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HomeMy WebLinkAbout07-24-19 Minutes - Transportation Coordinating Committee Bozeman Area Transportation Coordinating Committee Draft Minutes 10:30 am, Wednesday, July 24, 2019 Basement Conference Room, Professional Building, 20 East Olive Street A. CALL TO ORDER – Introductions & Attendance Committee Vice Chair - Jeff Krauss, City Commission: Present Committee Member - Scott MacFarlane, County Commission: Absent Committee Member - George Thompson, City Planning Board: Absent Committee Member – Jeff Boyle, County Planning Board: Present Committee Member – Joe Walsh, proxy for Jeff Ebert, District Administrator, MDT Butte District: Present Committee Member - Bill Brownell, County Road Superintendent: Present Committee Member – Mitch Reister, City of Bozeman Public Works Director: Present Committee Member - Andrea Surratt, City Manager: Absent Committee Member - Marty Matsen, City Community Development Director: Absent Committee Chair - Christopher Scott, County Planning Department Representative: Present Committee Member - Ralph Zimmer, Bozeman Area Pedestrian & Traffic Safety : Present Committee Member - Katie Potts, Proxy for Carol Strizich, Chief, Planning & Policy Analysis Bureau, MDT: Present Committee Member - Duane Liebel, MDT Engineering Services Supervisor: Present Committee Member - Dan Martin, City citizen representative: Present Committee Member - Dave Fowler, County Representative: Present Committee Member - Candace Mastel, MSU Representative: Absent Committee Member – Todd Swinehart, Bozeman School District #7: Present Committee Member - Jason Delmue, Bozeman Area Bicycle Advisory Board: Absent Committee Member - Jeff Patten, Federal Highway Administration: Absent Committee Member - Kyle DeMars, MDT, Bozeman Maintenance: Absent Committee Member - Lee Hazelbaker, Transit Advisory Board: Absent Also in attendance: Marilee Brown, Safer Bozeman; Danielle Scharf, Sanderson Stewart; Erik Garberg, Dowl; Anita Matthews, WGM Group; Shane Forsythe, RPA; David Kack, Western Transportation Institute; Steve Johnson, Bozeman School District; Levi Ewan, Gallatin County; Shawn Kohtz, Taylor Lonsdale, and Katherine Maines, City of Bozeman. B. PUBLIC COMMENT #1 Limited to any public matter within the jurisdiction of the Bozeman Area Transportation Coordinating Committee. Please limit your comments to three minutes. David Kack gave a brief update of recent changes at the Western Transportation Institute. Taylor Lonsdale has left WTI to become the City’s new Transportation Engineer and Steve Albert, the former Executive Director recently retired. David is acting as interim Director. C. MINUTES – April 24, 2019 Joe Walsh asked that MDT’s update be changed to say that Baxter and Love Lane will be under construction in 2019 not that it is currently under construction With this update, Jeff Krauss moved to approve the minutes. Dan Martin seconded the motion and the motion passed. E. SPECIAL PRESENTATION - none F. TCC COMMITTEE/MEMBER REPORTS & PROJECT UPDATES (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) 1. Transit Committee Dan Martin gave an update that Streamline has acquired a grant and is hiring a new route consultant. Streamline has been using the same routes since 2006. David mentioned that Gallatin County received a Tiger Grant for Big Sky. They opened bids for work to take place on Montana 64. Some of that includes vehicles for the Skyline system. They will order 4 motor coaches and then they will work with the County to get a bid out for 6 vans. Ralph asked how large Streamline’s fleet was. They have 7 buses, 2 45-passenger motor coaches, and 6 vans. These new vans would replace the existing vans. 2. Gallatin County (Commission, Planning Board, Road Department) Jeff Boyle mentioned that the Joint County/City of Belgrade/City of Bozeman is coming out with new policy that they will submit to the TCC in September. Levi Ewan talked about the County’s recently completed pavement overlay project on Stucky & Tubb. They are also working on chip seals and are replacing two bridges on Nelson Road in the coming month. Chris Scott said that the County has been approving subdivisions in triangle area. Ralph asked if the policy that the Joint Committee would be bringing to the TCC was the proposed design and construction standards? No, it is the Triangle Planning document between County, Belgrade, and Bozeman. Ralph asked about the status of the Design & Construction standards? This is still pending a final draft. They expect Commission adoption in the coming weeks. 