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TUFs are used primarily for the maintenance of local transportation facilities. This includes street maintenance and pavement preservation, as well as some construction projects. In some communities, this can also include other street infrastructure, such as storm drains, curbs, and signs. TUFs monies can also be spent on street lights, sidewalk maintenance, landscaping, and correcting street deficiencies.
TUFs are primarily used to preserve streets. This includes performing the following improvements to a municipality's public streets, roads, and transportation systems:
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In addition to the maintenance work undertaken by municipal or contract employees, many municipalities define the following activities that directly relate to the maintenance program as eligible for TUFs funding:
TUFs may also fund activities related to the municipality's transportation network, including the following:
These are activities which are often fundamental to a city's street system, but are less understood by the public, as compared with crack sealing or applying overlays since the latter are much more visible to the typical road user. This makes educating the public on what makes up street maintenance important for a successful program.
Since buses use municipal streets, TUFs, by definition, help pay for transit infrastructure. It is likely that the city's transit department or the regional transit agency pays for the maintenance of transit-only infrastructure, such as bus pads and bus shelters, as is the case in Hillsboro with Portland Metro, the regional transit agency providing service to that city.45
A number of municipalities fund sidewalks and bike paths with TUFs. While the former are more commonly associated with a street network, the latter, if they are separate and distinct from sidewalks, are a newer form of local transportation infrastructure for which demand is growing. These activities may include the following:
Hillsboro, OR, uses its TUFs to fund, among other uses, the Bicycle and Pedestrian Capital Improvement Program. The program "prioritizes a list of sidewalk, bike lane, and enhanced crossing projects" to improve bicycling and walking in the city.46
Provo, UT, on the other hand, does not allow TUFs to be used for sidewalks.47 While TUFs in cities such as Provo may not fund sidewalks, they often have other sources, such as property taxes, gas taxes, State and Federal grants, and/or vehicle registration fees to fund these needs.
Again, this is not an activity that is always associated with street repair, but rather a very common road maintenance and public works activity.
Some municipalities allow TUFs to be used for correcting street deficiencies. This may include adding sidewalk curb cuts and other changes on the sidewalk or street network that conform to the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 requirements. For example, Phoenix, OR, explicitly states in the section of its city code pertaining to its TUFs that "bicycle and pedestrian facilities, including access for the disabled or handicapped, are an integral part of the transportation network."48 Funds received from the city's TUFs can be used for several purposes, including for repairing and installing sidewalks or curb cuts.
45 Bailey, Tina, City of Hillsboro, OR, interview, May 5, 2020.
46 Hillsboro, OR, Public Works. Bicycle & Pedestrian Capital Improvement Program.
47 City of Provo, UT. Provo City Code, Chapter 5.08, Transportation Utility Fund. https://provo.municipal.codes/Code/5.08
48 City of Phoenix, OR. Ordinance 746 § 1, 1994. https://www.phoenixoregon.gov/ordinances
