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HomeMy WebLinkAbout06-12-19 PTS minutesBozeman (Area) Pedestrian and Traffic Safety Committee 1 Minutes of the June 12, 2019 Meeting 2 Upstairs Conference Room Alfred Stiff Office Building 3 4 Attendance: 5 6 Voting Committee Members: 7 Ralph Zimmer (Gallatin County), Chair 8 Tony Gaddo (At-Large Member), Vice Chair 9 Marilee Brown (At-large-Member), Secretary 10 Danielle Scharf (City of Bozeman) 11 Sherry Heis (City of Bozeman) 12 Tom Foster (Gallatin County) 13 Doug Kellie (Bozeman School District) 14 Douglas Fischer (Bozeman School District and Board of Trustees) 15 16 Official Non-Voting Committee Members: 17 Todd Swinehart (School District) 18 Absent: John Van Delinder (City of Bozeman Streets Department) 19 Bill Brownell (County Roads) 20 21 City Commissioners, County Commissioners, and School Board Trustees 22 Terry Cunningham (City Commissioner) 23 Douglas Fischer (School District Trustee but also Voting Member of the Committee) 24 Absent: Scott MacFarlane (County Commissioner) 25 26 Law Enforcement Liaison Officers 27 Travis Munter (Bozeman Police Department) 28 Absent: (Sheriff’s Department) 29 30 Frequent Attendees and Guests (City, County, Bozeman School District, and Montana 31 Department of Transportation Staff): 32 Levi Ewan (County Roads Engineer) 33 Shawn Kohtz (Bozeman City Engineer and acting Public Works Director) 34 Duane Liebel (MDT Butte District Preconstruction Engineer) 35 Addi Jadin (Bozeman Parks and Trails Division Manager) 36 Dani Hess (WTI) 37 38 Citizens and Other Guests: 39 Lilly McSpadden with Trever McSpadden 40 Gillian (Gigi) Smith with Tanya Smith 41 Linda Semones 42 43 Quorum: Present. 44 45 1. Call to Order and Introductions. 46 Ralph Zimmer, PTS Committee Chair, called the meeting to order at 12:02 PM. And 47 introductions of attendees were made. 48 49 2. Agenda. 50 Ralph offered the opportunity to provide comments on the agenda. 51 52 3. Public Comment. 53 None 54 55 4. Minutes. 56 Minutes of the May 15, 2019 meeting have not yet been finalized for approval by the 57 presiding officer of May 15, 2019. 58 59 5. Report on Results of Previous Actions & Consideration of Follow-Up Action. 60 Levi reported on the County Transportation Design and Construction Standards. Final 61 changes from Round Table Number Two are being made and will then go to public meeting 62 before the Commission for comment. 63 64 6. County Commission, City Commission, and School Board Member Reports. 65 66 Terry Cunningham, City Commissioner reported that this last Monday night the City agreed 67 to a contract with the MDT on Rouse – but under protest. The City will continue to discuss 68 the issue of unfair unilateral contracts from the MDT with the League of Cities. 69 70 The City budget will be finalized on June 24. Lots of Roadwork is taking place around the 71 City. 72 73 Shawn Kohtz reported that the 5 mil project of Durston from Babcock to Cottonwood would 74 start in July. The light at Durston and Ferguson roundabout is also moving forward. 3rd and 75 Graf will have a hawk signal. There will be an upgrade at 27th and Oak. Plus there are many 76 other small projects going on throughout the City. 77 78 The new Director Mitch Reister of Public Works has accepted an offer and will start on July 79 15. 80 81 Douglas Fischer (School Board Trustee and PTS voting member) stated that the high school 82 and stadium are moving along well. They are interviewing 3 or 4 candidates to replace Rob 83 Watson on the 30th of June for Superintendent. 84 85 7. Reports from Law Enforcement Liaison Members. 86 Travis Munter reported that they are still looking for a candidate for the traffic investigator 87 position. There have been some media pushes on summertime school zone speed limits, 88 which remain the same all year long – even when school is out. 89 90 8. Reports from Non-Voting Official Committee Members 91 Todd Swinehart (Bozeman School District) The High school is now 55% complete. There 92 are site improvements being made at BHS along with a new roundabout at 15th and Beal. 15th 93 will be blocked all summer. An RFB was installed at meadowlark. 94 95 Shawn Kohtz spoke on the Frontage Spur. He spoke with Montana Rail Link (MRL) who 96 agreed to grant an easement for the forth leg of the intersection into the Nelson Meadows 97 project assuming that the MDT will also approve it. The City Manager will be having a 98 conversation with the MDT about that. 99 100 Duane Liebel stated that Nelson Road is being prepared for signalization so that as soon as 101 warrants are met which will be triggered when the development is 85% complete they will be 102 implemented. The facilities will be put in by the developer so that they are ready to go. Jean 103 Rieley at MDT is in charge. Shawn said that the developer would pay for the final piece 104 through the MDT when warrants are met. Jean will help the city figure out the payment 105 mechanisms. 106 107 Regarding pedestrian issues, Shawn stated that head counts were done at the request of the 108 school district at Flanders Mill and Durston crosswalks. Warrants were met. RFB’s (Rapid 109 Flashing Beacons) will be placed there prior to school in the fall. Crosswalk analysis at 110 Ferguson and Tanzanite and they will be upgrading the crosswalk markings to a type B 111 crossing which is more consistent with a school crossing. 