If funding requests are anything to go by, improvements to Salt Lake City’s roads and parks are top of mind for residents of Utah’s capital.

And some of those wishes could soon be granted by the City Council as it wraps up the fiscal 2027 budget.

For years — at least for the soon-to-be 16 that Nicole Palmer has been the principal at Rose Park Elementary School — students and their families have eyed, and crossed, 900 West with trepidation on their way to and from campus.

“As long as I’ve been there, it has been a primary concern of our families, the safety of 900 West,” Palmer told council members at a meeting Tuesday. “Every day, we have hundreds of kids who come from the east side of 900 West.”

Now, a resident proposal to add safer crosswalks complete with flashing lights, concrete islands and digital signs that show drivers’ speed at the road’s intersections with 800 North and 900 North is under the council’s consideration.

The project is a part of the city’s annual capital improvement program, in which council members earmark millions for upgrades and replacements of stuff like traffic signals and sidewalks. City departments and individual residents can put in requests to the council. The money is flexible and can be used to address a wide range of issues, everything from wastewater systems and security for city buildings to playgrounds and public art.

Each year, the City Council sets aside money during its usual budget process for these types of projects and then has to commit the cash by Sept. 1.

Council members are wading through 76 requests this year, 42 of which came from residents.

“[This program] is one of the most challenging processes we have. It’s also very unique that our city has a … process where neighbors can propose projects. That’s not common in most cities,” council Chair Alejandro Puy said at the Tuesday meeting. “In many cases, it highlights the incredible need we have in our neighborhoods for infrastructure.”

The requests total $58 million, but the council only has $35 million to spend.

A resident review board and Mayor Erin Mendenhall have already backed some of the requests, giving them more heft at this stage of deliberation:

Transportation and streets

• The Rose Park Elementary School crosswalk project would also add a four-way stop to the intersection of American Beauty and Sterling drives, if approved.

• A similar proposal in the opposite corner of the city near Highland Park Elementary School would place a sidewalk where there isn’t currently one on Kenwood Street and Atkin Avenue at the campus’ west entrance.

• Continuing on the traffic-calming theme, a request for upgraded crossings of busy 1700 South at 200 East, 400 East, 800 East, 1000 East and 1200 East would create shorter crosswalks with new safety measures.

“It’s a dangerous roadway. It’s been narrowed but people still speed through there,” Liberty Wells resident Jeff Bair told council members. “And this project will improve the safety of the north-south crossways where there are not signals.”

• City-proposed projects include repairs on roads and replacements for traffic signals on multiple streets around town.

Parks

• Adding nighttime lighting to the busy pickleball and tennis courts at Glendale Park is under consideration. Council members are also debating the addition of new lights and replacing old ones at multiple parks citywide.

• Residents in Wasatch Hollow have requested a full-time, fenced-off dog park at Wasatch Hollow Preserve.

• At least one new park restroom could be on the way, and the city could replace another failing one. While it’s not clear where those would be, the one at Riverside Park is in line for an upgrade.

• Water systems at Sugar House Park, Jordan Park and Washington Park — up near Mountain Dell Golf Course — are in need of significant upgrades. At Sugar House, it’s the system that feeds the water fountains. At Jordan Park, one of the parking lots needs to be connected into the stormwater and sewer systems so it doesn’t keep flooding. And at Washington Park, its septic system is in such poor condition that the maintenance on it restricts city workers’ ability to fix issues at other parks.

Mendenhall and the review board have declined to back many other proposals, but those remain alive until the council makes final decisions. Those projects include a greenway link between the Jordan River Trail and Chapman Library in Poplar Grove, a new off-street multiuse path on the East Bench, and traffic-calming projects in Glendale, Ballpark and Liberty Wells.

City Council members are due to get another briefing on the proposals on Aug. 18 and plan to finalize funding on Aug. 25.