HomeMy WebLinkAbout02-13-19 PTS Minutes1 Bozeman (Area) Pedestrian and Traffic Safety Committee
2 Minutes of the February 13, 2019 Meeting
3 Upstairs Conference Room Alfred Stiff Office Building
4
5 Attendance:
6
7 Voting Committee Members:
8 Ralph Zimmer (Gallatin County), Chair
9 Tony Gaddo (At-Large Member), Vice Chair
10 Marilee Brown (At-large-Member), Secretary
11 Danielle Scharf (City of Bozeman)
12 Sherry Heis (City of Bozeman)
13 Tom Foster (Gallatin County)
14 Douglas Kellie (Bozeman School District)
15 Douglas Fischer (Bozeman School District Board of Trustees)
16 Absent: none
17
18 Official Non-Voting Committee Members:
19 John Van Delinder (City of Bozeman Streets Department)
20 Todd Swinehart (School District)
21 Absent: Bill Brownell, Road & Bridge Supervisor (County)
22
23 City Commissioners, County Commissioners, and School Board Trustees
24 Douglas Fischer (Bozeman School District Board of Trustees)
25 Absent: Terry Cunningham (City Commissioner)
26 Absent: Scott MacFarlane (County Commissioner)
27
28 Law Enforcement Liaison Officers
29 Travis Munter (Bozeman Police Department)
30 Absent: (Sheriff’s Department)
31
32 Frequent Attendees and Guests (City, County, Bozeman School District, and Montana
33 Department of Transportation Staff):
34 Duane Liebel (MDT Butte District Preconstruction Engineer)
35
36 Citizens and Other Guests:
37 Chris Naumann (Downtown Bozeman Partnership)
38
39 Quorum: Present.
40
41 1. Call to Order and Introductions.
42 Ralph Zimmer, PTS Committee Chair, called the meeting to order at 12:00 PM and
43 introductions of attendees were made.
44
45 2. Agenda.
46 Ralph offered the opportunity to provide comments on the agenda. None were made.
47
48 3. Public Comment.
49 No public comment on items not on the agenda.
50
51 4. Minutes.
52 Minutes of the January 16, 2019 meeting were distributed for review. The minutes were
53 approved with no amendments.
54
55 5. Report on Results of Previous Actions & Consideration of Follow-Up Action.
56 Ralph provided a summary of feedback from Levi Ewan on the upcoming process for
57 approval of the County’s new Transportation Design and Construction Standards.
58
59 Ralph reported that the Safe Passing Bill was in the House Judiciary Committee meeting this
60 morning. Ralph sent a message to the members of that committee to express our support for
61 the bill and also authorized Marilee to speak on our behalf.
62
63 6. County Commission, City Commission, and School Board Member Reports.
64 Douglas Fischer (School Board Trustee and PTS voting member) was in attendance, but did
65 not have anything specific to share today.
66
67 7. Reports from Law Enforcement Liaison Members.
68 Travis Munter reported that they hired a new civilian traffic safety liaison and are hoping to
69 get their traffic enforcement group back up to full staff soon. They are also looking to get
70 new marching orders from the legislature.
71
72 8. Reports from Non-Voting Official Committee Members.
73 Todd Swinehart (Bozeman School District) reported that he is researching the influenza virus
74 and looking forward to Chris Nauman’s presentation today.
75
76 John Van Delinder (City of Bozeman Streets Department) reported that the City is focused
77 primarily on winter maintenance. Ralph noted that the City has hired a new Public Works
78 Director and his first day will be this Friday. He along with the City Engineer Shawn Kohtz
79 are planning to attend our March meeting.
80
81 9. Reports from Related Groups.
82 Transportation Coordinating Committee. TCC met last month and re-elected the same
83 officers (Chris Scott as Chairperson and Jeff Krauss as Vice Chairperson). They also voted to
84 add the School District to its voting membership. Steve Johnson will be the representative
85 from the School District on TCC.
86
87 Bozeman Area Bicycle Advisory Board. John reported that BABAB discussed moving
88 forward some projects from the transportation plan that are scheduled and one that is
89 unscheduled.
90
91 10. Downtown Bozeman Improvement Plan.
92 Chris Naumann presented an overview of the final draft of the Downtown Improvement Plan
93 and the transportation-related recommendations, including changing Main Street to 3-lanes
94 with back-in angle parking, a two-way bike lane on Babcock, and a Streamline loop from
95 Downtown to the Midtown and Cannery areas. The timeline for adoption includes City
96 Commission resolution of intent to adopt on 3/25/19 and the City Commission resolution to
97 adopt on 4/15/19. The draft plan and a 10-page summary are available for review on the
98 Downtown Bozeman Partnership’s website (www.downtownbozeman.org/plan). Chris is also
99 willing to share a pdf copy of his presentation from today.
100
101 Comments can be submitted to agenda@bozeman.net prior to April 1 if we want them to go
102 direct to the City Commission. Chris thought the City Commission would appreciate an
103 endorsement from us as one of their advisory boards.
104
105 Danielle made a motion to have our Chair provide a letter to the City Commission in support
106 of the Downtown Improvement Plan so they are aware that it has been presented to us, we
107 have considered its recommendations and are in support of the plan. Second by Tony. Tom
108 commented that the recommendation regarding truck traffic on Main Street may be an uphill
109 battle, but he suggested that we highlight it as part of our endorsement of the plan to improve
110 the attractiveness of downtown, particularly for pedestrians. Marilee shares that concern.
111 Tony noted that many of the other recommendations are equally as important. Tom suggested
112 that this one be highlighted over the others just because it has merit and could be the most
113 challenging of all the recommendations. The committee agreed by consensus to add this to
114 our support letter to the Commission. The motion passed unanimously.
