2011 budget summary - St. Louis County

2011‐2015 Capital Improvement ProgramThe County’s Capital Improvement Program (CIP)details capital projects funded in the 2011 Budget,as well as those under consideration for fundingthrough the 2015 budget. The CIP is a planning toolwhich details known project needs and prioritiesover the next five years. The CIP is not acommitment of funds for future years.CIP PLANNING CYCLEThe development of the CIP is a continuous processwhich attempts to compile, review, analyze, andjustify information from numerous sources in aneffort to forecast future capital needs. Countydepartments are constantly working to identify,evaluate, and prioritize projects within theconstraints of available funding.In late June, the Department of Planning providesdepartments with instructions on submitting theirCIP proposals for the next five‐year period.Departments submit their CIP requests to theDepartment of Planning and the Department ofAdministration (Budget Office) in August. Proposalssubmitted by departments are reviewed andsummarized for consideration by the CountyExecutive. Final funding recommendations aresubmitted to County Council through the CountyExecutive’s Recommended Budget.PROJECT PRIORITIZATIONCapital projects are prioritized in different ways,depending upon the specific needs of a departmentand the source(s) of available funding. Thefollowing describes how projects within theDepartments of Highways & Traffic and PublicWorks, are prioritized:Department of Highways & TrafficProjects in the Department of Highways andTraffic typically address a safety,congestion, maintenance, or access need.Realignment and widening construction work forJennings Station Road looking north from MinnieAvenue toward West Florissant Avenue. Theadjacent asphalt detour pavement allows traffic tosafely move through the construction zone whilework progresses.Once a potential project is identified bystaff, via the public, at the request of theCounty Council, or some other avenue, thedepartment gathers data for the roadwayor intersection such as current and futureland use, the number and severity ofaccidents, topography, number of accesspoints, existing traffic volume, andanticipated future traffic demand. This datais then weighted to determine an ultimate“score” that provides a method to compareprojects. Of the criteria evaluated, safetyneeds (i.e. high accident rate) is given ahigher priority than congestion or accessneeds. Many projects address acombination of needs.For the highest priority projects, thedepartment develops a concept plan andcost estimates. Provided that funding isavailable to move a proposed projectforward, the department meets with theappropriate councilmember to share theconcept and holds a public engagementmeeting to get resident and/or stakeholder- 253 -FISCAL YEAR 2011ADOPTED BUDGET