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HomeMy WebLinkAbout10-26-11 Minutes - Transportation Coordinating Committee MINUTES BOZEMAN AREA TRANSPORTATION COORDINATING COMMITTEE WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2011 ® These minutes are not word for word and should be considered in addition to the audio recording of this meeting. ITEM 1. CALL TO ORDER AND ATTENDANCE Chair Christopher Scott called the meeting to order at 10:08 a.m. on Wednesday, October 26, 2011 in the City Commission Room, City Hall, 121 North Rouse Avenue, Bozeman, MT and directed members to introduce themselves. Members present: Jeff Krauss, Mayor, City of Bozeman Christopher Scott, Gallatin County Planning Dept, Jeff Ebert, Montana Department of Transportation, Butte District Administrator Carol Strizich, Statewide, Urban Planning, MDT Bill Cochran, Bozeman Area Bicycle Advisory Board Ralph Zimmer, Pedestrian and Traffic Safety Committee Bob Lashaway, Montana State University Rob Bukvich, Montana Dept. of Transportation, Bozeman Dan Martin, Bozeman Citizen Representative and Karst Stage Bill Murdock, Gallatin County Commission Debbie Arkell, Bozeman Public Works Director Dustin Rouse, Montana Department of Transportation, Butte District Engineering Trever McSpadden, City of Bozeman Planning Board Lee Provance, County Road Superintendent Sam Gianfrancisco, County Citizen Representative Marianne Jackson Amsden, Gallatin County Planning board George Durkin, Gallatin County Road Department Ray Stocks, Montana Department of Transportation Rick Hixson, Bozeman Engineer, proxy for Tim McHarg Guests_/Staff present: Aimee Kissel, Deputy City Clerk taking minutes John Van Delinder, Bozeman Street Department Keri Thorpe, Planning Department Dana Piper - Melcher, Galavan/ Streamline Travis Monroe, Senator Baucus' Office ITEM 2. PUBLIC COMMENT (Public comment limited to any public matter within the jurisdiction of the Bozeman Area Transportation Coordinating Committee not on this agenda with a three-minute time limit per 1 of 11 Tratisporlatioir Coordirralhig Coi)i1Wttee Mimiles,for Octoher 26. 2011 speaker.} Chair Christopher Scott opened public comment. No person commented. Christopher Scott closed public comment. ITEM 3. MINUTES OF JULY 27,2011 It was moved by Bob Lashaway, seconded by Dan Martin to approve the minutes of July 27, 2011 as amended. Motion and Vote to approve the minutes of July 27 ,2011. Motion passed unanimously. ITEM 6. NEW BUSINESS (moved up on agenda) A. Northeast Urban Renewal District East Peach Street design standard (Thorpe) Keri Thorpe provided a brief staff presentation on this item explaining she will be forwarding this to the City Commission soon as this is a context sensitive design with two exceptions to the normal street standards. This is a concept plan with details to be worked out with each individual project which won't be implemented until funding is available. The two exceptions in the design that have been approved for this project are due to a narrow right of way. These will include eliminating parking on one side and sharow lane marking. Sharow is a shared bike lane. The shared lane configuration takes the travel lane and paints a bicyclist on it with signage asking traffic to share with bicyclists. Per a question from Ralph Zimmer, Keri Thorpe said she had not brought this before the Pedestrian and Traffic Safety Committee. Mr. Zimmer indicated his disappointment that this had not been done. Mr. Zimmer reminded staff that the Pedestrian and Traffic Safety Committee is an advisory Committee for the TCC. Mayor Krauss confirmed that the land zoning in this area is R-2 mostly to the South with Karst Stage as the exception, with HMU for the rest. Truck traffic may increase on Peach once this is upgraded. Bronken Distributing and Simkins were presented with this plan. They had some concerns about turning radius with curbs on North Wallace and Ida. The design will address appropriate turn radiuses in the final design. Dan Martin with Karst Stage would like to be a part of the conversation about turning radiuses because they have 45 feet vehicles without articulation. Bob Lashaway and Bill Cochran asked about the shared lane concept that will be used for the first time in this design. 