HomeMy WebLinkAbout07-20-11 Pedestrian and Traffic Safety Committee MinutesPedestrian and Traffic Safety Committee
Minutes of the July 20, 2011 Meeting
Upstairs Conference Room Alfred Stiff Office Bldg.
Those Present:
Voting Committee Members:
Ralph Zimmer (Gallatin County)
Frank Manseau (Gallatin County)
Gary Vodehnal (City of Bozeman)
Danielle Scharf (City of Bozeman)
Sam Miller (At-Large Voting Member)
Non-Voting Committee Members:
(none)
Liaison Officers:
Tommie Franscioni (Bozeman Police Department)
Ryan Stratman (Gallatin County Sheriff’s Office)
Guests:
(none)
Quorum: present
NEW BUSINESS:
Ralph called the meeting to order at 12:05 PM.
June 1st Meeting. Ralph cancelled our meeting scheduled for June 1st because we would not have had a quorum.
Public Comment. No public comment.
Consideration of Meeting Agenda. Ralph offered the opportunity to provide input on the agenda. Danielle will provide a report on the status of the transportation bill reauthorization
and Frank would like to discuss raised crosswalks at Longfellow Elementary School.
Minutes. Minutes of the May 11, 2011 meeting were reviewed and unanimously approved with minor edits made by Ralph Zimmer prior to distribution.
Opportunity to Elect Additional 2011 At-large Voting Member. Ralph offered the opportunity to nominate an additional at-large voting member to the committee. No nominations were made
at this time.
Liaison Officer Reports. Tommie and Ryan were both in attendance. Tommie said the Bozeman PD traffic unit is up and running. The committee should let him know about any problem areas
where drivers don’t stop for pedestrians or run stop signs. They would make an effort to increase enforcement in these areas. Ryan noted that the Sheriff’s office has a
Selected Traffic Enforcement Program (STEP) grant to fund additional traffic-related enforcement, primarily for seat belts and DUI. Officers can use STEP funding to work overtime hours
for extra enforcement.
Reports from Related Groups. Ralph mentioned a recent newsletter from Montana Safe Routes to School that advertised the National SRTS conference in Minneapolis, MN on August 16-18,
2011.
Gary noted that the CTEP trail project along College and Huffine is pretty much complete. He also explained concerns related to the new pathway on Valley Center. It’s only on one side
and only a few feet from the roadway. Since MDT had to acquire right-of-way for the project, he wonders why they didn’t get enough to provide better separation and construct a trail
on both sides. Gary intends to follow up with MDT to ask some of those questions.
Ron Dingman sent an email recently announcing that Engineering will take over administration of CTEP funds instead of Parks. Gary will contact Ron to see if they’ve identified a point
person within Engineering.
Strategizing for Where We Go After April 18 Meeting with City Commission. During the April 18 Commission meeting, we discussed the role of advisory committees, distracted driving and
other priorities. Sam noted that there are now 34-35 states that at least have a texting ordinance. Some are actually checking phone records to determine whether or not violator was
texting or just dialing. Tommie said that’s a lot of work to go through for a minor offense. Tommie noted that there is some City that recently passed an ordinance against texting
while walking. He will look it up and get back to Ralph to let him know where it was. BABAB collected names during Bike Week in support of the distracted driving ordinance that they
intend to give to the Commission. Sam will follow up with BABAB for an update and talk to Bill Bartlett (BABAB) about what our strategy should be to keep the ordinance moving forward.
Funding for Bike and Pedestrian Projects in Transportation Bill Reauthorization. Danielle explained recent funding level announcements for bike and pedestrian projects in the current
transportation bill reauthorization. Current outlines of the bill show that Transportation Enhancements (TE or CTEP in Montana), Safe Routes to School (SRTS), and the Recreational Trails
Program (RTP) will all be eliminated or consolidated at lower funding levels. Danielle suggested that our committee contact Senator Baucus and other representatives expressing our concerns
related to the elimination of these funding programs. Sam made a motion to have our committee send a letter of support to local representatives for maintaining funding for TE, SRTS,
and RTP. The motion passed unanimously. All agreed that Ralph could go ahead and send the letter without review by the rest of the committee, but we’d be happy to provide input if
needed. Danielle will email Ralph some statistics related to the benefits of bike and pedestrian projects.
Longfellow School Crosswalks. Frank explained that school representatives would still like to see improvements installed at these crosswalks, but he is unsure if it would be CTEP or
SRTS funding. Danielle explained that it could be either for that type of project. The City or School District could apply for SRTS funds for the project. Danielle thought it would
be most appropriate for the Bozeman SRTS task force to discuss this project along with other priorities for the City, when that committee gets re-established. Ralph will send an email
to
Taylor to encourage him to get that committee going again by early fall so we have time to prepare a good application by the deadline of December 31st.
Trail along Rose Park. Gary explained that the proposal to build a trail in place of a roadway along Rose Park was recently denied by the Commission. They would prefer to construct
the roadway.
Willson Crosswalks. Gary had previously suggested adding another crossing on Willson near the intersection of Mason in the vicinity of the Galligator Trail. Quite a few pedestrians
also cross at Grant. Another location that he would like to see crosswalks installed is on College between 8th and 11th. Gary noted a recent comment by John Van Delinder about a
study showing that pedestrian crash rates actually increase in marked crosswalks vs. un-marked crosswalks. Danielle has reviewed this study and explained that it supports the argument
that crosswalks should only be installed where warranted. All agreed we should invite Andy Kerr to our next meeting and ask him specifically about these crossing locations.
Next Meeting. Our next regularly scheduled meeting would be August 10, 2011. Sam will be out of town, but no others have a conflict. Ralph will be traveling the following week, so
he intends to keep the meeting on our regular schedule.
Future Agenda Items. The following items have been carried over from previous meeting minutes as potential future agenda items.
Missing sidewalk sections and accessible curb ramps along Main Street
Sidewalk/trail along Oak from 7th to Rouse
Longfellow Crossing
Path along Bridger Canyon Road
Galligator Trail crossing at South Willson & Lincoln – review # of crossings along Willson from Kagy to Garfield and consider a recommendation to install another at Mason
South Willson & College intersection improvements
Citizen proposal to install flashers on South Willson at Dickerson
Continue discussion on Complete Streets Policy
Continue discussion on Sidewalk Encroachment Policy
Continue discussion on Distracted Driver Issues
South 19th Avenue turn lanes
The meeting was adjourned at 1:20 PM.
Next Meeting: August 10, 2011 as noted above.
Minutes by Danielle Scharf
Minor edit by Ralph Zimmer