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HomeMy WebLinkAbout01-27-16 Minutes - Transportation Coordinating CommitteeBozeman Area Transportation Coordinating Committee 10:00 am, Wednesday, January 27, 2016 Commission Room, City Hall, 121 North Rouse Avenue A. CALL TO ORDER – Introductions & Attendance 10:01:30 AM Committee Chair - Bob Lashaway, MSU : Present Committee Vice Chair - Christopher Scott, County Planning Dept.: Present Committee Member - Jeff Krauss, Mayor, City Commission: Present Committee Member - Steve White, County Commission: Present Committee Member - Brett Potter, City Planning Board: Present Committee Member – Randy Visser, County Planning Board: Present Committee Member – Jennifer Nelson, MDT Butte Engineering: Present Committee Member - Bill Brownell, County Road Superintendent: Present Committee Member - Craig Woolard, City Public Works Director: Present Committee Member - Chris Kukulski, City Manager: Absent Committee Member - Wendy Thomas, City Community Development Director: Absent Committee Member – Ralph Zimmer, Bozeman (Area) Pedestrian & Traffic Safety Committee: Present Committee Member - Katie Potts for Carol Strizich, MDT Multimodel Planning: Present Committee Member - Jeff Ebert, MDT Butte District: Present Committee Member - Dan Martin, City Citizen rep.: Present Committee Member - Sam Gianfrancisco, County Citizen rep.: Present Committee Member - Bill Cochran, Bozeman Area Bicycle Advisory Board: Present Committee Member - Jeff Patten, FHWA Division: Absent Committee Member - Kyle DeMars, MDT, Bozeman Maintenance: Absent Also in attendance: Sam Haraldson, Bozeman Area Bicycle Advisory Board; Sarah Karjala, Montana Department of Transportation; Lee Hazelbaker, HRDC – Galavan/Streamline; Dave Crawford, TD & H Engineering; Penelope Pierce and Kelly Pohl, GVLT; Rebecca Gleason, Western Transportation Institute; Marilee Brown, Safer Bozeman; Gene Townsend, Headwaters Trails; Bucke Buchanan, Manhattan Trail Committee; Jeff Key and Staci Venner, Robert Peccia and Associates; Danielle Scharf, Sanderson Stewart; Andy Daleiden, Kittelson and Associates; Tony Gaddo, Dowl LLC; Jason Karp, City of Belgrade; Ralph Johnson, MSU School of Architecture; Rick Hixson, John Vandelinder, Katherine Maines and Natalie Meyer, City of Bozeman; Rich McLane, Bozeman Police Department; Tom Keck, Collin’s Coalition; Heidi Lea; Jeff Milchen, Susan Beall, Lizanne Kudera. B. PUBLIC COMMENT 10:04:58 AM Limited to any public matter within the jurisdiction of the Bozeman Area Transportation Coordinating Committee not on this agenda. Please limit your comments to three minutes. 10:05:18 AM Heidi Lea shared her support of incorporating good growth strategies in the campus area while designing the Kagy Boulevard reconstruction. She encouraged the TCC to allow opportunities for public engagement as the project progresses. 10:07:42 AM Rebecca Gleason with the Western Transportation Institute (WTI), shared her concerns regarding the Kagy Boulevard design. Her concerns relate to safety, lower speed limits, congestion, and she questioned whether MDT’s Vision Zero Policy was being considered in the design. She also asked for opportunities for public involvement. In addition to her comments on Kagy, she shared her support for a separate pathway on Frontage Road. 10:10:38 AM Sam Heraldson asked that the City and MDT consider more than level of service when determining whether Kagy should be 3 or 5 lanes and allow for public comment. 10:11:41 AM Ralph Johnson encouraged the TCC to consider the Institute of Transportation Engineer’s Context Sensitive Solutions in Designing Walkable Urban Thoroughfares when designing Kagy. He asked that the group lower speeds and enhance walkability. 10:14:13 AM Jeff Milchen shared concerns about Kagy becoming a 5 lane road. He felt that 3 lanes was more appropriate. He encouraged the group to hold a public forum. 10:16:22 AM Susan Beall spoke about the Kagy reconstruction and asked that TCC consider other modes of transportation. 10:17:19 AM Representatives from the City, Montana State University (MSU), Sanderson Stewart and the Montana Department of Transportation (MDT) responded to public comment. This project is still in the data collection process. No decisions have been made. Modeling has been completed and shows that, if constructed as a 3-lane road, Kagy’s volume will be at capacity however, the public is encouraged to get involved in the design and participate in public forums to help bring other solutions to the table. Stakeholder meetings have been held with the City, MDT, Museum of the Rockies and the Bozeman Area Bicycle Advisory Board and the current schedule shows a public meeting in July. Members of TCC suggested that this meeting occur sooner. C. ELECTION OF OFFICERS 10:34:14 AM Ralph Zimmer spoke about Bob Lashaway’s retirement on June 30, 2016 and moved to elect him as