02-27-19 Joint Health and Public Safety and Utilities

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CITY OF SOUTH BEND OFFICE OF THE CLERK build infrastructure such as the CNG station that is used by both South Bend TRANSPO and the City of South Bend to procure busses as well as to design and build projects such as the roundabouts and other projects as well that help improve air quality and reduce emissions, but also, there are other benefits like safety or traffic flow. Some other things that we're involved in related to active transportation and providing more choices and accessibility to multi-modal transportation include the ability to bike or walk,without a requirement to have a single-occupancy vehicle in order to make that trip. MACOG completed the 2016 active transportation plan. You can see a map of some of those proposed projects on the screen here (referencing a slide in the presentation), as well as some examples of some projects. These are from Plymouth and one(1)is from the City of South Bend as well. The active transportation area of our work this year has revolved around regional trail branding and wayfinding, which is building a regional brand to highlight the great regional assets that we have that people may not be aware of and to bring attention to that especially as different segments are completed, that's helpful to bring awareness. Then we're involved in activities around public awareness and education like walk to school day or bike to work week. We also are involved in public transit, as well, as I mentioned in Goshen and Elkhart in Elkhart County, but we're also continuously trying to improve that for the benefit of the region and that does have impacts here to this community. One (1) specific example, our transit planners collaborated with South Bend TRANSPO to partner with the Interurban Trolley and actually extend the Yellow Line. Previously it did not stop in downtown Mishawaka but now it comes all the way into downtown Mishawaka so the transfer is easier. The frequency of service was bumped up to every thirty (30) minutes. That provides accessibility to jobs, and to get into Elkhart,Mishawaka and ultimately South Bend for a variety of different reasons.That is something we are always looking at, holistically improving access with modes of transportation that is not dependent on vehicle ownership. Another aspect of our transportation efforts around environmental sustainability is the Northern Indiana Green Fleet Program. That is a partnership with South Shore Clean Cities, and it focuses on alternative fuels and advanced vehicles, but the core of that has been in this last year, doing alternative fuel feasibility analyses and fleet audits for public schools as well as our municipalities and others including Notre Dame and many cities across the region to help identify specifically, at a vehicle level, which vehicles are candidates for grants to replace them and which should be replaced first(1st)based on emissions. Along with the feasibility and the total cost over the life of that vehicle of going with different options as well. There is an education component to that program. We partnered with Downtown South Bend last May and the Office of Sustainability in South Bend to do a Ride and Drive event to bring attention to the availability and existence today of electric vehicles in our community, and we had an event like that in Goshen as well. Several hundred people were able to attend and test drive and experience advanced vehicles and electric vehicles. She went on, Another area that we think about a lot is related to our mandate which is to keep our region in compliance with the national ambient air quality standards. Part of this region was not in compliance a number of years ago and so that is on the forefront of our minds. Part of what we do is convene the partners of the Clean Air program and try to encourage businesses, organizations, and private citizens to voluntarily go above and beyond to promote clean air and take voluntary steps to lower emissions. Then, build awareness around the air quality action season, which is in the summer when ozone is more prevalent.That's related to vehicle emissions and other emissions, so that's really critical to understand, and the potential health impacts of unhealthy levels of ozone as well. Finally, this is a fairly new area for us. As opportunities come up that are in alignment with our mission and that local governments are interested in,we provide assistance on this. South Bend participated in the Department of Energy SolSmart program in 2017 and then Goshen did as EXCELLENCE I ACCOUNTABILITY I INNOVATION I INCLUSION I EMPOWERMENT 455 County-City Building 227 W Jefferson Bvld South Bend,Indiana 46601 p 574 235 9221 f 574.235.9173 TTD 574.235.5567 www.southbendin.gov 7