3-26-0196 Scope of Work.pdf

26-0196 Request for Qualifications for Safe Routes to School Master Plan

Scope of Work

The intent of this request for qualifications is to establish a contract for consulting services for the City of

Arlington Transportation Department and Public Works Department.

The City reserves the right to make an award to either one vendor whose proposal is the best value for the City, or to multiple vendors, at the City’s discretion.

Background

The City of Arlington received funding through the Safe Streets and Roads for All discretionary grant program to create a comprehensive safety action plan. This safety action plan, later named Safe Streets

Arlington, created a commitment to reducing deaths and serious injuries on Arlington’s roadways to zero by 2050. As part of the planning process, actions and strategies were developed to assist the City in reaching that goal of zero deaths and serious injuries. A key concern voiced by the community was the safety of children walking, rolling, biking, and being driven to and from school. In response to these concerns, the action plan recommended pursuing funding for planning and construction of improvements, along with education on roadway safety, to support safe routes to schools.

Since development of the Safe Streets Arlington plan began, the City of Arlington has received two additional rounds of funding to complete supplemental planning and demonstration projects. A portion of the Round 3 funding has been set aside to complete a Safe Routes to Schools (SRTS) Master Plan. This

SRTS Master Plan will include analysis and proposed improvements to create safer alternatives for students and their families to walk, roll, bike, or drive to school. The SRTS Master Plan will provide an inventory of proposed improvements, as well as a system for prioritization, to ensure that the City can effectively and efficiently address safety needs around schools.

The remaining portion of the Round 3 funding has been set aside to complete two quick-build demonstration projects at local elementary schools located near the City’s High Injury Network (HIN).

Quick build projects are a way to test safety improvements for roadway users, including pedestrians, cyclists, transit users, and drivers. The projects are temporary, often low-cost projects that can be installed faster than more traditional roadwork projects. Some examples include traffic calming (such as speed tables and roundabouts), high-visibility crosswalks, landscaping, signage, and intersection daylighting (such as curb extensions or flexible posts).

These demonstration projects will provide an opportunity for the community to be involved in the development of safety projects and see them in action before committing to more permanent solutions.

The demonstration project locations will be chosen in consultation with City staff and the selected consultant team.

Project Approach

The project is envisioned as a collaboration that leverages the local area expertise of Arlington staff paired with the subject matter expertise of the consultant. The Consultant team should be composed of experts in transportation planning and engineering, including American Institute of Certified Planners (AICP) transportation planners and transportation engineers holding a Professional Engineer (PE) license.

Tasks & Deliverables (to be completed by consultant) – SRTS Master Plan

Task 1 – Project Management

• Prepare agendas and lead biweekly project team meetings to provide updates and reach consensus on decision points

• Provide monthly invoices along with a summary of activities completed and progress reports on completed and scheduled work

• Provide materials for presentations at up to three Planning & Zoning Commission and up to three City Council meetings

Task 2 – Community Engagement

• Develop a community engagement plan outlining the various strategies that will be used to solicit feedback for schools, to include community input sessions, surveys, and interviews with parents, students, administrators, and neighborhood residents, to ensure feedback representative of community needs

• Support as-needed internal steering committee meetings, as well as external stakeholder committee meetings at key phases

• Conduct broad and representative engagement using the strategies outlined in the community engagement plan, to include providing engagement materials for outreach, notification, and meetings

• Attend and facilitate community meetings

• Provide written content and images to use on the project website hosted on the City of Arlington website

• Provide Spanish and Vietnamese translation services for any community engagement activities and educational materials, as well as translation services for any other languages spoken by a significant portion of the school community

Task 3 – Existing Conditions

• Create an inventory of existing conditions at all school campuses, including existing signage, school zones, flashers, pavement markings, sidewalk ramps, etc., related to roadway safety

• Provide inventory in electronic format (GIS shapefile) and printed map format

Task 4 – Plan Drafting and Review

• Develop a master plan for safe routes to elementary, middle, and high schools within the City of

