HomeMy WebLinkAbout06-20-25 Public Comment - E. Talago - SOS from Midtown re_ MDT work on N 7thFrom:Emily Talago
To:Nicholas Ross; David Fine; Emily Kiely; Jesse DiTommaso
Cc:Bozeman Public Comment
Subject:[EXTERNAL]SOS from Midtown re: MDT work on N 7th
Date:Friday, June 20, 2025 4:09:27 PM
CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click links or open attachments unless you
recognize the sender and know the content is safe.
Dear city leaders and staff, I'm reaching out after attending MDT's open house last night regarding the road work planned
for N. 7th- specifically the "improvements" to the Peach Street intersection. Peach Street isdesignated in our Transportation Master Plan as a Collector route which requires
equal priority be given to the movement of traffic and to access of residential areas andbusinesses. Unlike Oak Street, with its 100 foot setbacks, Peach is not an arterial. The
transition from arterial to the West of N 7th (Durston) to collector to the east (Peach) calls forintentional design that ensures safe speeds adjacent to the school and prioritizes the needs of
bicyclists, pedestrians, and automobile users as described in the North Seventh Design andConnectivity Plan, the Midtown Urban Renewal Plan, and the Bozeman Community Plan.
This was the first time I and other neighbors, including reps from Big O and Genuine, saw theproject engineering and design docs. I am very concerned that this design is antithetical to
many goals and policies described in the GoGallatin Safe Routes to School program, theBozeman SAFE plan, and all the other aforementioned adopted plans. Their design did not
incorporate the flashing speed sign for Whittier School, the turn movements into or out of theVerizon/Genuine Ice Cream parking lot, or the current conflicts with North-bound traffic from
5th and 6th especially during school pick-up and drop off hours. The design widens the streetto add a south bound turn lane.
The design also proposes to remove the healthy, mature trees along the North side of the streetwhich for now, constitute the lion's share of westbound traffic calming next to the school.
These deciduous hardwood species are workhorses in our urban environment and should notbe clear-cut all at once to be replaced with 2" caliper juveniles. Managing an urban canopy
requires strategic succession planting and replacements to keep a continuous cycle of benefitfor all generations throughout the entirety of the city as we grow.
Can we keep the trees in calming bump-outs and locate the new sidewalk on the North side ofthe trees, protected from traffic? Can we strategically restrict turn movements so that drivers
don't make risky choices when vehicles are queued up? I'm not an engineer, but I know wehave the expertise on staff for doing this kind of thoughtful work- I've seen it in action!
The crew from MDT were sympathetic to our concerns but emphasized that this project hasalready been contracted and thus would require a change order with Knife River.
Unfortunately, there was no one present that could speak to the design or ability to makechanges.
Look, I get that change orders are a costly pain- but also recognize this is a normal part of aproject process and allows a responsive change to get a better outcome. Midtown needs a
better outcome than the design as proposed. I am still unclear about the jurisdictional aspect ofMDT overlapping with Bozeman, but it sounded like it's being handled by MDT because it is
using federal funding. Because this project is also in the Midtown Urban Renewal district, and the district is sitting
on a few million in cash I feel emboldened to (still humbly) request that we sit down with theMDT project engineer, task-force style, to re-design this part of the contract. Work is
estimated to commence by the end of July, so time is of the essence. If we want to keepvehicles under 15mph in our school zone, we must design our roads to reflect that.
While Emma Bode did attend, I've cc'd public comment in order to share this with the wholecommission without causing a digital quorum, and in case this would require any action on
their part to revisit the URD budget and workplan.Please let me know what I can do or if there's someone at MDT I need to contact to initiate
this. Respectfully and with gratitude,
Emily TalagoMidtown Neighborhood Association
cc: City Commission via comments@bozeman.net