Title
Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) Highway Safety Grant Application (B)
This is a request for the City Commission to authorize staff to submit a grant application to the FDOT to fund a staff position for the crash analysis program.
Explanation
The City of Gainesville ranks in the top 10 cities in the State in the incidence of crashes. Over the past three years, the City has experienced an upward trend in crash occurrence, while a reduction was observed statewide. Crash occurrence in the City is consistently higher than the statewide average. In 2008, the crash ratio per 1,000 population in Gainesville was 19.68 compared to the statewide average of 12.94, with the City ranked # 9 when compared to cities with population of 100,000 or greater. The City of Gainesville ranks at the top 25% of its population group in four out of the ten priority categories established by the FDOT Safety Office (source: Highway Safety Matrix - Ranking of Florida Cities, Revised 04/09), including crashes involving bicycles (ranked # 4), pedestrians (ranked # 7), aggressive driving (ranked # 5) and teen drivers (ranked # 6). The Public Works Department needs dedicated staff to implement a traffic safety program to analyze traffic crash data in order to identify problem areas, trends, and potential solutions to address the deficiencies, including identification of corrections by engineering, targeted enforcement and education. Staff proposes to fund one (1) program assistant position with the FDOT Highway Safety grant. The grant is awarded for a maximum of 3 years, covering 100% of costs for the first year (FY11) and requiring a match of 25% for Year 2 (FY12) and 50% for Year 3 (FY13).
Fiscal Note
There are no fiscal impacts for FY11. By doing a drop/add with an existing position, we will be able to use salary savings to fund the matching funds required in FY12 in the amount of $9,570 and FY13 in the amount of $19,200.
Recommendation
Recommended Motion:...
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