HomeMy WebLinkAbout07-12-23 Public Comment - D. King - Better traffic planningFrom:David King
To:Agenda
Subject:Better traffic planning
Date:Wednesday, July 12, 2023 12:05:18 PM
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Dear City Commissioners,
It concerns me that the City is not very good at traffic planning. I have traveled extensively in Europeand around the world, and we really could do a better job of it.
Every year more stop lights are installed and very few traffic circles (probably ten for one). Whenreally, traffic circles function much better for efficiently and safely moving the flow of traffic. Andwhile they don’t work everywhere, for most new developments they would work much better thanthe traffic lights. Once a road is upgraded and traffic lights are installed, the likelihood of switching itto a traffic circle later is minimal. It will be a stoplight forever!
The new light at Story Mill and Bridger Canyon Drive is an example. This should be a traffic circle.
Same for all the intersections along Rouse and South 19th south of Kagy. The City has a chance to dothe right thing for Kagy where all these main intersections should be traffic circles. What is thelikelihood of that happening?. And even though some of the roads are State highways, the City canput forth preferences… but they don’t; or their preferences are stoplights. They are in the dark ages,taking the easy way out in what is referred to as “death by 100 cuts”. Each light slows the trafficmore and more so that it now it takes 20 minutes or more to drive across town.
Notice next time when you approach a stoplight. If it is green you end up speeding up trying tomake it. This creates stress and a raises the likelihood of bad accidents. And then when you missthe light, notice your reaction. Tension builds. While you wait you check your phone. When thelight turns green, you rush off to the next light. People think with sensors and automation thattechnology is the answer, but this only works some of the time. And look at the width of theintersection. There are now four to five lanes for each intersection (to store the backed-up traffic):one left turning, one right, one each forward and back. If a large traffic circle were installed, thearea of disturbed land would be less, and there would be no backed up traffic. The speedapproaching the intersection slows down in order to merge safely, but that increases safety andsmoothly handles traffic with no or minimal waiting. Get smart Bozeman and have the courage tobe progressive in traffic planning.
Thank you for your thoughtful consideration.
Sincerely,
David King
Bozeman, Montana