2of11 Trarrsportutiorr Coordinalhag Committee Minutes for October 26, 2011 Ms. Thorpe explained bioswale is a low impact way of dealing with storm water which is like a retention pond for the street. Curb inlets would be placed in the final design. This is the first of this design for this municipality to be incorporated into right of ways. Debbie Arkell explained bioswale may be used for South Eighth as well. Mayor Krauss said he likes the bioswale concept. Motion that TCC endorse the draft concept for the Peach improvements. It was moved by Bob Lashaway, seconded by Lee Provance that TCC endorse the draft concept for the peach improvements. Trever McSpadden recuesed himself from the vote as he has been working with the Northeast Urban Renewal Board on this design. Ralph Zimmer moved to amend the motion to include a note that this proposed design had not been presented to the Pedestrian and Traffic Safety Committee prior to review by TCC. Discussion took place regarding the amendment to the main motion. Keri Thorpe said she would present the design at the November Pedestrian and Traffic Safety Committee. Mayor Krauss recuesed himself from this vote until he can get more public comment including comments from those on Peach Street. Lee Provance seconded the original amendment to the main motion. Discussion took place regarding the need to have designs go through the sub-committees of the TCC before they come before the TCC. Bob Lashaway suggested a motion that TCC endorses the plan and that the plan be taken to the Pedestrian and Traffic Safety Committee and any comments will be attached. Discussion continued regarding the amendment to the main motion. Debbie Arkell mentioned it may be a good idea to review the bylaws and the purpose of those sub-committees and the purpose of the representative positions from those sub-committees. Chair Christopher Scott called for public comment on this item.No person commented. Vote on the amendment to the main motion to include a note that this proposed design had not been presented to the Pedestrian and Safety Committee prior to review by TCC. The amendment to the main motion passed unanimously. 3of11 Transportation C oordnrutirig C'ommittec Mirrrrtes,for°October 26, 2011 Vote on the main motion that the Transportation Coordinating Committee endorse the draft concept for the Peach improvements with a note that the proposed design had not been presented to the Pedestrian and Traffic Safety Committee prior to review by the TCC. The main motion as amended passed unanimously with Trever McSpadden, Mayor Krauss and Dan Martin abstaining. ITEM 4. TCC COMMITTEE/MEMBER REPORTS A. Transit Committee Report Dana Piper - Melcher with Galavan/ Streamline gave an update that tracking systems are now in all the buses and the link to the downloadable application will be announced soon. This will allow users to look up on a smart phone when the bus will arrive at a stop in real time. Dan Martin with Karst Stage said they are testing the application now. You can see the buses on their route and when the buses will be at a stop. There is also a texting option at most stops. They will probably have a monitor at the downtown station and at the MSU student union building. Dan Martin and Dana Piper—Melcher explained the software in further detail. Ralph Zimmer asked about ADA compatibility on the monitor at the transfer station and asked Streamline to look into incorporating audio into the system. Dana Piper- Melcher said there is a software option available for ADA compatibility and they will look into audio capability. Dan Martin explained the Galavan l Streamline Committee has a representative of those who need ADA accommodations and she has been very good at explaining and advocating for those needs. Dan Martin explained that each driver has a smart pad on the bus and eventually those will electronically call out the bus stops to make it easier for riders to hear the call outs. Dan Martin said the new routes are up and running. Dana Piper- Melcher reported they are tracking rides closely right now and will be giving the millionth ride in the next few weeks and will have a celebration. Skyline will begin running on a limited schedule Thanksgiving Week with a full schedule starting the first week of December. All new routes have been favorable and increased frequency has provided new riders. Late night routes are doing great. The new website for Streamline monitoring is ridestreamline.com. B. Gallatin County 4 of11 Truit.sportation Coordinating Committee Minutes far Ocloher 26, 2011 County Commissioner Bill Murdock explained Gallatin County has applied for a TIGER (Transportation Infrastructure Generating Economic Recovery) Grant to complete the funding for the I-90 Interchange. 