HomeMy WebLinkAbout06-23-26 Public Comment - E. Talago - MPO LRTP Public CommentFrom:Emily Talago
To:Bozeman Public Comment
Cc:Jeff Butts
Subject:[EXTERNAL]MPO LRTP Public Comment
Date:Tuesday, June 23, 2026 4:23:07 PM
Attachments:MPO LRTP Public Comment.pdf
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Please see attached public comment and distribute to the MPO committee members.
With gratitude, Emily Talago
MPO Transportation Technical and Policy Coordinating Committees,
I am writing following recent engagement with the Bozeman City Commission regarding the status of the
North 7th Design & Connectivity Plan (N7 D&C), and in connection with the June 10 TTAC meeting where
consultants outlined their approach to generating and screening candidate projects for the Long Range
Transportation Plan (LRTP) project list.
In that context, I did not see clear reference to either the N7 D&C or the Midtown Urban Renewal
District as corridor-level frameworks informing project identification for North 7th. Given my recent
conversations with the City Commission and staff about how the plan is being carried forward (or not), I
am trying to understand how it was treated within the LRTP process.
From what I have observed, the recent MDT-led work on North 7th did not appear to be grounded in the
corridor-scale design and connectivity framework established by the N7 D&C. That is not to suggest any
single plan should drive every decision, but the N7 D&C did represent a long-standing, publicly adopted
vision for treating transportation investments in this corridor as a coordinated system rather than a
series of standalone capacity or maintenance projects.
There is also a broader economic development dimension to these decisions that can be easy to lose
when projects are evaluated in isolation. The drift of North 7th toward what Mayor Morrison recently
referred to as “diet 19th” raises a real concern about whether the corridor is evolving into something
place-based and generative, or something increasingly standardized and auto-dominant.
There are relevant examples elsewhere. The BLVD redevelopment in Lancaster, California, for roughly an
$11.5 million public investment, generated approximately $130 million in private investment, supported
hundreds of jobs, attracted new businesses, and produced roughly $280 million in economic output.
While every corridor is different (and costs today would be higher, with Montana-specific constraints like
snow storage) the key takeaway is the leverage: coordinated public investment can unlock significant
private and economic return when transportation design, placemaking, and redevelopment strategy are
aligned.
That type of outcome depends on viewing projects as part of a coordinated package rather than isolated
fixes assembled one by one. This becomes especially important in LRTP development, where the
strongest corridor projects tend to:
● improve multimodal safety and connectivity in a connected way,
● demonstrate readiness across multiple funding sources (MDT programming, MPO prioritization,
URD/TIF participation, and local match capacity),
● and deliver clear economic development benefits through access, redevelopment potential, and
corridor activation.
North 7th/Midtown is one of the few places in Bozeman where those factors clearly overlap. It functions
as a major arterial, a school access corridor, a higher density residential area, and a redevelopment
district with existing urban renewal authority. In that context, the ability to stack funding sources and
align agencies is often what determines whether comprehensive improvements are actually feasible.
With that in mind, I am interested in how the MPO is coordinating with urban renewal districts and other
planning efforts in assembling the LRTP project list. Midtown has multiple overlapping tools:
transportation planning, zoning, TIF capacity, and action planning updates; that only work effectively
when they are aligned rather than managed separately.
The City Commission’s recent approval of a $100,000 allocation in the Midtown URD budget to update
the Midtown Action Plan reinforces that point. It creates an opportunity to re-establish a shared
implementation framework for the corridor, but only if MDT, the MPO, and the City are working from a
coordinated understanding of priorities and sequencing.
In that light, I would appreciate clarification on two points:
● How the N7 D&C (or successor URD-related components, if applicable) was incorporated into the
LRTP project identification and screening process; and
● How the MPO is coordinating with urban renewal districts and MDT to ensure corridor-level
projects in Midtown/North 7th are evaluated in a way that allows funding sources to be
combined and implementation staged effectively.
Thank you for your work on the LRTP. I believe there is a real opportunity to better align long-range
transportation planning with existing corridor investment frameworks so that Midtown projects are not
only identified, but positioned to move forward through coordinated funding and implementation.
Respectfully,
Emily Talago
Former Midtown Urban Renewal District Board Member
Co-Founder, Steering Committee Member, and former INC representative,
Midtown Neighborhood Association
Former Chair, Bozeman InterNeighborhood Council