HomeMy WebLinkAbout10-12-11 Pedestrian and Traffic Safety Committee MinutesI Pedestrian and Traffic Safety Committee
2 Minutes of the October 12, 2011 Meeting
3 Upstairs Conference Room Alfred Stiff Office Bldg.
4
5 Those Present:
6
7 Voting Committee Members:
8 Ralph Zimmer (Gallatin County)
9 Gary Vodehnal (City of Bozeman)
10 Danielle Scharf (City of Bozeman)
11 Frank Manseau (Gallatin County)
12 Sue Brown (Member At- Large)
13 Sam Miller (Member At- Large)
14
15 Non - Voting Committee Members:
16 John Van Delinder (City of Bozeman — Street Superintendent)
17
18 Liaison Officers:
19 (none)
20
21 Guests:
22 Sean Becker (City Commission)
23
24 Quorum: present
25
26 NEW BUSINESS:
27
28 Ralph called the meeting to order at 12:10 PM.
29
30 1. Public Comment. No public comment.
31
32 2. Consideration of Meeting Agenda. Ralph offered the opportunity to provide input on the agenda.
33 No comments were made.
34
35 3. Minutes. Minutes of the September 14, 2011 meeting were reviewed and unanimously approved with
36 minor edits made by Ralph Zimmer prior to distribution.
37
38 4. Liaison Officer Reports. Tommie was planning to be in attendance, but didn't make it and did not
39 submit a report to Ralph prior to the meeting. Ryan Stratman will no longer be serving as the
40 Sheriff's office representative on our committee. Sgt. Jim Anderson will take his place.
41
42 5. Street Department Report. John provided an update on several items that have been discussed
43 recently by the PTS committee:
44
45 • There will be a meeting with the School District on an upcoming Commission agenda. They
46 will discuss many different topics, one of which will be Safe Routes to School. The tentative
47 date is November 28.
48 • Removal of the turn restriction at Highland and Ellis should be completed this week.
49 • The City recently installed 170 lineal feet of asphalt sidewalk from the Haggerty /Farmhouse
50 development to the new bus stop at Haggerty and Ellis in front of the Comstock Apartments.
51 • The City installed an asphalt connection from the sidewalk to the existing crosswalk at College
52 and 13th to improve accessibility.
• Street Department helped with Walk to School Day at Chief Joseph Middle School.
6. Reports from Related Groups. Taylor Lonsdale was unable to attend our meeting today, but he
recently distributed the monthly Montana SRTS Newsletter for October 2011. Gary provided a quick
summary of items addressed in the newsletter. Sean spoke with Kirk Miller recently regarding Safe
Routes to School and suggested they attend a Commission meeting to discuss this among many other
items (Downtown TIF financing, future school site, etc.). That meeting is tentatively scheduled for
the November 28, 2011 Commission work session. Sean suggested that someone from our committee
try to attend. Gary suggested that the discussion on the 28th include coordination between City and
School District on how to address some of the issues related to SRTS from the SRTS studies. Ralph
suggested that Gary or Danielle try to be present at that meeting and speak in support of that
cooperation and perhaps suggest that our committee be involved.
Frank recently had a discussion with Mrs. Planap, a secretary at Longfellow Elementary, who may be
interested in serving as a School District representative on this committee. Frank will follow up to let
them know that they must be appointed by the School District. John thought the school district may
have designated someone as an official SRTS coordinator. Frank will follow up with his contact to
see if she knows who that is.
Danielle provided a summary of her recent discussion with Dustin Johnson regarding CTEP. Ron
Dingman will be retiring in December and CTEP administration will transition to Dustin between now
and then. Dustin intends to maintain the current committee and process for determining priority
projects. The current priority projects are still the curb ramps /crossing improvements at various
locations and the Oak St trail. He does not believe a CTEP application has been submitted yet this
year, but will have to confirm that with Ron.
Frank asked again about the potential for raised crosswalks at Longfellow Elementary School.
Danielle stated that we discussed this when Andy Kerr was here a couple weeks ago and that it didn't
meet warrants based on a previous proposal for traffic calming. John followed up by stating that
raised crossings make it difficult for plowing snow. They could do things differently if necessary, but
it's not ideal. John said it would be ok for Frank to tell Longfellow representatives to continue
pursuing SRTS funding for the raised crossings. Sam suggested radar speed signs like on Rouse.
John said Rich McLane had collected speed data that he can forward to Ralph. Trees may cause
issues for the solar power on the radar signs. Gary suggested that a few members of our committee
make a site visit to evaluate crossing locations and accessible curbs. Sean suggested they consider
rumble strips to get drivers attention as they're approaching the school zone. Another option may be
to install an on -site drop off area to get drop -off pedestrians out of the public right -of -way altogether.
7. Partial Closure at 6th and Cleveland. Frank was unable to attend the last PTS meeting and asked
for a summary of how the closure came about. John stated that it was a previous request from
neighbors to the City Commission. He believes that the same neighbors would come back in
opposition of its removal. It was a condition of approval for MSU to vacate a portion of South 8th. It
will become an issue again with construction on South 8th next summer. Sean is expecting John to
bring it before the Commission as part of the detour route for the South 8th reconstruction.