chair until retirement. Jeff Krauss seconded the motion. There was discussion about the vice chair taking over in July. There were no other nominations for chair. The motion passed unanimously. Jeff Ebert nominated Chris Scott as vice chair. Jeff Krauss seconded. Ralph expressed some concern over any City or County employee serving as Chairperson or Vice Chairperson. He nominated San Gianfrancisco for vice chair. Steve White suggested that Chris Scott remain vice chair and a new chair be nominated in July. Bob responded to Ralph’s concerns stating that the position of chair holds no power and acts more as a referee. Jeff Krauss mentioned that having someone with the City or County has its benefits including administrative resources and access to equipment (copiers, computers, printers). The motion for Chris Scott to remain vice chair was approved unanimously. Katherine Maines was nominated for recording secretary. Jeff Krauss seconded. The motion passed unanimously. D. MINUTES –April 22, 2015, July 22, 2015 and October 28, 2015 10:44:01 AM Separate motions were made to approve the minutes from the April, July and October meetings. The motions passed unanimously. E. SPECIAL PRESENTATION 10:45:20 AM Main Street Signal Retiming – Montana Department of Transportation/Kittleson Andy Daleiden gave a presentation related to the Main Street Signal Retiming Project recently completed by Kittelson & Associates for the Montana Department of Transportation. The purpose of the project was to establish upgrades to signal timing controllers, as well as to update signal timing to more efficiently move traffic along the corridor. He spoke about the original conditions and the process taken to determine the most efficient timing for the Main Street corridor. Changes were made to the signal timing in October and November. F. TCC COMMITTEE/MEMBER REPORTS & PROJECT UPDATES 11:25:26 AM (Members of the TCC who sit on other related committees, are invited to report on such activities that are of interest to the full TCC) Due to lack of time, this item was moved to the end of the meeting. 1. Transit Committee 2. Gallatin County (Commission, Planning Board, Road Department) 3. City of Bozeman (Commission, Planning Board, Engineering Department) 4. Bicycle Advisory Board (BABAB) 5. Pedestrian and Traffic Safety Committee (PTS) 6. Montana Department of Transportation (MDT) 7. Montana State University (MSU) 8. Other TCC Member/Committee Reports G. OLD BUSINESS None H. NEW BUSINESS Provisions for Non-Motorized Travel on Frontage Road – Ralph Zimmer 11:26:04 AM Ralph Zimmer, representing the Bozeman (Area) Pedestrian and Traffic Safety (PTS) committee spoke about MDT’s project on Frontage Road, the Slope Flattening Belgrade Project. The PTS, Bozeman Area Bicycle Advisory Board (BABAB), Safer Bozeman and Gallatin Valley Land Trust (GVLT) agree that this project presents an opportunity to install separated shared use path from Bozeman to Belgrade. 11:30:46 AM Chairperson Lashaway asked MDT to give a quick summary of the project. Jennifer Nelson shared that the project was intended to eliminate the steep slopes and lack of shoulders to eliminate crash clusters. It would include turn lanes into subdivisions and 8 foot shoulders. They are currently working on design of the project. Press releases will go out early in the project and depending on public responses, MDT staff will determine if a public meeting needs to occur. 11:35:59 AM The meeting was opened to public comment regarding this item. 11:36:12 AM Kelly Pohl with GVLT encouraged TCC to support shared use path as part of design. She commented that the shared-use path would connect into other pathways and be used by a variety of users. This path has been identified in 2007 City of Bozeman Parks, Recreation and Open Space and Trails (PROST) Plan and Gallatin County’s Trails Plan. She mentioned that GVLT receives more requests for this path than any other path in the region. 11:40:51 AM Rebecca Gleason concurred with Kelly’s statements and mentioned that it is the most requested path that she’s received as a member of BABAB. She spoke about safety and shared bicyclist fatality statistics. 11:42:14 AM Marilee Brown with Safer Bozeman spoke about how important it was to include this pathway with the Slope Flattening Project. She mentioned that every year that this project doesn’t happen, it gets more difficult to accomplish. 11:45:36 AM Tom Keck, with Collin’s Coalition, a local non-profit involved in bike/pedestrian transportation issues, shared his support for this project. Wide shoulders aren’t safe enough with the speeds on Frontage. This should be a collaborative effort between the City, the County and MDT. 11:48:34 AM Lizann Kudera feels this project is necessary and will attract more money. It would be used by handicapped people, families and pedestrians. As someone in a wheelchair, this would allow her to commute to Belgrade. She reiterated that the wide shoulders would not provide a safe location for her to bike with the speeds on Frontage. 