115
116 11. Consider the Need for Additional Traffic Control at Black & Peach.
117 John reported that BABAB has been discussing using Black as a bicycle corridor for access to
118 the fairgrounds and Cannery District. The Downtown Plan discusses new signals on Black at
119 both Babcock and Mendenhall. BABAB is proposing a Rectangular Rapid Flash Beacon
120 (RRFB) at Black and Peach to support this proposed bicycle corridor. It was noted that an
121 RRFB may not be helpful for bicycle crossings unless they are willing to dismount and walk
122 to the pedestrian push buttons and would only be on one side of the intersection so either
123 northbound or southbound traffic would have to cross the street to access it. The committee
124 agreed to stay silent on the issue at this time until some of these unknowns are considered
125 further.
126
127 12. Status and Next Steps in Pursuing the Frontage Road Path.
128 Marilee reported that GAP has been pursuing next steps in securing funding for the path along
129 the Frontage Road along City property from MDT to Moss Bridge Road. The City recently
130 approved the Nelson Meadows Subdivision, for which the developer will be constructing a
131 path on their frontage from Nelson Road to the Valley Center Spur road and possibly west
132 across the cemetery property. We see this as an opportunity to work with the City’s Public
133 Works and the City’s Recreation and Parks Departments to continue the path further east
134 toward Cherry Creek, which will then connect all the way to Story Mill and the M.
135
136 Ralph also noted that the City’s approval of the developer’s plat application requires the
137 developer to connect Prince Lane into the intersection of the frontage road and the Valley
138 Center Spur if the Montana Department of Transportation and the railroads give the necessary
139 approvals. Duane said that MDT has already added the fourth leg (the Prince Lane
140 connection) to their signal design for the intersection, but it still requires approval by the two
141 railroads, MRL (Montana Rail Link) and BNSF (Burlington Northern Santa Fe).
142
143 The railroads will have to grant an easement across their property (the approximate 10-foot
144 wide strip of land lying between the north edge of the highway and the north edge of the
145 railroads’ right-of-way). Duane says MDT has asked MRL for the easement but has not been
146 given approval at this time. MDT is planning on building to the north edge of the highway’s
147 easement and Nelson Meadows will build the road to their property line.
148
149 The City and this committee are in favor of that connection being made. Ralph asked if
150 anyone would object to him advocating for the construction of the fourth leg to MDT, MRL
151 and BNSF. No one objected. Ralph said he had a conversation with MRL recently that
152 indicated in general they would try to accommodate those types of requests from MDT.
153
154 Danielle asked if the pedestrian push buttons and indications would be installed at the signal
155 now that the path will be constructed. Duane said they will not be installed at this time
156 because it indicates that there are safe pedestrian facilities on the Spur Road, which is not the
157 case. Marilee shared her concerns about crossing the Frontage Road without pedestrian
158 accommodations.
159
160 13. Re-write of Committee’s Governance Document.
161 As we discussed at our last meeting, Ralph has started working on re-writing our governance
162 document. He spoke with the City Attorney and also identified points of contact for the
163 County and School District, which will be Bill Brownell and Steve Johnson.
164
165 Ralph noted that this could be an opportunity to change our name if we would like and he
166 provided a list of potential words to consider. The list was discussed and the committee
167 agreed to postpone the discussion to a future meeting.
168
169 14. Consider Actions to Address Safety Concerns in Legislation.
170 Marilee reported that she was just in Helena this morning to testify in front of the House
171 Judiciary Committee on the Safe Passing Bill, including comments on behalf of PTS. There
172 were quite a few questions about the distance that is considered safe and what bicyclists are
173 required to do. She expects there will be some changes coming to this draft bill.
174
175 The bill making seatbelt use a primary offense is also continuing to move forward. The
176 texting bill (making it illegal for a minor to text while driving) was killed so there is no longer
177 any texting legislation this session. Chief Crawford was opposed to it because it would be
178 difficult to enforce.
179
180 15. Community Transportation Safety Plan.
181 Marilee met with Bozeman Police Chief Crawford and they plan to do a no-texting campaign
182 in April.
183
184 16. MDT State Bike/Ped Plan.
185 Ralph has not received any recent updates, but they previously told us that a draft document
186 would be issued in March. We have not provided any comments yet, but we have discussed
187 making comments relative to MDT’s policy regarding separated shared-use pathways in MDT
188 right-of-way.
189
190 17. Additional Business.
191 Marilee has been working on a bill with State Representative Zachary Brown to raise
192 minimum personal injury insurance levels in vehicle insurance policies and they have been
193 discussing how to proceed. Contact Marilee if you’re interested in more information.
194
195 Marilee asked Duane for a status update on the Bozeman member of the Transportation
196 Commission. Duane said they haven’t heard yet but have heard the Governor may be waiting
197 to appoint multiple new commissioners at the same time.
198
199 Tony asked Duane about construction traffic for the Love/Baxter roundabout and he said there
200 is not a good detour route available to close the intersection. Rouse will be let in June,
201 Belgrade shoulder widening will be starting soon, and the Love and Huffine signal will also
202 be done this construction season.
203
204 18. Next Meeting. March 13th at Noon. Danielle will be absent that day, but it should work
205 for all others in attendance. (Electronic Postscript: The March 13 meeting was subsequently
206 cancelled and the next meeting was actually April 10.)
207
208
209 19. Meeting Adjournment. The meeting was adjourned at 2:05 PM.
210
211
212 Minutes by Danielle Scharf
213 Initial edits by Ralph Zimmer