8. Distracted Driving. This was a topic of discussion at the Commission's October 3rd policy meeting.
Sam noted that it made the paper the next day. He said it seemed that 4 of the 5 Commissioners
would support some legislation regarding distracted driving. The Commission tasked staff (Greg
Sullivan) with drafting an ordinance similar to Billings, but customized for Bozeman. Sean thought
they would start with the Billings ordinance and each would provide comments about how they feel it
should be modified for Bozeman.
Sean said part of the problem is related to the conflicting research. Ralph noted that the one study
came from the Governor's Highway Safety Association and is only indirectly related to the
Governors. It was also referred to as the State Farm Insurance Company's study, but Ralph believes
that State Farm was simply the group that provided the funding for the researchbut did not actually
perform the research or write the report.
Ralph recently received an email from an MSU professor whose students made observations
during September at 6 different locations around Bozeman and they observed people that were
obviously using hand -held cell phones made up 4.5% of drivers during the AM peak and 9% during
the PM peak. It is likely that actual usage was even higher since the observers were only able to count
drivers who were obviously using a hand -held cell- phone.
The Bozeman Police Department reported to the City Commission that, of 558 crashes they
investigated, cell - phones were only being used in twelve of those crashes. The number twelve was
determined exclusively or almost exclusively on statements subsequently made by the vehicle drivers.
Ralph pointed out the MSU study strongly suggests the drivers in those 558 crashes were substantially
underreporting the use of cell - phones.
The Commission has budgeted up to $10,000 for education related to reducing distracted driving.
Ralph has sent an email to the Police Chief saying our committee would like to be involved in the
planning of that educational effort. Ralph said it would be helpful if we generated some ideas about
how that money could effectively be used. He tasked us all to come up with some ideas prior to our
next meeting.
9. Roundabout at 11th and College. Ralph asked if there was any more input about how the
roundabout is operating now that another month has passed. John stated that the Western
Transportation Institute (WTI) has their cameras at the intersection and will be completing an analysis
and report. He said it has been operating well after football games and during peak hours. Ralph said
his wife reported that there have been a lot of positive comments in the letters to the editor regarding
the roundabout. Sean asked John if the center curb could be painted yellow to improve visibility.
John will follow up on this. Additional discussion took place regarding the need to use turn signals at
roundabouts.
10. Community Transportation Safety Plans. Ralph recently attended a meeting with MDT and City
representatives regarding Community Transportation Safety Plans. David Kack, Rick Hixson, and Joe
Gilpin were in attendance. MDT has a federal funding source for transportation safety plans. They
have several pre - qualified consultants that are able to complete these studies. There is an interest in
funding one of these plans for Bozeman, but they would need a group to take the lead on it. It may be
a group similar to our committee or the Transportation Coordinating Committee (TCC). Rick
indicated to the MDT representatives from Helena that we are interested in having one of these studies
done for Bozeman.
11. Red -light Cameras. Ralph recently received an email from a staff member of WTI regarding red -
light cameras in Iowa. Ralph did not have a chance to read the entire email yet. Ralph will review it
and forward any potential information of significant interest.
12. Willson and College. Frank asked about the status of the turn restrictions at Willson and College.
Ralph explained that nothing further will happen until someone suggests another proposal to the
Commission. John stated that the intersection has fallen off of MDT's radar.
13. Crosswalks. Frank asked about crosswalks on College between 11th and 19th, at 19th and Lincoln,
and on Main Street near Safeway and the Co -op. He has seen people crossing in these locations
157 without marked crosswalks. John said MDT has plans to reconstruct this section of Main within the
158 next five years and crossing locations will be addressed at that time. John noted that more pedestrian
159 accidents occur in marked crosswalks than unmarked crosswalks according to a Federal Highway
160 Administration study, so the City carefully evaluates locations where they should be installed.
161
162 14. Next Meeting. Our next regular meeting time will be November 9th. Frank and Sam may have
163 conflicts that meeting time. Ralph said we will tentatively plan to keep that meeting date, but there
164 may be a need to reschedule.
165
166 15. Future Agenda Items. The following items have been carried over from previous meeting minutes
167 as potential future agenda items.
168
169 • Missing sidewalk sections and accessible curb ramps along Main Street
170 • Sidewalk/trail along Oak from 7th to Rouse
171 • Longfellow Crossings
172 • Path along Bridger Canyon Road
173 • Galligator Trail crossing at South Willson & Lincoln — review 4 of crossings along Willson
174 from Kagy to Garfield and consider a recommendation to install another at Mason
175 • South Willson & College intersection improvements
176 • Citizen proposal to install flashers on South Willson at Dickerson
177 • Continue discussion on Complete Streets Policy
178 • Continue discussion on Sidewalk Encroachment Policy
179 • Continue discussion on Distracted Driver Issues
180 • South 19th Avenue turn lanes
181
182 The meeting was adjourned at 1:30 PM.
183
184 Next Meeting: November 9, 2011 as noted above.
185
186
187 Minutes by Danielle Scharf
188 Minor corrections & clarifications by Ralph Zimmer