43 million is the total cost. Lee Provance explained the state has a requirement on interchanges that you have to match part of the dollars and that any match would have to come from a grant because the County will not be paying towards the project. He explained the system further after further questions from Mph Zimmer. Rob Bukvich explained that the State decided that the Interstate was finished some years ago and adopted a policy that any new interchanges would have to be funded by local governments. The TIGER Grant is an additional form of money. Jeff Ebert explained that the Interstate System was finished and any new interchanges would have to be funded locally. That does not preclude the use of Federal Highway funds if the local municipality can prove that the interchange can have a positive spin on the surrounding infrastructure. Mr. Ebert explained in further detail. B. City of Bozeman Debbie Arkell announced that the roundabout at College and 11th is finished. Debbie Arkell announced that leaf pickup on the streets is beginning next week. The water main at South 8`h has been completed with reconstruction of the street happening next year. Mayor Krauss mentioned the North Seventh Urban Renewal Board sidewalk project in front of UHaul. He thanked Montana Department of Transportation for accelerating the review process for this project. The sidewalk went in yesterday and the next piece down the line was surveyed. The city is working hard on connectivity. Lights will be going in soon. This area will be much safer for pedestrians. The City may conduct a pilot program for LED street lights. Montana State University has done some pilot programs and did not like the results with their street light pilot program but is happy with the parking lot results. The technology has changed since MSU's pilot project. Mayor Jeff Krauss said LED lights are dimmable so in the winter when light pollution happens from snow reflection in parking lots, dimming could be possible. C. Bike Advisory Board Bill Cochran explained a handout he provided to committee members. This shows bike counts taken by volunteers in twelve areas around the city. These are broken down into 15 minute intervals from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. on three week nights. On Tuesday,there were almost 2,000 5of11 Transhorlalioit CoordilWliflg Conanaittee Minutes for October 26, 2011 riders. Ridership is around 10%which is very high. Wednesday's numbers were low because the wind was blowing about 35 m.p.h. that day, emphasizing how ridership is affected by weather. They were surprised at some locations by how many riders there were. For example at Peach and Rouse they saw 172 cyclists use that corner with the majority coming down Peach and crossing Rouse. Bill Cochran said as connectivity increases so does ridership. The bike board is working on recommendations to improve connectivity of the system and placing sharows on existing bike routes. 4000 of the new bike maps have already been distributed and have been a huge success. E. Pedestrian and Traffic Safety Committee Ralph Zimmer would like to learn whether the City of Bozeman will be participating in the Comprehensive Safety Plan that the state could fund. Rick Hixson said the city will participate in that and he will need letters of support from the Pedestrian and Traffic Safety Committee and Bicycle Board and any other groups that would like to participate. Ralph Zimmer spoke about the possibility of the TCC becoming a sponsoring body for this. Carol Strizich said that the application process does not need to explain where the TCC fits in. Ralph Zimmer explained the Pedestrian and Traffic Safety Committee are still interested in a distracted driving Ordinances that would reduce the amount of drivers using hand held cell phones. The city commission will be considering such an Ordinance on November 14th and the Committee would like the County to consider something similar. A Montana State University traffic engineering class collected data in September on the use of hand held cell phones by drivers at six locations in Bozeman. During the morning peak hour period, 4.5% of the motorists were obviously using hand held cell phones with 9% in the evening peak. Comparing those numbers with some statistics the Police has reported regarding collisions and cell phone use you come to the likely conclusion that people are under reporting there use of cell phones to the police. F. Other TCC member/committee reports None. G. Montana Dept. of Transportation Jeff Ebert said MDT has an annual review of their tentative construction program the week of November 14 I and they will outline a construction schedule for the next five years. It is then approved by the Transportation Commission. During those meetings, they look at what the Federal funding package might be. Each district meets with their Transportation Commissioner. 6of11 Trarishorialion Coordinating Coininillee Minules.1br Oclober 26. 