REPORT TO THE CITY COUNCIL
FROM: Scott MOzier, PE, Director
Public Works Department
BY: jill m. Gormley, TE, Assistant Director
Public Works Department, Traffic & Engineering Services Division
ANDREINA AGUILAR, Chief Engineering Technician
Public Works Department, Traffic & Engineering Services Division
SUBJECT
Title
Actions pertaining to professional consulting services for the Vision Zero Action Plan (Citywide)
1. Approve a Professional Consultant Services Agreement with TDG Engineering, Inc., an affiliate of Toole Design Group, LLC., in the amount not to exceed four hundred thousand dollars ($400,000) and a contingency amount not to exceed fifteen thousand dollars ($15,000.00) for any additional work.
Body
RECOMMENDATION
Staff recommends the City Council approve a professional consulting services agreement between the City of Fresno (City) and TDG Engineering, Inc. (Consultant) to provide professional consulting services for the Public Works Traffic & Engineering Services Division for the Vision Zero Action Plan and authorize the Public Works Director or designee to the agreement on behalf of the City.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The Public Works Department seeks City Council’s approval for a Professional Consulting Services Agreement with TDG Engineering, Inc. an affiliate of Toole Design Group, LLC., for the City’s Vision Zero Action Plan. The Plan is crucial to acting on the City’s commitments to systemic change leading to the elimination of traffic fatalities and serious injuries while increasing health, safety, and equitable mobility for all. The Plan will outline a strategic planning framework to prioritize and implement safety enhancements that most effectively improve safety for all users as a first step towards the aspirational goal of eliminating traffic deaths and an important acknowledgement that achieving this goal will require a fundamental shift in the day-to-day “business” of transportation in the City of Fresno.
BACKGROUND
The Department of Public Works was awarded funds through the Safe Streets and Roads for All Discretionary Grant Program (SSR4A). Vision Zero is a strategy that strives to eliminate all traffic fatalities and severe injuries, while increasing safety, health, and equitable mobility for all. Vision Zero is a commitment to approach traffic safety in fundamentally different ways through systemic changes. The concept of Vision Zero was first introduced in Sweden in the late 1990s. There are currently more than 50 Vision Zero cities across the United States. In California, 13 cities have adopted Vision Zero Policies. Five of the six most populated cities in California (Los Angeles, San Diego, San Jose, San Francisco, and Sacramento) have adopted Vision Zero polices and are designated Vision Zero cities.
Vision Zero is guided by core principles that build on the belief that everyone has the right to move safely in their communities and that system designers and policy makes share the responsibility to ensure safe systems for travel. The core principles are:
1. Traffic deaths are preventable and unacceptable.
2. Human life takes priority over mobility and other objectives of the road system. The street system should be safe for all users of all ages and abilities, for all modes of transportation, and in all communities.
3. Human error is inevitable and unpredictable. The transportation system should be designed to anticipate error, so the consequence is not severe injury or death. Advancements in vehicle and roadway design and technology are a necessary component toward avoiding the safety impacts of human errors and poor behaviors.
4. People are inherently vulnerable and speed is a fundamental predictor of crash survival. The transportation system should be designed for speeds that protect human life.
5. Safe human behaviors, education, and enforcement are essential contributors to a safe transportation system.
6. Policies at all levels of government need to align with making safety the highest priority for roadways.
In 2015, the City of Fresno was designated a Pedestrian Safety Focus City by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) for a high rate of collisions involving pedestrians. FHWA considers the 50 cities with the largest number of pedestrian/bicycle-involved fatalities, or those with an annual average of approximately ten or more fatalities for the designation. Cities are designated a Pedestrian/Bicycle Focus City if they are among the top 20 cities for number of fatalities, or if the fatality rate per population is greater than the average of the top 50 cities.
Pedestrian and bicyclist deaths have been on the rise in the United States. According to the Office of Traffic Safety (OTS), the number of pedestrians killed on California roadways increased by 26% between 2014 and 2018. California ranks number one in pedestrian fatalities on its roadways, almost 25% higher than the national average. The City of Fresno saw similar trends between 2014 and 2018 as shown in the following table.
|
Citywide Collisions 2019-2023 |
|
|
2019 |
2020 |
2021 |
2022 |
2023 |
|
1. Total collisions |
3108 |
3288 |
3841 |
4016 |
4111 |
|
2. Injury collisions |
859 |
948 |
1180 |
1370 |
1368 |
|
3. Fatal collisions/death |
37 |
54 |
48 |
41 |
41 |
|
4. Total DUI collisions |
443 |
530 |
507 |
618 |
649 |
|
5. Injury DUI collisions |
56 |
81 |
92 |
109 |
120 |
|
6. Fatal DUI collisions/death |
12 |
17 |
18 |
7 |
10 |
|
7. Fatal vehicle vs. vehicle |
3 |
4 |
7 |
3 |
11 |
|
8. Vehicle vs pedestrian collisions |
155 |
164 |
224 |
214 |
275 |
|
9. Pedestrian fatalities |
19 |
28 |
18 |
21 |
21 |
The Vision Zero Action Plan will outline a strategic planning framework to prioritize and implement safety enhancements that most effectively improve safety for all users as a first step towards the aspirational goal of eliminating traffic deaths and an important acknowledgement that achieving this goal will require a fundamental shift in the day-to-day “business” of transportation in the City of Fresno.
In accordance with Administrative Order (A.O.) 6-19, staff sent out Request for Qualifications (RFQ) for Professional Consulting Services on November 6, 2023, via Planet Bids, email, and published in the Business Journal. At the closing of the advertisement period on December 15, 2023, the RFQ received five responses. City staff evaluated each Statement of Qualifications (SOQ) and determined all submittals were qualified to move into the interview process. The SOQ’s were reviewed and each consultant team was interviewed. The Consultant was selected as the most qualified consultants for these services.
Staff is recommending the City Council Approve a Professional Consultant Services Agreement with TDG Engineering, Inc. in the amount not to exceed four hundred thousand dollars ($400,000) and with a contingency amount not to exceed fifteen thousand dollars ($15,000.00) for any additional work, to provide professional consulting services for the Public Works Traffic & Engineering Services Division for the Vision Zero Action Plan and authorize the Public Works Director or designee to the agreement, approved as to form by the City Attorney’s Office, on behalf of the City.
ENVIRONMENTAL FINDINGS
By the definition provided in the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) Guidelines Section 15378, the award of these contracts does not qualify as a “project”.
LOCAL PREFERENCE
Local preference was not implemented in the consultant selection process, because this project is federally funded.
FISCAL IMPACT
Funding source for this project is through the federal Safe Streets and Roads 4 All (SSR4A) program.
Attachment:
Consultant Services Agreement - TDG Engineering, Inc.