Five-year plan (2024-2028)
Active Projects DashboardThe CIP addresses:
- Citywide projects funded through various sources that are underway or planned within the next five years.
- Maintenance and improvements for safe, reliable, and efficient infrastructure.
- Transformative projects that reflect the community’s long-term vision.
- Sound management of resources, equitable and transparent decision-making, and public understanding of long-term infrastructure planning.
Transportation
Projects to improve mobility, connectivity, safety and the experience for various users through new or redesigned streets, improved sidewalks, traffic signals, and lighting.
Parks & Greenways
Projects to improve facilities within the park system, expand the greenway network, and maintain existing park and greenway features.
Environment
Projects to improve and maintain natural and manmade systems to manage the abundance of annual rainfall the City receives, thereby protecting property and conserving the natural environment.
City Facilities
Projects to upgrade and maintain City buildings and facilities including visible public facilities and other important building systems.
The City of Mobile’s CIP Program was funded with the renewal of the one-cent sales tax in 2015. With this, the City positioned itself to begin addressing an estimated $250 Million in maintenance needs by defining a capital program for the next three years. At the time, capital expenditures were not making a dent in the backlog.
The renewal provided a $21 million per year jump start for much needed infrastructure improvements. That funding, combined with other funding sources to repair, replace, and rebuild infrastructure across Mobile provided a total of $110 million for improvements.
Projects were based on input from Citizens, Professional Staff, and Elected Officials to ensure investments aligned with Community needs, and prioritized based on project viability, infrastructure criticality, community benefit, and strategic alignment with the Map for Mobile.
The 2016-2018 CIP provided a strong foundation for a robust, long range capital program. In 2019, with the renewal of the one-cent sales tax, an additional $4 Million was allocated to begin making progress on City Facilities improvements. This brought the CIP program to $25 million to be renewed annually for the next five years.
This funding, along with several large State and Federal grant awards, including the RESTORE Act, has helped the City make progress on multiple long-envisioned, transformative projects.
The current CIP is a five-year program that considers infrastructure projects funded from various sources. The five-year approach will help the City more efficiently use its resources and provide a more predictable path to achieving its long-term goals.
- 2023-2027 CIP
- 2022-2026 CIP
- 2019 CIP
- 2018 CIP
- 2017 CIP
- 2016 CIP
Mobile has many plans that fit into a clear hierarchy with distinct purposes. The CIP is a short and mid-term plan that identifies funded infrastructure projects. It is one of the primary tools to implement the comprehensive plan, Map for Mobile, other long-range plans, and strategic plans. In addition to the CIP, long-range plans are implemented gradually by many public and private decisions informed by plan policies, City laws (codes and ordinances), and various City programs.
Capital improvement projects are funded from various sources including City allocations, the County’s pay-as-you-go program, gas tax, and State/Federal grants. Since 2016, the largest funding source has been the one percent sales tax that was designated that now allocates $25 million per year. Grants such as the RESTORE Act and TIGER have provided additional funding for specific transformative projects. This chart depicts the past and projected future spending on City infrastructure from 2010-2028.
The CIP is monitored and updated annually in alignment with regular reviews of Map for Mobile and the City’s budgeting process. There are five steps to that cycle.
1. Identify (Nov-Dec) City departments assess the status of current projects and budgets; use technical assessments and other data to identify and recommend future projects
2. Score (Jan) City staff apply a scoring methodology to each project for considering program priorities
3. Prioritize (Feb-Mar) A CIP Task Force considers scoring, funding, collaborative opportunities, and leadership priorities to draft CIP
4. Refine (Apr-Jun) City Council reviews draft CIP and recommends refinements to align with the annual budget process
5. Adopt (Jul-Aug) City Council adopts the CIP by resolution. CIP is incorporated into annual budget process
Identifying projects
The CIP projects are identified through several sources. The initial basis for the 2016-2018 program was to address the backlog of infrastructure maintenance across the City. That list was established in 2015 which included a collection of projects that have been neglected due to lack of resources which will continue to deteriorate if not pursued. Many of these projects are still underway in the current CIP while many others have been completed from previous initial investments.
Future CIPs will include projects identified through periodic technical studies and needs assessments, various long-range master plans and neighborhood plans, ongoing data gathering systems, and community input through sources like 311 and surveys.
Sources for projects include…
Long-range plans (Map for Mobile, City Master Plans, Neighborhoods Plans, and partner plans like the Long-Range Transportation Plan and Watershed Management Plans)
Technical assessments (including pavement conditions, facilities conditions, and park needs assessments)
Ongoing data gathering (including smart traffic and parking systems, user behavior, community surveys, and 311)
Scoring and prioritizing projects
The City strives to ensure projects put forward are of significant benefit to the community and align with the City’s long-term plans. This is accomplished through a prioritization framework applied to each project. Professional staff and council members work together to ensure the framework outputs address both citizen concerns and less visible infrastructure needs across the City. This method uses set criteria to determine an overall project score which incorporates information regarding a project’s scope, justification, impact, costs, and alignment with plans and community input. The scoring assists City leadership with determining the immediate needs of the community and the short-term investments that will enhance and upgrade the City’s infrastructure. This scoring is refined with each annual CIP review to ensure the system is up-to-date and reflective of the current community. While this framework provides a consistent method for prioritizing projects, the final CIP considers additional factors such as collaborative opportunities or funding that may be available to specific projects or groups of projects.
The prioritization framework uses four criteria to determine a score for each project.
40% Infrastructure Criticality (probability of failure; consequences of failure)
20% Community Benefit (type and scale of benefit)
20% Strategic Alignment (alignment with long-term plans such as Map for Mobile)
20% Project Viability (delivery risk, planning alignment, availability of external funding)
CIP Spotlight – Michael Davis
The CIP has helped transform downtown and make it more ADA friendly. Before, Michael struggled to get around downtown but thanks to the CIP he can navigate with ease.
CIP Spotlight – The Oswalt’s
Hunter and Harris Oswalt used to push their daughters stroller over bumpy sidewalks making it an uncomfortable ride for the toddler. After the CIP sidewalk improvements, the family enjoys smooth walks down the street with minimal bumps in their path
CIP Spotlight – Hanlon Walsh
Hanlon often found trouble while running over uneven sidewalks throughout Mobile. After the CIP improvements, Hanlon enjoys runs all across the city on smooth, even sidewalks.
St Anne Street Improvements
Once the worst street to ride on, Ann St. is being transformed to create a smooth surface for Mobilians to drive, walk, run, bike or even rollerblade down.
Questions about the CIP?
Contact the City’s CIP Coordinator…
Bid Opportunities
Visit https://www.cityofmobile.org/bids/ for opportunities to bid on City projects.