2011 Ralph Zimmer asked whether there would be any expectation that local groups should be involved in the process at that point. Mr. Ebert said these meetings are open to the public and TCC members are welcome to attend though these are projects currently on the list. Marianne Jackson-Amsden raised a concern regarding a speed limit on South 19°i right before the new signalized intersection at Stucky Road the speed goes from 45 to 60 just before the signal. She would suggest that the speed limit go up after the new signalization. Jeff Ebert said the local government can petition the State to conduct an engineering speed study. If you want to pursue that, a recommendation could be made through a local government or TCC. TCC members discussed this street section. Jeff Ebert said he would look at the speed study that was previously done on South 19th to see if the study extended that far down South 19th. H. Federal Highway Administration None. ITEM 5. OLD BUSINESS A. Gallatin County Park and Trail Plan Update(Amsden) Marianne Jackson -Amsden said legal has provided comments back to the group and the update will need to be reworked somewhat. The internal committee will take a look in November. She requested that this item be taken off future TCC agendas. She will provide any updates under the Gallatin County report. ITEM 6. NEW BUSINESS CONTINUED College Street design (South 191h Avenue to Huffine Lane) (Arkell) Debbie Arkell gave a presentation on this item explaining hand-outs provided. Several options are being considered for this section of College Street. She explained an issue with constructing a multi-lane roundabout at 23rd in which state guidelines require pedestrian crosswalk signals. A single lane roundabout would not work at this location. Dustin Rouse explained how the state implements these pedestrian crossings. Rather than having a pedestrian activated signal shutting down the entire roundabout, the signal would offset the crossing. The configuration would have a median area with a short section of sidewalk. Mayor Krauss said the Commission was reluctant to endorse this section as a five lane because of the daunting nature for pedestrians. Improving the pedestrian facility on the North side of the 7 of 11 Trat7sporlallor3 Coordinaling Col indtfee MinutesfiT Ocloher 26, 2011 street will be important. Another concern the Commission has with the single lane roundabout is that it gives priority in the a.m. to the 23rd leg and would back up traffic on College which would be opposite of the way the traffic works now. Debbie Arkell said the issues Mayor Krauss raised are why a multi-lane roundabout was chosen. Dan Martin said he would be nervous about a single lane roundabout at this location because Karst Stage buses would not be able to get through. Bob Lashaway said the roundabout at College and 11th is working much better than expected. Mr. Lashaway spoke to his experiences with roundabouts and how well they work. Bob Lashaway spoke about concerns on the west side of the Chronicle building on College and concerns about the bike lanes through that area. Debbie Arkell said the City is applying for a TIGER grant for this location. The basis of the grant would be the multi-modal aspect. They would be adding some bus shelters, pull outs for buses and improvements for pedestrians at the intersection of Huffine and College. They are also hoping to work with the Gallatin Valley Mall to improve the Skyline and Streamline bus stops there. Further trail systems would be added and possibly a bus shelter on Fowler with pedestrian connections there as well as pedestrian improvements to do at this intersection. Debbie Arkell asked whether TCC members would have a recommendation on this project, particularly on the options at College and 23rd Rob Bukvich said the City Commission has provided direction that they endorse the three lane configuration on this section of College. At 23rd, a multi-lane roundabout or a traffic signal is the only options. A single lane roundabout is not an option on a multi-lane configuration. He explained in further detail why this would not work. Mr. Bukvich explained that Montana Department of Transportation thinks a traffic signal should be used. MDT would like to go forward with a traffic signal control because a light would have less of an impact with the right of way, will be much less expensive and will work just as good as a multi-lane roundabout. Dustin Rouse said that when they ran computer models on the turning lane, the proposed traffic signal does operate fairly well. Further discussion occurred regarding where the traffic patterns occur in this area. Mr. Bukvich said he was happy to see they could scale down the plan from 5 lanes to three, Marianne Jacskson-Amsden asked what the pedestrian traffic is like in that area prompting a discussion regarding pedestrian traffic. Marianne Jackson- Amsden said she would like the roundabout to be pursued and argued that future increased traffic flows would work better with a roundabout rather than a signal. 