3. City of Bozeman (Commission, Planning Board, Engineering Department) Shawn introduced the new Public Works Director, Mitch Reister and the new Transportation Engineer, Taylor Lonsdale. He also provided updates on several City road project. Construction has started on the Cottonwood Road improvements between Babcock and Durston as well as the Durston Road improvements from Flanders Mill to Fowler. The City is coordinating with the Bozeman School District to temporarily open Annie Street and to open Oak Street to provide an additional route on the west side of town. The City is waiting to receive signal poles in order to complete the work at Baxter and Davis. Joe asked if the City was looking at purchasing signal poles to have for future projects. This would be a policy discussion that the City may look into in the future. The City is preparing to award the bid for the 27th and Oak intersection improvements and are in the process of their annual mill and overlay project which includes Story Mill Road, Tamarack Street and Lincoln Street. The South Tracy reconstruction should be completed soon and the North Tracy reconstruction starts next week. A consultant has been selected for the Griffin Drive corridor design and the City is in the process of selecting a consultant for the Fowler corridor design. Negotiations are taking place with the consultant selected for the Manley Road design and construction on that road is expected to take place in the summer of 2020. Jeff Krauss asked about the sidewalk snow removal on Rouse Avenue. Adjacent property owners are responsible for snow removal and MDT has purchased properties along that corridor. Jeff received complaints that the Rouse sidewalks were not being shoveled. Joe responded that they did shovel once they were notified. Jeff also asked that MDT slow the plows along Rouse so the snow doesn’t get piled on the sidewalks. Jeff also asked about the timing of the new light on North 19th at the off-ramp. He’s observed that traffic is stacking along North 19th all the way to Cattail. MDT is aware of it and is working on a plan to address it. Jeff asked about a shared use path from the Gooch Hill subdivisions to the new high school. Will it be down Huffine Lane? He also brought up the intersection of Fowler and Huffine. The northbound lane is stacking and blocking the through lane. He also asked about the speed limit south of Huffine to Stucky on Cottonwood. He feels that the speed limit is too high for the amount of traffic. Dan Martin asked about the timeline of the light on Peach and Rouse. Jeff Krauss said that the design is done and that the work is expected to start next summer. Dan then asked about the timeline on the Griffin reconstruction. Shawn said that the work would start in 2021. Ralph asked about the timeline for connecting Prince Lane to Frontage Road. Shawn responded that the developer is required to connect to the Valley Center Spur or provide a letter from MDT or Montana Rail Link (MRL) stating that they won’t allow the connection to be made. MDT has written a letter denying the connection. The City has not yet seen a letter from MRL but Duane mentioned that the letter was coming. Safety upgrades that MRL is required to make during construction of improvements to the Valley Center Spur are now preventing MRL from allowing the connection. 4. Bicycle Advisory Board Jeff Krauss gave an updated for the Bicycle Advisory Board. He feels that they need to revisit bike lanes in standard road designs. Best practices are moving towards separated bike lanes. 5. Pedestrian and Traffic Safety Committee Ralph provided an updated on the Bozeman Area Pedestrian and Traffic Safety Committee. Taylor Lonsdale was introduced to the PTS at their last meeting and Mitch Reister will be attending the next meeting to be introduced. He expressed his disappointment in the updated about the Prince Lane connection. The PTS is concerned about the planning activities of areas outside of City limits. The 2017 Transportation Master Plan was not adopted by the County and this has prevented the City from requiring a separated path along Huffine. The group would like to see the County adopt the portions of the plan that address areas outside of City limits. Chris asked about the corridor study that was completed for Huffine. MDT believes that the plan looked at signals and controlled access and didn’t include a separated pathway. Jeff Krauss said that the location of the new high school as implications for Huffine in regards to pedestrian and bicycle traffic. Chris mentioned that there will be a future light at the Woodland Park Subdivision. 