Street Maintenance

Public Safety, Pre-K, and Potholes

A vote FOR the Referendum is a vote FOR safer children and safer streets

When we began this journey, we realized very quickly there would be proceeds generated by this initiative above and beyond what would be needed to restore benefits to first responders. As a result, we reached out to the community and asked countless individuals and local groups for guidance. Time and time again, we were told by citizens that they would like to see every penny accounted for rather than just handing the city a blank check. The most popular issues on people’s minds were Pot Holes and Pre-K. It didn’t take us long to realize that both of these issues are important components of PUBLIC SAFETY.

Potholes (Street Maintenance)

This is an issue we as Memphians face daily. Aside from the inconvenience and car damage, good roads are absolutely necessary for first responders to reach you in time of emergency as quickly as possible. From the moment of a 9-1-1 call to someone answering the phone to a dispatcher sending us to you, the amount of time it takes to get to you is critical. City leaders like to point out their efforts to reduce the time you spend on hold—which is getting better, but the system is still broken when our emergency vehicles must drive slower than necessary due to the poor conditions of the roads. That is why are proposal includes funds to fix potholes and road repair. Here are a few facts about potholes and street maintenance.

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• Driving on Memphis area roads costs the average driver $2,019 per year in the form of extra vehicle operating costs (VOC) as a result of driving on roads in need of repair
• 51% of major locally and state-maintained roads in the Memphis urban area are in poor or mediocre condition, costing the average motorist an additional $589 each year in extra vehicle operating costs, including accelerated vehicle depreciation, additional repair costs, and increased fuel consumption and tire wear.
• Traffic congestion in the Memphis area is worsening, causing 43 annual hours of delay for the average motorist and costing each driver $1,080 annually in lost time and wasted fuel.
• Traffic crashes in Tennessee claimed the lives of 4,965 people between 2012 and 2016, an average of 993 fatalities per year. The number of fatalities increased eight percent from 2015 to 2016, from 958 to 1,036. Tennessee’s overall traffic fatality rate of 1.25 fatalities per 100 million vehicle miles of travel is higher than the national average of 1.13. In the Memphis urban area, on average, 122 people were killed in traffic crashes in each of the last three years