HomeMy WebLinkAbout04-10-26 Public Comment - M. Egge - Re_ CC Traffic Safety Work Session 4_14From:Mark Egge
To:Bozeman Public Comment
Subject:[EXTERNAL]Re: CC Traffic Safety Work Session 4/14
Date:Friday, April 10, 2026 10:17:57 AM
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Mr. Mayor, Mr. Deputy Mayor, and Commissioners.
My name is Mark Egge. I'm an AICP-certified planner and a Bozeman resident.
On February 26th, Leslie Brown was killed in a marked crosswalk on Oak Street—a crosswalk where your 2017 Transportation Master Plan recommendedinstalling a rapid flashing beacon years ago. The estimated cost was $20,000 to$30,000. It was never built. The city's SAFE Plan also committed to narrowingvehicle lanes—a proven treatment that slows traffic, improves driverattentiveness, and reduces crash severity. The lanes on Oak Street where LeslieBrown was killed are still 11.5 feet wide.
I offer four concrete strategies the Commission can act on now. These are notnew ideas—most draw directly from the city's own adopted plans. What's beenmissing is the urgency and the funding to execute them. While the City cannotretroactively implement these strategies and undo Leslie Brown’s death, it canhonor her life by acting to prevent similar unnecessary deaths in the future.
STRATEGY 1: Install RRFBs at all previously recommended locations
The 2017 TMP recommended RRFBs or beacon improvements at 13
locations, including the trail crossing at Oak & Agate where Leslie Brown
was killed. The 2025 bicycle/pedestrian gap analysis again flagged Oak &
Agate. Nine years later, most remain unbuilt.
Action: Install RRFBs with high-visibility crosswalk markings and flexible-
post bulb-outs at all 14 priority locations:
1. Oak St & Agate Ave (site of Leslie Brown's death; recommended in
2017 TMP and 2025 gap analysis)
2. Oak St at fairgrounds/Cannery District
3. Oak St & Hunters Way (SPOT-12)
4. College St & S. 13th Ave (SPOT-9)
5. College St & S. 15th Ave (SPOT-10)
6. Durston Rd & Hunters Way (SPOT-13)
7. Babcock St & Hunters Way (SPOT-14)
8. Kagy Blvd & S. Tracy Ave (SPOT-19)
9. Carol Place & E. Kagy Blvd (SPOT-20)
10. E. Baxter Ln & Buckrake Ave (SPOT-23)
11. E. Baxter Ln & Flanders Mill Rd (SPOT-24)
12. Cascade St & N. Ferguson Ave (SPOT-25)
13. N. 25th Ave & Durston Rd (SPOT-29)
14. Westridge Dr & S. 3rd Ave (SPOT-35)
Estimated cost: ~$250,000.
Timeline: All 14 crossings installed by fall 2027.
STRATEGY 2: Narrow travel lanes citywide through restriping
The SAFE Plan committed to narrower lane width standards by January
2024. Oak Street's lanes remain 11.5'. National guidance and the SAFE
Plan both support 10-10.5' lanes, and the city demonstrated on Ferguson
Ave that restriping during paving delivers safety improvements at minimal
cost.
Action: Acquire road striping equipment appropriate for municipal arterial
restriping. Restripe arterials and collectors to 10–10.5' lanes, reallocating
reclaimed space to wider bike lanes or buffer zones. Prioritize streets
within a quarter mile of all parks, schools, downtown, and MSU in 2027.
Complete all remaining streets thereafter.
Estimated cost: $100k for 2x self-propelled ride-on stripers; striping is an
operational expense.
Timeline: Equipment purchased by fall of 2026; priority streets restriped
summer 2027; all remaining arterials and collectors completed by fall
2028.
STRATEGY 3: Require the transportation master plan to prioritize safety
The capital program has historically ranked projects by vehicle level of
service. The TMP should use safety outcomes — crash history, pedestrian
exposure, crossing gaps — as a primary scoring criterion, not a tiebreaker.
Action: Direct staff to include a safety-weighted project scoring matrix in
the TMP. Require that all projects on high-injury corridors include
pedestrian and cyclist safety countermeasures.
Timeline: Embedded in the TMP once underway.
STRATEGY 4: Create a dedicated funding source for road safety
The city (and MPO) is currently spending approximately $920,000
studying road safety—$370k on SS4A planning, $250k on the TMP update,
and roughly $300k on the MPO's first Long Range Transportation Plan. It is
spending $150,000 actually building safety improvements (STR20). That is
a 6-to-1 ratio of studying to doing. The 2017 TMP's beacon and
intersection safety recommendations—totaling under $500,000—remain
largely unbuilt nine years later. The problem is not a lack of plans. It is a
lack of dedicated funding to execute them.
Action: Establish a dedicated road safety funding mechanism. Options
include a standalone safety mill levy through the City or a possible safety-
earmarked component of a levy through the Urban Transportation District,
a voter-approved bond, or a combination. Collaboration with the UTD
could be particularly fruitful as a regional funding mechanism for
transportation, and earmarking a portion for safety retrofits would align its
mission with the community's most urgent need.
Interim action: Increase the STR20 multimodal improvement budget from
$150k to at least $300k in the FY28 budget as an interim step, with a goal
of reaching $1M+ once a dedicated funding mechanism is established.
Install RRFBs at all previously recommended locations.
Timeline: Direct staff to present levy/UTD options by December 2026.
Increased STR20 funding in place during this year’s capital budget. Levy
or UTD safety earmark on the ballot or enacted by 2028.
I urge you to break the cycle of endlessly studying the problem and startmeaningfully funding and implementing the solutions your own plans havealready identified. I request that the Commission direct staff to respond inwriting to these four strategies, including cost estimates and implementationfeasibility, in a memorandum delivered to City Commission prior tocommencing work on the Transportation Master Plan update.
Thank you for your consideration,
Mark Egge, AICP
1548 S Grand Ave, Bozeman MT 59715