6. Montana Department of Transportation Joe Walsh shared that this is Jeff Ebert’s last week. Bill Fogarty has been named the new administrator. MDT has completed the Westside trail crossing project and has almost completed the Belgrade south project. The Slope Flattening project on Frontage Road continues. The Baxter and Love Lane improvements started July 15. The signal on North 19th at the interstate has been completed and the Huffine/Love Lane signal is close to completion. The guardrail upgrade in Gallatin Canyon will start August 12. The Valley Center Spur improvements are under construction. Rouse Avenue reconstruction from Main Street to Oak is in the preconstruction phase. They will let the project in August. Installation of the Rainbow Point turn lane in West Yellowstone will be constructed in 2020. The Manhattan/Belgrade mill and overlay may move up. They will hold a public meeting in the fall regarding the Gallatin River/Axtell Bridge project to determine which direction to go in. The intersection improvements at 7th & Griffin are anticipated to be construction in 2021/2022. David asked about the timeline for the Big Sky bridge deck project. That work will be completed in 2020. 7. Montana State University David Kack informed everyone that Grant would be closed for the Romney Hall renovations. He also gave the group a heads up that the Arrow, a 900 bed student apartment complex will be adding pedestrians to the 11th and Kagy intersection. Jeff Krauss asked about parking on 7th. David said that they removed parking on the east side and installed a dedicated bike lane. MSU is revamping their parking permit process. Eventually they will pave both sides of the stadium and parking fees will be increased. Dan asked if the students would still be using the shuttle. David said that the money is still available but they are looking at the option of using that money to pay for Streamline’s Yellow Line and Orange Line bus service instead. They’d keep the frequency at 30 minutes. They are also discussing continuing the shuttle but limiting the months it’s available. 8. Bozeman School District Steve Johnson gave an update for the Bozeman School District. They are looking at property in Woodland Park for a potential location for a future elementary school. Construction of a roundabout at 15th & Beall is in progress and will be completed by the end of August. The District has entered into an Interlocal agreement with the City to build Cottonwood Road from Durston to Oak, a roundabout at Cottonwood and Oak, and Oak from Cottonwood to Flanders Mill. They also built Annie Street. They plan to provide a temporary detour during the City’s construction of Durston and Cottonwood. 9. Other TCC Member/Committee Reports none G. OLD BUSINESS none H. NEW BUSINESS none I. PUBLIC COMMENT #2 Marilee Brown, representing Safer Bozeman and Gallatin County, spoke about the Bozeman Transportation Plan and the fact that Gallatin County didn’t participate or adopt the plan. The former master plan was adopted in 2007 and the area has changed since that time. The new plan would support the County in addressing safety issues through development. Marilee also spoke about bike and pedestrian safety and how she feels it’s often disregarded. Specifically, she addressed the Valley Center Spur and the denial of the connection from Nelson Meadows. David Kack informed the TCC that the Western Transportation Institute is working with the Downtown Bozeman Partnership on an update to a study they performed in 2014 regarding truck traffic in the downtown area. They will be placing a small video trailer in the median at the East Main Interchange next week. The trailer will be in place for two weeks. Jeff Krauss let everyone know that a new e-scooter business has come to town. The City currently does not have a policy in place but has an increased a police presence. J. UPCOMING MEETING DATES AND ADJOURNMENT October 23, 2019 – REGULAR MEETING January 22, 2020 – REGULAR MEETING April 22, 2020 – REGULAR MEETING July 22, 2020 – 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, Mike Gray at 582-3232 (TDD 582-2301).