HomeMy WebLinkAbout02-08-12 Pedestrian and Traffic Safety Committee Minutes I Pedestrian and Traffic Safety Committee
2 Minutes of the February 8, 2012 Meeting
3 Upstairs Conference Room Alfred Stiff Office Building.
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 Vance Ruff(School District)
15
16 Non-Voting Committee Members:
17 John Van Delinder (City of Bozeman— Street Superintendent)
18
19 Liaison Officers:
20
21 Guests:
22 Rick Hixson(City Engineer)
23 Mayor Sean Becker
24
25 Quorum: present
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27
28 NEW BUSINESS:
29
30 Ralph called the meeting to order at 12:05 PM.
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32
33 1. Public Comment. No public comment.
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35 2. Consideration of Meeting Agenda. Ralph offered the opportunity to provide input on the
36 agenda and noted that he will take some liberties as we have many items to discuss. No
37 additional comments were made.
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39 3. Minutes. The minutes of the January 11, 2012 meeting were approved with minor edits made
40 by Ralph Zimmer prior to distribution.
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42 4. Liaison Officer Reports. Tommie is out of town and unable to attend today. Jim Anderson,
43 the Sherriff's Office representative, was also unable to attend.
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45
46 5. Street Department Report. John stated that the City is currently working on budgets and
47 plans for street overlays. Rick noted that they are proceeding with the design of South 8th that
48 will include enhancements for bicycles, including a narrower median to provide room for bike
49 lanes on both sides. The project will be constructed this summer mostly with Street
50 Maintenance Funds and a small SID for immediately adjacent property owners. A public
51 meeting will be held on February 23rd and the actual SID creation will take place in front of
52 the Commission.
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54 Gary shared recent concerns from Taylor Lonsdale regarding the curb bulb-outs near Irving
55 School (north side of Alderson and south side of Dickerson). Taylor would like to see bulb-
56 outs at all intersections and Gary agrees due to the high volume of pedestrians in the area. He
57 asked Rick what the cons would be to installing them at all intersections. Rick explained that
58 it would be much more expensive due to the additional lineal feet of curb, much harder to
59 plow, and much more difficult to provide positive drainage. The City just barely has enough
60 money to do the project as is. The median will be used to help reduce crossing distance. John
61 added that the bulb-out areas are less likely to be shoveled by home owners. They will invite
62 neighbors to review the design and provide input.
63
64 Ralph also announced John's recent recognition at the City Commission meeting for his
65 service and efforts related to bike and pedestrian safety.
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67 6. CTEP Report. Danielle provided a brief summary of recent proposals for County CTEP
68 funds presented at the County Commission meeting yesterday. Ralph asked Rick about
69 concerns related to the length of time it's taken to complete the CTEP project along College.
70 Rick said it has been completed; it's just a matter of finishing up the paper work.
71
72 7. 23"d & College Intersection Improvements. We have discussed design options at this
73 intersection at two recent meetings. Ralph was told that MDT would postpone their final
74 decision on the preferred treatment until after our meeting today. Ralph invited a
75 representative from MDT, but they must not have been able to find a representative to attend.
76 Rick has been to all the meetings with MDT and is prepared to share his understanding of the
77 project with us.
78
79 Two design alternatives are being considered — a traditional signalized intersection and a
80 roundabout with turn lanes. Rick explained that there was a desire to construct a roundabout
81 because of the success of the roundabout at College and 1 lth. Since then, they've learned that
82 we need a slip lane for turning traffic onto 23rd and two lanes through the roundabout
83 eastbound on College. He said recent changes in the MDT design standards for roundabouts
84 would mandate the installation of traffic signal lights on the various legs to protect pedestrian
85 movements because of the multi-lane approaches. It would be cost prohibitive to install both
86 at one intersection.
87
88 The Commission had previously discussed a desire to install only 3 lanes between 19th and
89 23rd, instead of 5 as initially proposed. The canal will be placed in a 60-inch pipe. There will
90 be new sidewalk on the north side, the existing trail on the south side and bike lanes on both
91 sides. Financing is in place for the project. College is a federal aid urban route, so it will be
92 funded with a combination of federal urban funds and impact fees. The City is trying to save
93 as much urban funds as possible to be used for Kagy Boulevard.
