Thursday about how to proceed.
Councilman Ed Driggs said he thinks the city should prioritize need before determining where to allocate bond money and consider decreasing affordable housing’s annual $50 million allocation.
“My personal opinion is we’re getting deeper in a hole,” Driggs said.
No new projects will be included in the city’s bond proposals through 2028, but the money borrowed through 2028 will fund the following increasingly pricey projects:
▪ Ashley Road, Tuckaseegee Road and Freedom Drive: This project extends turn lanes, adds pedestrian refuge islands, widens sidewalks and adds bicycle lanes in effort to improve safety and traffic flow.
▪ Eastway and Shamrock drives: The intersection of Eastway and Shamrock sees a high number of wrecks involving significant injuries. This project would add a multi-use path along Eastway Drive, buffered bike lanes, sidewalks and a planting strip on Shamrock Drive. Left-turn lanes at the intersection will be removed, replaced by cross streets added to the north and south.
▪ Bryant Farms Road extension: The extension to Ardrey Kell Road will provide an alternative east-west route.
▪ Hickory Grove area: The city will add 2.65 miles of landscaped medians, curb and gutter, a multi-use path, planting strips and some pedestrian refuge islands to Robinson Church Road between WT Harris Boulevard to Hood Road. A roundabout is planned for the intersection with Plott Road.
The Charlotte City Council’s next budget workshop is planned for March 9. The budget is expected to be adopted in June.
This story was originally published February 9, 2023 at 6:39 PM.