8of11 Transportalion Coordinaling Commillee Minwes.161-October 26, 2011 Further discussion occurred regarding the pros and cons of a roundabout versus a signal at this intersection. Mayor Krauss said this corridor has school bus stops along it with substantial residential with much of it low income making them likely to walk and use the bus. Particularly east bound, the route must be designed for buses and pedestrians. Once traffic stops at 23rd there will likely be an increase in pedestrian traffic. Dustin Rouse said the consultant looked at all the options and from MDT's standpoint both will operate from a capacity standpoint. Another issue with a multi-lane roundabout, is that it takes a well seasoned bicyclist to ride through a multi-lane roundabout. Problems also occur with roundabouts next to signals. In this case, the signal at College and 19`"would interfere with a roundabout at 23`d. Lee Provance said with the configuration, location and pedestrian light issue he would move that the configuration of a stop light be approved. It was moved by Lee Provance, seconded by Bob Lashaway that with the configuration, location and pedestrian light issue he would move that the configuration of a stop light be approved. Discussion occurred on the motion. Dustin Rouse clarified that the proposed signal is a hot signal not a full traffic signal. Vote on the motion that with the configuration, location and pedestrian light issue he would move that the configuration of a stop light be approved. The motion passed with one opposition from Marianne Jackson Amsden and an abstention by Ralph Zimmer. ITEM 7. PROJECT UPDATES A. MSU Projects Updates Rob Bukvich explained they are under contract for a signal at the intersection of Monforton and Circle F Road. This would be in operation by Thanksgiving,weather dependent. B. CTEP Projects None. C. Intersection Improvement Projects Marianne Amsden commented on the Cobb-Huffine signalization saying it becomes icy coming down the hill there and people are worried about stopping there. 9 of 11 Transporlatlnn Coordrilating Coin)Wltee Minuses for October 26, 2011 Rick Hixson asked about the bouncing ball at Gooch and Huffine. Rob Bukvich explained all of the advanced warning signals have been changed to flash continually. Mr. Bukvich said this will likely be taken out. Lee Provance asked about the one at Valley Center and Jackrabbit. D. North Rouse Ave. Dustin Rouse said MDT looked at public comment concerns regarding the on street parking between Lamme and Peach. The consultant looked at whether the two way left turn lane was necessary at that stretch and are now recommending the two way left turn lane be dropped through that section with 24 street parking allowed on some portions. D. I-90 Improvements None. F. I-90 East Belgrade Interchange Report Jeff Ebert said a plan in hand meeting occurred yesterday where they sat down and went through the plans we have which are in good shape now. (118 pages!) They discussed right of way appraisals of the interchange for the landowners that will be working with MDT. Once they have authorization they will start negotiations with landowners on the right of way. They are talking about having another stakeholders meeting with the landowners and the County and City in December or January. The overall ready date is September of 2012. Getting the TIGER grant for this project would work very well to be able to get the funding package secured. Dustin Rouse said a draft of the maintenance responsibilities was discussed. The County has agreed to update the names of the roadways. G. TSM Reports None. H. Jackrabbit Lane Improvements Jeff Ebert said they are still acquiring right of way on the Jackrabbit Lane project. Opening of bids has been moved out. The project is scheduled for a January bid opening which will still allow work to begin on the first three miles from Four Corners to Hulbert Road. They are meeting with the County and School District about the pedestrian underpass. There is potential of water at times of the year, so they are redesigning that underpass. I. Other None. 10 of 11 Transporlat1011 Coordinating C'011111dffee M111N1esfir October 26, 011 ITEM 8. 2011 MEETING DATES AND ADJOURNMENT • January 25, 2012 • April 25, 2012 • July 25, 2012 Christopher Scott adjourned the meetine at 12:09 p.m. Christopher Scott, Chairperson Bozeman Area Transportation Coordinating Committee Prepared by: A 'ov AM Aimee . Kissel, Deputy City Clerk Approved on: January 25, 2012 11 of 11