(Credit: City of Austin)
Austin Fire and Austin Transportation are collaborating to identify short-, medium-, and long-term strategies that achieve the optimal balance of protection for fire emergency response access and multimodal transportation and safety. This meeting will serve to educate the community on this important work, communicate strategies identified thus far, and listen to the community’s thoughts on the matter. Information from the meeting will help staff prioritize recommendations and resources moving forward.
On Dec. 7, 2017, Council passed an ordinance adopting the 2015 International Fire Code (IFC) and local amendments. The local amendments encompassed changes to specific sections of City Code regarding roadway width requirements for fire access and the Fire Chief’s authority to require roadway width changes where needed to meet public safety objectives. Council determined that amendments to these sections require further discussion among City departments and the community. Council directed the City Manager to continue to consider changes to these sections and to bring an ordinance before them should any changes be necessary.
City staff provided a memorandum to Council on June 15, 2018, stating that City staff are not recommending further changes to local amendments to the IFC nor to the Fire Chief’s authority as outlined in the City Code at this time, and will continue to use previously adopted language to identify solutions for street design. The memo also provided an update on collaborative department work that has occurred since the IFC adoption and information about upcoming recommendations.
Recommended strategies will be released in a final report in the fall and incorporated into several transportation policy initiatives currently underway, such as the Austin Strategic Mobility Plan (the City’s transportation plan update process) and the Transportation Criteria Manual.