112 113 They received a request at intersection of Westridge and south 3rd but it did not meet warrants. 114 The intersection at Graf and 3rd will get hawk signals which will improve the pedestrian inter-115 connectivity at that crossing which will also help at the Westridge and South 3rd. 116 117 Ralph requested counts at College and Wilson. The City did get those counts but have not 118 been able to analyze them yet. 119 120 The new City engineer has been selected for addition to the staff and will hopefully be added 121 July 8. 122 123 9. Reports from Related Groups. 124 125 Bozeman Area Bicycle Advisory Board. Ralph reported that 1) BABAB will commence a PR 126 campaign to write letters every three months to the City Commission. 2) Linda DuPreist is no 127 longer under contract with the City. They are worried about how to get a Bike/Ped 128 coordinator for the City. 129 130 GVLT absent 131 132 Parks and Recreation – Addi Jadin reported that on June 11 from 9:00 a.m. to noon there 133 would be a bike ride around Bozeman Pond (near the Mall) looking at where trails need to be 134 in-filled. 135 136 The Trail to the M is underway and Bridger Canyon will be briefly closed on July 4 for a few 137 hours to put in a culvert and they are working with the MDT. Bozeman Sports Park is 138 underway and they received some LWCPS (Land Water Conservation Projects) funding, 139 which will include maps for way finding which will highlight paths around the high school. 140 141 Galla10 Alliance for Pathways (GAP) – Marilee Brown reported that since Nelson Meadows 142 will be installing the bike path along Frontage Road from the Valley Center Spur to Nelson 143 Road, there is an in-fill project needed along the City Property bordered the MDT, Frontage 144 Road, and Moss Bridge to Springhill. This will allow connectivity all the way from 145 Jackrabbit to Springhill and 19th. The hope is to apply for TOP funding so that there will be a 146 way for the City to pay for the pathway without using Capital funds. 147 Addi and Marilee will get together to discuss the project. 148 149 150 10. Creative Approaches to Traffic Calming near Bogert Park & elsewhere. 151 152 Dani Hess from WTI (Western Transportation Institute) works with the University on active 153 transportation projects and traffic calming around campus in coordination with the City and 154 the neighborhoods program. Linda S. is here from the Church Street and Bogart 155 neighborhood. They are planning temporary curb extensions on east end of South Church in 3 156 places next to crossings used by children to get to the park. It will be a seasonal installation 157 June 29th and remain until leaf collection. 158 159 Ralph asked about process for choosing these activities. They work with Tanya Andreson to 160 come to neighborhood meetings or some neighbors approach her directly from learning about 161 it from the newspaper. They then have a walkthrough and then plan some designs. Data is 162 collected before, during and after each project. 163 164 Ralph asked that PTS be involved in this process in the future along with choosing locations 165 that are being considered so that we can give our own input. 166 167 WTI is working on a popup guide which also lists what other steps are available to citizens 168 such as PTS. Initially the project was funded by the AARP livable communities initiative. 169 They helped the City apply and received $5,500 to get materials and cargo trailer. The City 170 provides paint and manpower. Local Citizens do not provide anything as yet other than labor 171 and design ideas. She would like to work with Tanya and Bozeman Beautification Board. 172 Dani passed out an informational brochure they have for Citizens and said that she will add 173 PTS as a resource on the Brochure. 174 175 Linda Semone spoke and said that she had first approached PTS and Andy Kerr had done a 176 pedestrian count on August 24th as a result of that meeting which was after the pool had 177 closed. The count was therefore inconclusive. Linda DuPriest then suggested contacting 178 Dani Hess about the traffic calming project. They also contacted the Beautification project. 179 180 Lindly Park will also be addressed soon due to the Farmers Market having been moved there. 181 182 11. Safety Concerns at College & Willson Intersection. 183 History of the intersection. In 2006 serious consideration to improve the intersection was 184 made by the City and the MDT who contracted with Robert Peccia and Associates to make 185 improvements. A memorandum was submitted to the City Commission with ideas including a 186 narrow roundabout or a signal. 187 188 Neighbors expressed great concern because the roundabout would take land and trees from the 189 northwest corner of the intersection. The neighbors were concerned about noise from the 190 starting and stopping of cars at a light. The property owners prevailed with the Commission 191 which rejected both of the proposed solutions. 192 193 Instead the decision was made to prohibit eastbound vehicles from turning left onto Willson. 