Arlington municipal boundary, including public, charter, and private campuses, to include walking/rolling, cycling, and driving. A graphical plan for each school campus should be developed to the 10% design level of detail, including the following elements:

o Provide four-directional routes for each school, to ensure long-term applicability of safe routes with demographic changes in neighborhoods o Provide a system for prioritizing safety improvements within each campus plan o Include an inventory of required materials for implementation (e.g., ramps, flashers, paint) o Identify right-of-way availability, potential utility conflicts, and TxDOT right-of-way, if present o Provide a cost estimate for safety improvements at each campus, including implementation and materials o Assess future challenges and needs as conditions around campuses change, especially for campuses on the longer-term prioritization list, to ensure the recommendations will still be valid

• Provide a system for prioritizing safety improvements of campuses overall, to identify which campuses should be improved in the short-, medium-, and longer-term

• Include two rounds of internal feedback and one round of community feedback on draft master plan, in addition to routine project team meeting updates

Task 5 – Final Plan and Adoption Process

• Develop a draft and final plan document, including summary of community engagement input, existing conditions, and campus plans, as well as an interactive GIS map showing proposed improvements for each campus

• Presentation materials and attendance at plan adoption public hearings and meetings

Tasks & Deliverables (to be completed by consultant) – Demonstration Projects

Task 1 – Project Management

• Prepare agendas and lead biweekly project team meetings to provide updates and reach consensus on decision points

• Provide monthly invoices along with a summary of activities completed and progress reports on completed and scheduled work

• Provide materials for presentations to Planning & Zoning Commission and City Council

Task 2 – Community Engagement

• Develop a community engagement plan outlining the various strategies that will be used to solicit feedback for each school location, to include at least two community input sessions, as well as interviews with parents, students, administrators, and neighborhood residents

• Conduct inclusive and representative engagement at each school using the strategies outlined in the community engagement plan

• Provide written content and images to use on the project website hosted on the City of Arlington website

• Develop educational materials to accompany community engagement efforts as outlined in the community engagement plan

• Provide translation services for any community engagement activities and educational materials in any languages spoken by a significant portion of the school community

Task 3 – Before/During/After Analysis

• Collect baseline data prior to project installation, including but not limited to: multimodal traffic counts, crash history, at least one site visit, and interviews with parents, students, administrators, and neighborhood residents. A second round of analysis will be conducted at the midpoint of the installation to determine any changes from the baseline data. The third round will be conducted at the end of the project to see if the baseline or midpoint data has changed

• Develop a final analysis memo outlining the performance of the project

Task 4 – Quick-build Project Design, Installation, and Removal

• Use the existing Safe Routes to School Plan, the Safe Streets Arlington plan, community feedback, and staff input to provide an initial design concept and budget for consideration

• Integrate any and all applicable NEPA requirements into timeline and design process

• Provide responses to comments from initial design and provide a second design to solicit feedback from the community

• Use community feedback and staff input to make a final design and budget to install at each location

• As needed, consultant will recommend adjustments to the demonstration project to mitigate concerns or issues arising from the installation

• Develop a final report outlining the process, community engagement, installation, final results, and recommendations for future projects

The Public Works Department will perform the installation and removal of the demonstration projects at each location. The consultant team will not be responsible for any construction or installation activities.

Budget

The total maximum budget for this project is $2,665,000.

This includes a maximum of $2,475,000 for the SRTS Master Plan, and $190,000 for the Demonstration

Projects.

For Demonstration Project funding: $150,000 maximum is available for design, community engagement, and environmental review. $40,000 ($20,000 per school) is available for monitoring and analysis of the demonstration projects.

SRTS Master Plan and Demonstration Project Timeline

Provide a graphic timeline and detailed project schedule with key milestones identified to achieve the goal of final SRTS Master Plan adoption by February 2028 and final Demonstration Project report presentation to City Council in late 2028. The schedule should be based on the following key dates (SRTS Master Plan identified as “SRTS” and Quick-Build project identified by “QB”):

SRTS/QB Contract approved by City Council June 2026

SRTS Project Kickoff July 2026

SRTS Master Plan Development August 2026

SRTS Begin community engagement August 2026

QB Project kickoff: establish baseline conditions and develop community engagement plan

October 2026

QB Begin continued community engagement and quick-build design/feedback sessions

January 2027

QB Install and monitor quick-build projects August 2027

QB Mid-point measurements of quick-build projects

November 2027

SRTS Master Plan Adoption December 2027

QB Take final quick-build measurements, uninstall quick-build projects

May 2028

QB Report findings June 2028

QB City Council briefing November/December 2028