HomeMy WebLinkAbout06-22-26 Public Comment - R. Watson - Joey and Commissioners crosswalk commitee....From:R W
To:Bozeman Public Comment
Subject:[EXTERNAL]Joey and Commissioners crosswalk commitee....
Date:Friday, June 19, 2026 12:36:12 PM
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I've spoken to most of you as commissioners on various topics but I believe there is a lot of
low hanging fruit here to show the community that we are taking steps immediately for publicsafety and pedestrians...We literally have a crew dedicated to "removing graffiti" maybe they
pivot for the next month or two and we get these crosswalks visible. I believe at some point itposes a real legal liability that these are not being kept to standards like every other city when
put in..... My heart hurts thinking about the little girl who was struck today in front of ourhouse. I know the whole community is hurting, and I am not writing this to place blame. I also
know there are people working hard to improve pedestrian safety around Bozeman, and Igenuinely appreciate those efforts.
That said, I have lived on Bridger Drive for 20 years, and this stretch has needed basicpedestrian improvements for a long time. When MDT redid the road, crosswalks were painted
along this corridor: at the bike lane crossings, the intersection by Panda, the intersection atGriffin, and other key crossing points. But after the chip seal work, many of those crosswalks
were never repainted.
This feels like the easiest thing. Crosswalks are one of the simplest, cheapest ways to alert
drivers that people are crossing. We have paint trucks. We have crews. This does not require amajor infrastructure project or waiting years for funding. It just needs to get done.
Driving around town, you can see intersection after intersection where only one side ismarked, or where markings are incomplete, faded, or missing altogether. There is no reason
we shouldn’t have crews out repainting every missing or incomplete crosswalk until the job isfinished.
I’m about ready to grab a bucket of white paint and start doing it myself.
Quick caveat here: if the State is the one that does Rouse can the city attorney write a letter to
MDT telling them they have neglected their duty to even repaint these crosswalks after chipseal? The entire Rouse to Main corridor in front of city hall literally is invisible even at
Hawthorne....Please, MDT and the City, make this a priority. A painted crosswalk will notsolve everything, but it is a basic, visible, immediate step toward making our streets safer for
kids, families, cyclists, and pedestrians.
All the best,
Ryan Watson
https://highways.dot.gov/safety/proven-safety-countermeasures/crosswalk-visibility-
enhancements
https://nacto.org/publication/urban-street-design-guide/intersection-design-
elements/crosswalks-and-crossings/conventional-crosswalks/