194 Bulb-outs were also added on all four corners. The MDT then threatened to charge the City 195 for the costs incurred in researching the project. Neighbors and other observers report many 196 vehicles ignore the no left turn sign. 197 198 Lilly McSpadden and Gigi Smith are second graders at Longfellow Grade School and feel that 199 there should be a stop sign or some safe way for pedestrians to cross Willson at College. 200 They feel that all citizens of Bozeman are affected. They collected a petition from other 201 students from the entire second floor at Longfellow (attached). 202 Lilly’s father Trevor stated that the objective was to keep the conversation going and while 203 they are Longfellow students, it is a larger issue. 204 205 Ralph asked the City to collect traffic and pedestrian data. Shawn’s office did that but 206 because of the lateness on the calendar it had to be done on the last day of school. Shawn has 207 not had time to review it. 208 209 Doug asked the girls how many other students use it – they have not seen it a lot 210 but know they would use it if there were a control. 211 212 Doug K. stated that there are almost 70 grade school kids within 5 blocks of that intersection. 213 214 Danielle stated that there is a crossing guard at Dickerson and Willson but not at College and 215 Willson. 216 217 Sergeant Munter did a search for citations, however the system can’t be searched specifically 218 for that. There were 19 crashes within five years at that intersection. All were of vehicles 219 hitting vehicles except for one hitting a tree. 220 221 Dan asked Shawnn if they will be able to look at turn information and was told yes. 222 223 Ralph stated that at start of the original changes to the intersection a lot of violations of those 224 turning prohibitions were noted. The commission has had an unspoken question of 225 eliminating the left hand turning prohibition. Shawn stated that in order to make the no left 226 turn work it needed a better barrier. 227 228 Ralph has seen the data Kellie in Shawn’s office collected and summarized. The peak hour 229 was at 7:45 to 8:45 and 1,100 vehicles entered the intersection. There were 16 bikes and 12 230 pedestrians. College was not in session, which would have increased the counts if it had been. 231 It was the last day of public school, which was only a half day. 232 233 Ralph asked Shawn if he will be considering the analysis and if something needs to be done, 234 would he bring it to the City Commission? Shawn replied that the safest action would be to 235 build a new intersection since there is quite a bit of traffic. But the big concern is the outcry 236 of neighbors. He will compare the current data to 2006 and will revisit it with the City 237 manager even though it is political issue. There may be other pedestrian crossing ideas that 238 can be implemented. He will study it more. 239 240 Doug asked if there is a reason other than money to not put in an RFB? Shawn stated that 241 money is not the issue – they need to look at the data and see if it would be warranted. WTI 242 could also work with the City on this and help with traffic calming and data collection. 243 244 Tom stated that if the public is avoiding using it as a crossing then the count could be 245 artificially low and therefore be a latent demand. 246 247 Marilee Brown presented certificates to the girls from Safer Bozeman honoring their insight 248 and taking action. 249 250 12. Accommodation of Non-Motorized Travel Beyond City Limits including Along Huffine. 251 There was discussion at our May 15 meeting on this issue but Ralph was not there. Tony 252 stated that there was a consensus to write letters to the County to at least update the trail plan. 253 A more recent plan done in 2010 or 11 was written and never adopted by the County. 254 Similarly the County did not adopt Bozeman’s most recent Transportation Master Plan 255 (TMP). There is no detail in the earlier plans on paths so the County often has to ignore the 256 need when development occurs. 257 258 Danielle stated that having such plans would help provide a mechanism for the County to 259 require developers or anyone turning dirt to provide pathway connectivity along Huffine. 260 261 A motion was made to allow Ralph to write needed letters to encourage non-motorized 262 transportation and lobby the County to adopt a more current trails plan outward from the 263 Bozeman City Limits – one example being Huffine. There were no objections from the 264 committee so Ralph will write a letter to the County and any other connected entities. 265 266 13. Discuss Re-Write of Committee’s Governance Document. 267 Nothing to review at this point. 268 269 14. Community Transportation Safety Plan. 270 No report. 271 272 15. Additional Business – Consider making safety-related recommendations to Congress, 273 the State legislature… 274 The Committee unanimously agreed that Ralph should lobby for the resumption of federal TA 275 funding. It was suggested he might call Terry Cunningham to make sure that this is OK. 276 277 16. Next Meeting. July 10, 2019. 278 279 280 17. Meeting Adjournment. The meeting was adjourned at 2:50 PM. 281 282 Minutes by Marilee Brown 283 Some edits by Ralph Zimmer 284 285 286 Attachments: Lilly’s petition and Traffic Calming Brochure 287 288 289