11:50:27 AM Gene Townsend, chairman of Headwaters Trails System in Three Forks, is supportive of this project. His group has been working to connect trails between Three Forks and Bozeman and this shared-use trail would bring this connection closer to that goal. 11:53:52 AM Ralph moved that the TCC adopt the following statement: To maximize safety for non-motorized users of the old US 10 roadway running west from Bozeman, a ten-foot wide paved separated shared-use path should be an integral part of any construction or reconstruction project in that roadway right-of-way. An effort should be made to extend this path as far as possible and to make it a part of a connected system. Such a path should be incorporated into the design of the current slope flattening project reportedly under design east of Belgrade. Brett Potter seconded the motion. 11:54:58 AM Chairperson Lashaway opened the motion to discussion. Gallatin County shared concerns regarding the motion. Commissioner White, though not against the project, recused himself as future issues with the trail, including maintenance, would be a policy issue that he cannot agree to as only one member of the Gallatin County Commission. Chris Scott also mentioned that there is an existing path along Valley Center. A connection could be made along Alaska Road. Bill Brownell and Chris Scott recused themselves as well. MDT shared concerns regarding the pathway as well. The slope flattening project will only include a 1.6 mile segment so, if included, the pathway would only be a short segment as well. The other concern is funding. Funds have already been allocated to this project through the Core Program (Primary Program) and adding the pathway would require additional funds, delaying the slope flattening project. All funds from the Core Program have been allocated at this point. Funds for this shared-use path could be requested through the Transportation Alternatives Program. It could be installed at a later time. Jeff Ebert mentioned that he would support the motion if it was amended to remove the last line. The pathway could be installed at a later time. The City is supportive of the motion. Brett Potter spoke about the importance of mode share. Craig Woolard mentioned that this path is in the PROST and though he appreciates the complexities, he believes that the motion offers flexibility and the City, County, City of Belgrade and MDT can find a reasonable solution. 12:18:15 PM The motion to approve the following statement was passed. To maximize safety for non-motorized users of the old US 10 roadway running west from Bozeman, a ten-foot wide paved separated shared-use path should be an integral part of any construction or reconstruction project in that roadway right-of-way. An effort should be made to extend this path as far as possible and to make it a part of a connected system. Such a path should be incorporated into the design of the current slope flattening project reportedly under design east of Belgrade. Voting was as follows: Yes - Ralph Zimmer, Craig Woolard, Bob Lashaway, Jeff Krauss, Brett Potter, Sam Gianfrancisco, Dan Martin and Bill Cochran No – Jeff Ebert, Katie Potts, Jennifer Nelson and Randy Visser Abstain – Steve White, Chris Scott and Bill Brownell 12:20:48 PM City of Bozeman Transportation Master Plan Update – Jeff Key, Robert Peccia and Associates Jeff Key gave an update to the group on the City’s Transportation Master Plan. The update is over 1/3 way through. A land use workshop was completed and the first public meeting was held. After receiving comments during a meeting, the working group is looking at metrics and performance measures other than traffic volume as the plan is updated. Craig asked that a substantial amount of time be added to the next TCC meeting to allow for discussions on the City’s Transportation Master Plan and MSU Parking/Transportation Plan updates. 12:30:52 PM TCC COMMITTEE/MEMBER REPORTS & PROJECT UPDATES Chairperson Lashaway allowed time for any Committee Updates. 12:30:56 PM Steve White updated the TCC on the County’s decision to proceed with a TSEP grant on the Nixon Bridge. They are currently working on the proposal. I. UPCOMING MEETING DATES AND ADJOURNMENT 12:33:19 PM Due to conference room scheduling conflicts, a motion was made and seconded to move the April meeting from April 27th to April 20th. April 20, 2016 – REGULAR MEETING July 27, 2016 – REGULAR MEETING October 26, 2016 – REGULAR MEETING January 25, 2017 – REGULAR MEETING For more information please contact Katherine Maines at 406-582-2273 Committee meetings are open to all members of the public. If you have a disability and require assistance, please contact our ADA coordinator, Chuck Winn at 582-2306 (TDD 582-2301).