TO: Mayor and Members of City Council
THRU: Adam Lindsay, ICMA-CM, Assistant City Manager
FROM: Sheila Thomas-Ambat, PE, CCM, CFM, Public Services Director
Brian McGill, PE, PTOE, Interim Assistant Public Services Director - Traffic Services
Virginia Small, Transportation Planner
John McNeill, PMP, Senior Project Manager - Traffic
DATE: June 2, 2025
RE:
Title
Comprehensive Pedestrian Plan Update
end
COUNCIL DISTRICT(S):
Council District(s)
All
b
Relationship To Strategic Plan:
Goal IV: The City of Fayetteville will be a highly desirable place to live, work and recreate.
Executive Summary:
The City of Fayetteville partnered with the North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) to conduct a planning process to enhance pedestrian safety and comfort within city limits. The study involved technical analysis, coordination with agencies, and input from the community to develop pedestrian project recommendations. The update to the Fayetteville Pedestrian Plan focuses on enhancing the network of multimodal facilities and developing projects, programs, and policies for implementation. This plan presents 144 recommended pedestrian projects throughout Fayetteville, representing both intersection enhancements and corridor wide improvements. The total estimated cost of the plan is $769.51 million dollars and would construct approximately 146 miles of sidewalk.
Should Council approve of the plan, staff will place the plan on the next possible agenda for consent approval and adoption, with proposed projects being placed in future CIP requests.
.
Background:
The history for the Comprehensive Pedestrian Plan Update Draft Report can be summarized as follows:
- February 2023 - NCDOT puts out the relevant call for grant applications.
- April 2023 - Council authorizes, and City submits, grant application to NCDOT.
- May 2023 - FAMPO Transportation Advisory Committee approves a resolution to support.
- July 2023 - City notified of grant approval.
- October 2023 - NCDOT coordinates the Municipal Agreement.
- March 2024 - Comprehensive Pedestrian Plan Update Kick-Off.
- August 2024 - Pedestrian Plan Public Meeting #1.
- December 2024 - Pedestrian Plan Public Meeting #2.
- April 2025 - Comprehensive Pedestrian Plan Update Draft Report Completed.
The City of Fayetteville and NCDOT partnered together to conduct a Comprehensive Fayetteville Pedestrian Plan Update. The project team identified a Project Steering Committee to establish project goals and to provide feedback throughout the project. Members included local, regional, and state agencies as well as local community organizations supportive of enhancing pedestrian safety and comfort.
Two rounds of community engagement were held, one each in August 2024 and December 2024. In both rounds, the project team offered several ways to engage, including public workshops, online surveys and map comments, in-person conversations, and in-person voting exercises. The two rounds of engagement resulted in a combined 360 map comments, 652 survey responses, and 95 in-person conversations.
The analysis started with a review of recent local and regional multimodal plans, existing transportation network, and land use conditions for the study area, identifying a total of 244 relevant projects for this study. The team then removed any project from a recent local and regional multimodal plan that has been completed or already had funding identified for implementation and construction. The project team then analyzed the transportation network to identify any gaps between projects, removing access-controlled routes along the interstate from the analysis. Through the gap analysis, 27 additional corridors and 70 additional projects were identified for further analysis and comparison with the remaining projects from the plan review. The project team proceeded to assign these projects a score based on a series of evaluation criteria. After the project identification process, 144 projects proceeded to move forward. Projects were then further refined into key recommendations and project types, tailored to specific corridor needs.
Planning-level cost estimates were developed for each of the corridor improvements to assist with project prioritization and implementation. The project team developed an implementation plan based on the resulting prioritization, estimated cost, and feedback from the public and project steering committee. The implementation plan identified projects as Near-Term, Medium-Term, and Long-Term. The Near-Term projects include the most critical initiatives for immediate action. The total estimated cost of the plan is $769.51 million dollars and would construct approximately 146 miles of sidewalk.
Finally, the project team documented community partners, funding sources, and design resources that can be considered when moving the project recommendations through to design and implementation.
Attached are the draft reports, appendices, and the presentation to accompany the Draft Comprehensive Pedestrian Plan Update. Should Council approve of this plan, staff will place the approval and adoption of the Comprehensive Pedestrian Plan Update on a forthcoming consent agenda.
Issues/Analysis:
The Fayetteville Pedestrian Plan requires an update to reflect recent local and regional plans, construction, and development progress. The Comprehensive Pedestrian Plan analyzed recent plans, the transportation network, and land use to recommend 144 pedestrian safety improvement projects.
Budget Impact:
To adopt the plan, there is no active budget impact. Should the plan be approved, future pedestrian safety improvements will be programmed into future fiscal year CIP proposals.
Options:
Option 1 - Approve the Comprehensive Pedestrian Plan Update to be placed on a Consent Agenda for adoption.
Option 2 - Do not approve the Comprehensive Pedestrian Plan Update and provide staff with further direction.
Recommended Action:
Option 1 - Approve the Comprehensive Pedestrian Plan Update and place on a Consent Agenda for adoption.
Attachments:
Fayetteville Pedestrian Plan_final report.pdf
Appendix A - Fayetteville Ped Plan_PEP.pdf
Appendix B - Public Survey_Fay Ped Plan_Survey Results_Round 1 and 2.pdf
Appendix C - Prioritization Methodology.pdf
Appendix D - Project Cost Estimation Details.pdf
Appendix E - Fayetteville Pedestrian Plan Glossary.pdf
Ped Plan_City Council May 2025.pdf