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2025 has been a year of major success for Charlotte's strategic investment area program. A new way of investing in
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transportation that aligns our mobility priorities with the community's mobility needs. Using a data-driven process and listening to the needs of the community,
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the city identified 22 strategic investment areas or CAS in neighborhoods and corridors across the city with
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improvements designed to address needs quickly for community benefits while being measurable and adaptable. In 2024,
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voters approved a $55 million capital bond, piloting this strategic approach in two areas, Far East Harrisburg and
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Arrowood. These funds are already at work implementing coordinated improvements with all projects scheduled to be complete or under construction by
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the end of 2026. A goal of the program is to engage and partner with local and small businesses to construct these
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projects, train our local workforce, and build long-term business readiness and capacity. This delivers projects faster
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and keeps dollars right here in our community. Local business Daily Pools has already benefited from this
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initiative. After attending a training hosted through the SIA program, the company secured a contract with the city. The pool installers hold
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significant specialized expertise with concrete and they're using their techniques to diversify their business with sidewalk installations.
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SIA has opened new doors for the future of this small locally owned company through training. Community involvement is integral to everything we do. This
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year, we hit the ground running, hosting successful kickoff events in both the Far East Harrisburg and Arrowood strategic investment areas to build
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awareness, engage the public, and get valuable input. These and other family-friendly events were attended by hundreds of community members throughout
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the year. We've already seen tremendous success and delivered improvements in the community. In 2025, we completed
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seven projects and celebrated these milestones with the community through groundbreaking and ribbon cutting ceremonies. The community can keep up
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with our progress with our SIA dashboard which accounts for the schedule and budget of every project.
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Things are being done and we're being contacted more. I appreciate that.
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We really appreciate that, but we look forward to a more joint, cohesive venture. We also have 42 projects
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underway which include new sidewalk and bus enhancement projects we broke ground for on Harrisburg Road that will allow residents to travel more safely.
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We want to commend the city for listening. We want to commend the city for putting in a plan of action on how to address the citizens' desires.
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And we're just getting started. With the success of these pilot areas and the passage of the recent transportation referendum, we've unlocked the next
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stage of the program. The plan is to scale these strategic investments across all 22 identified strategic investment
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areas. This program will ensure Charlotte is more mobile for everyone.
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Thank you to the community for your support and partnership. We look forward to delivering on our promise.