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95 Ralph asked for clarification on Rick's comment about federal aid dollars filtered through the
96 state for maintenance of urban routes. Rick clarified that the dollars are used for
97 reconstruction not maintenance. Ralph also asked for clarification on the operation of
98 pedestrian signals at a roundabout. Rick had made a comment that implied all legs would be
99 stopped by the signal at the same time. Ralph provided a copy of a memo from the design
100 consultant that implies that individual legs would be stopped only where the pedestrian is
101 crossing and that the other legs would still be able to enter and exit the roundabout. Rick will
102 double check to see if he may have misunderstood.
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104 Ralph asked the group if we would be in favor of a roundabout if it turned out that the signal
105 would be just on individual legs and not stop the entire intersection. Rick said we still have
106 some time before we need to make our final recommendation. They just did the alignment
107 and grade review a couple weeks ago, so there's plenty of time to get a better understanding
108 of how it will work. Rick will ask about the pedestrian signal operations and provide us with
109 the information prior to our next meeting. Rick will also find out what the deadline is for
110 comments. Gary thought it would also be interesting to know what the long-term
111 maintenance costs would be for each alternative. All agreed to table the discussion until next
112 month, once Rick has had a chance to gather the additional information.
113
114 8. Determination of 2012 Goals and Priorities. Ralph distributed the revised copy of the 2012
115 priority worksheet. Ralph proposed that we go through the list and discuss which items
116 should be high (5), medium (3) and low (1) priorities and/or which can be crossed off the list
117 entirely. The results of this process will serve as a guideline for the coming the year, but we
118 will address these and other relevant topics as needed regardless of the results. The following
119 are the ranking results.
120
121 _4 1. Missing sidewalk sections and accessible curb ramps city-wide
122 4 2. Sidewalk/trail along Oak from 7th to Rouse
123 2 3. Longfellow Crossings
124 2 4. Path along Bridger Canyon Road
125 —1 5. Galligator Trail crossing at South Willson& Lincoln–review# of crossings
126 along Willson from Kagy to Garfield& consider a recommendation to install another @
127 Mason
128 _3 6. South Willson& College intersection turning restrictions & improvements
129 7. Citizen pfopesal to install dashers on Souti, Wilk, at Diekefse,,
130 8. Continue aiseuss o on Complete Stf!ects
131 n Continue dice ssio,, on Sidewalk E,,,.,-,..,ehment n
132 _4 10. South 19th Avenue turn lanes
133 4 11. Supplement/Support Public Education Program on Distracted Driving
134 1 12. Lobby City to Prohibit Hands-Free Use of Electronic Devices
135 3 13. Lobby County to Adopt Prohibitions on Distracted Driving
136 3 14. Lobby Legislature to Enact Distracted Driving Legislation
137 2 15. Lobby Legislature to Allow Use of Red Light Running Cameras
138 5 16. Advocate for a certain design of College & 23rd Intersection
139 2 17. Lobby for Increased Bike/Ped Involvement in City Planning Projects
140 1 18. Work to Increase School District Participation in PTS
141 2 19. Lobby for Adjustments to City's 15 MPH Speed Zones
142 1 20. Consider Working for Changes in PTS Structure (name, 9 of members, etc.)
143 3 21. Support Work on Comprehensive Safety Plan (if funded)
144 5 22. Review Development Applications & Road/Street Designs
145 5 23. Review Plans for Revised Design of South 8t'Avenue
146 24. Paftieipate in Development oFCommunity rr,.ansp,,ftatio Safety Plan.
147 (duplicate)
148 5 25. Advocate for Needed Bike/Ped Connections to New Schools
149 5 26. Advocate for Implementation of Safe Routes to School Plan
150 4 27. Pursue Funding Alternatives for Sidewalk Construction and Improvement
151 3 28. Explore Bike/Ped Improvements for Travel Along South Church
152 4 29. Support Parking & Pedestrian Improvements at Senior Center
153 20 Lobby r^r Adjustments to City's 15 MPH Speed Limit. (duplicate)
154 4— 3 1. Monitor Plans for Updating North Rouse
155 5 32. Advocate for radar sign for northbound traffic on S 8t' in front of Irving
156 School
157 33.
158 34.
159
160
161 9. Next Meeting. Our next regular meeting time will be March 14, 2012 at noon. We may
162 consider an alternate date due to spring break, but will likely try not to push it back since we
163 need to provide input on S 23rd and College.
164
165 The meeting was adjourned at 2:00 PM.
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167 Next Meeting: March 14, 2012 as noted above.
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169
170 Minutes by Danielle Scharf
171 Minor edits by Ralph Zimmer