HomeMy WebLinkAbout01-26-22 Public Comment - M. Egge - Transportation Board WorkplanFrom:Mark Egge
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Subject:Public Comment - Transportation Board - 1/26 - Workplan
Date:Wednesday, January 26, 2022 8:59:04 AM
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Members of the Transportation Board—
Thanks for stepping up to serve the community through your service onthe Transportation Board. I regret that I'm unable to join your meeting
this evening, but wanted to pass on a few thoughts as you define your
workplan for the coming year.
For those who I haven't had the benefit of meeting yet, I spend my
working hours supporting MPOs and state DOTs in how they plan and
deliver their systems.
I wanted to suggest two items for your workplan:
1) Transparent, data-driven, and goal-aligned prioritization for Bozeman's
transportation Capital Improvement Plan projects2) An updated set of plans, beginning with an Active Transportation Plan
The greatest potential contribution of the Transportation Board would be to
push Bozeman in the direction of adopting a transparent, objective, andaccountable mechanism for selecting which transportation projects the city
spends its transportation budget on.
The city's process for selecting capital projects is opaque and there's asignificant disconnect between the city's stated values and where we're
spending our money. We really need to do a better job as a community
aligning our capital spending with our goals as a city.
The city has far greater "needs" than it has available budget (for an
extensive list of needs, refer to numbered pages 98 – 106 for bicycle
improvements, 89 – 92 for pedestrian improvements, and 74 – 96 for car
improvements in Bozeman's existing Transportation Master Plan). The cityhas about $20m in transportation budget to spend every year (and
hundreds of millions of needed improvements).
My understanding of the way that projects are currently selected is thatBozeman's engineering staff get together and decide which projects are
most important. This would be a fine approach for a town of 5,000 people,
but is not an effective approach for a city of Bozeman's size that's
spending real sums of taxpayer money on transportation
improvements. Investments should be prioritized based on a transparentevaluation of which projects do the most to move the needle on our city
transportation goals. The current process is not data driven, it's not
transparent, and it's not effective (Kagy Blvd is case in point).
(Oh, and quick aside: please note that more than 80% of Bozeman's
transportation budget comes from property taxes and impact fees. The gas
tax money that Bozeman gets from the state is only a small share (like
13% last I checked) of Bozeman's overall transportation budget. Pleasebear in mind that 80%+ of transportation projects in Bozeman are paid for
by property owners, not drivers.)
The second most important thing: develop some good plans.
Bozeman really, really needs an active transportation plan. MSU has
one (it's great, by the way! Check it out.) Park County has
one. Missoula (obviously) has one. Heck, even MDT has one. Please don'tlet anyone at the city suggest that the shoe-horned addendum chapter in
the Parks and Rec plan is at all an adequate substitute (except insofar as
the bit of transportation that happens on city/GVLT trails is
concerned). The city has made zero—literally zero—improvements to makewalking and biking safer or more convenient in the city's historic core in
the last six years. This correlates to the fact that there's no plan for doing
so.
This would be an ideal task for the new Transportation Board to lead on.
The city's Transportation Master Plan is five years out of date, and wasn'ta great plan five years ago. It's time for an update.Finally
Finally, parking. The city's parking management plan is five years out of
date. Time for a new plan that focuses on managing the curb. (Parking isone of many beneficial uses that valuable curb space can be used for,
along with pick up/drop off, deliveries, parklets and outdoor dining, bike
parking, and other uses.) Additionally, the operating rules for the Parking
Benefit Zones surrounding downtown need to be adopted. This wasoriginally slated for the previous Parking Commission but the ball got
dropped with COVID and staff transitions.
Thanks for your service and considering my comment.
Mark
-- Mark Egge542 N Black Ave, Bozeman MT 59715(406) 548-4488he / him