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Home My WebLink About12-20-20 Public Comment - D. Giannetti - Kagy Blvd1 Mike Maas From:Danae Giannetti <danaegiannetti@gmail.com> Sent:Sunday, December 20, 2020 11:11 AM To:Agenda Subject:Public Comment for December 22, 2020 City of Bozeman Commission Meeting Categories:Public Comment Dear City Commissioners, My name is Danae Giannetti, I am a member of the Bozeman Area Bicycle Advisory Board (BABAB). I was also a part of the Bozeman Climate Team. However, I am writing on behalf of myself as a resident of the City of Bozeman and not on behalf of BABAB. The purpose of this correspondence is to provide public comment regarding the following December 22, 2020 City of Bozeman Commission Meeting agenda items:  H.1 - Resolution 5207, Adoption of the Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) for Fiscal Years 2022-2026  H.2 - Resolution 5248, Adopting the 2020 Bozeman Climate Plan More specifically, I would like to relate these two agenda items to the planned reconstruction and widening of Kagy Blvd between S. 19th Ave and Willson Ave (CIP Project Number SIF009). I will first outline my understanding of the project as currently proposed, then share part of my personal story as it relates to transportation in our community, and finally offer up information on the concept of “road diets” (explained below) as a way to better inform decisions around the future of Bozeman’s transportation network. In reviewing the CIP Project Report 2022-2026, it is my understanding that the following funding is planned as match to MDT’s urban funding for the design and construction of widening Kagy from Willson to 19th to a four lane urban arterial: $2,000,000 in FY24 and $1,000,000 in FY25. I believe it is in our community’s best interest to revisit this project’s scope before any additional resources are appropriated for the construction of SIF009 because it directly contradicts the goals outlined in the Bozeman Climate Plan to reduce emissions and encourage active forms of transportation (i.e. walking and biking). I will now provide you with some of my personal story to help frame this belief that I hold. I grew up in a small unincorporated area in northeast Florida outside of Jacksonville, the largest city by land area in the United States. I share this as a backdrop of my firsthand experience with the ramifications of urban sprawl and the subsequent need to get in a vehicle to go anywhere or do anything. Furthermore, the statistics on bicyclist and pedestrian fatalities in Florida are staggering and culminate in it being the most deadly state for people walking and biking (AAA, 2019). I have experienced the personal pain of knowing someone that was killed by a car while out walking. Almost equally painful still is the subsequent communal fear of walking and riding a bike near vehicular traffic that I witness anytime I go back to visit loved ones. One of my most recent visits was marked by an older gentleman being struck and killed by a vehicle while he was walking in a marked crosswalk. My mother reacted with, “It just isn’t safe to walk around here!” When I moved to Bozeman ten years ago, it felt otherworldly to be able to walk, bike, or catch the Streamline bus for the majority of my trips. The multimodal transportation system available in our downtown core allowed me to spend most of my years as a MSU student without a car. After graduation, my husband and I bought a home on the west side of town in the Valley Unit subdivision. While only a few miles away from where we lived downtown, we quickly realized the decrease in connected, safe infrastructure for people walking and biking would prove to be a little harder for us to navigate than when we lived downtown. I believe the lack of safe, connected infrastructure is the primary contributing factor to the lower percentage of people that walk and bike on the west side of town compared to other parts of Bozeman, as shown below in Figure 2.10 of the 2017 Bozeman Transportation Master Plan (TMP). More specifically, based on my personal experience of walking 2 and biking around the west side of Bozeman, I believe it is the higher traffic speeds and volumes on four and five lane urban arterials (such as Huffine, 19th, Oak, and Cottonwood) that make walking and biking less appealing. For example, I have been nearly hit by a car on several occasions while crossing the intersection of Huffine and Fowler on my bike when southbound left-turning drivers try to “shoot the gap” between the northbound through traffic without looking at the eastside crosswalk. From the TMP: “It should be noted that the Valley West Area census block, defined by neighbor-hoods north of Huffine Lane and west of 19th Avenue, shows much lower levels of active transportation based on commuting. This indicates needs with infrastructure or encouragement as the majority of this area is not any farther away from major destinations in Bozeman.” I strongly disagree that encouragement is the solution to increasing the percentage of trips by active transportation. There is a robust body of research that concludes one of the most effective ways to get more people walking and biking is by providing safer infrastructure. I will now provide you with information on how other communities are providing safer infrastructure then I will close with what we can do with that information. A major advantage that the City of Bozeman has by growing during the age of information is the gift of hindsight from other municipalities by having their lessons learned at our disposal. I would like to introduce the concept of road diets to you and explain how it relates to the proposed widening of Kagy and other streets as recommended by the TMP. An introductory video on the concept was created by Vox and can be found here: https://www.vox.com/2018/7/25/17593344/road-diets-lane-conversion-traffic-calming-explained-video Across the United States, jurisdictions at varying levels are converting their four and five lane roads to three lanes in an effort to accommodate multimodal transportation, reduce maintenance expenses, and improve safety for all roadway users. The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) has compiled an extensive list of road diets case studies, link: https://safety.fhwa.dot.gov/road_diets/case_studies/ and the Virginia DOT released a 2019 report outlining the performance of road diets installed in the previous five years, link: http://www.virginiadot.org/vtrc/main/online_reports/pdf/20-R19.pdf Per FHWA guidance, the average daily traffic is a first approximation for whether or not to consider a three lane configuration. Several municipalities such as Seattle, WA and Pasadena, CA have a maximum threshold 3 of 25,000 vehicles per day for the three lane configuration. According to the MDT project information sheet for Kagy (link: https://www.mdt.mt.gov/pubinvolve/kagyblvd/docs/Project-Info-Sheet.pdf), the existing traffic volume of 15,000 vehicles per day is expected to grow to 19,000 to 25,000 vehicles per day in the design year of 2040. Obviously, it can be difficult to predict the future. Fundamental assumptions used in predictions, such as people will choose to drive their vehicles over other mode options, are not written in law but rather beliefs rooted in our historically automobile-centric culture. A four lane configuration will certainly accommodate more vehicles, and by extension lead to increased vehicle emissions, which are the antithesis of the goals set forth in our Climate Action Plan. Additionally, we can look to the commuting patterns within our own community to see that large arterials do not encourage multimodal transportation (another goal of the Climate Action Plan). Kagy needs to be improved between 11th and 19th to accommodate all roadway users but the existing three- lane configuration from 11th to Willson still serves our community well. I am not certain that constructing a four lane design similar to what other municipalities are removing from their community is in our best interest from a fiscal, safety, and livability standpoint. As mentioned in the TMP, funding needs outpace funding availability. I believe this disparity will widen if we build bigger roads that segment our community and increase our dependency on vehicles. I ask that other corridors with greater need of improving multimodal transportation, such as College Street between 8th and 11th, are prioritized above the widening of existing roadways. In some communities, such as Ithaca, NY, a “green transportation hierarchy” is used to prioritize transportation modes and infrastructure projects. I applaud the City’s commitment to a sustainable future for not just Bozeman but our entire planet through the adoption and implementation of the Bozeman Climate Action Plan. Finally, thank you for the opportunity to weigh-in on these critical decisions facing you during the December 22, 2020 meeting. I’m especially grateful for your time in considering my comments. Sincerely, Danae Giannetti 512 Sweetgrass Ave Bozeman, MT 59718