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HomeMy WebLinkAbout01-25-12 Minutes - Transportation Coordinating Committee MINUTES BOZEMAN AREA TRANSPORTATION COORDINATING COMMITTEE WEDNESDAY,JANUARY 25,2012 • 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, January 25, 2012 in the City Commission Room, City Hall, 121 North Rouse Avenue, Bozeman, MT and directed members to introduce themselves. Members present: Jeff Krauss, Deputy 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 Debbie Arkell, Bozeman Public Works Director Dustin Rouse, Montana Department of Transportation, Butte District Engineering Lee Provance, Gallatin County Road Superintendent Sam Gianfrancisco, County Citizen Representative Marianne Jackson Amsden, Gallatin County Planning board George Durkin, Gallatin County Road Department Jeff Patton, Federal Highway Administration Guests /Staff present: Aimee Kissel, Deputy City Clerk taking minutes John Van Delinder, Bozeman Street Department Keri Thorpe,Northeast Urban Renewal Board staff, Bozeman Planning Department Dana Piper-Melcher, Galavan/ Streamline Travis Monroe, Senator Baucus' Office Samantha Booth, Senator Baucus' Office Edward Szypinski, Bozeman Planning Board Chris Naumann, Downtown Bozeman Partnership Sean Becker, City of Bozeman Mayor 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 speaker.} 1 of 11 Transportation Coordinating Committee Minutes for January 25, 2012 Chair Christopher Scott opened public comment. No person commented. Christopher Scott closed public comment. ITEM 3. MINUTES OF OCTOBER 26, 2011 Debbie Arkell and Jeff Ebert provided corrections. It was moved by Jeff Ebert, seconded by Debbie Arkell to approve the minutes of October 26,2011 as amended. Motion and Vote to approve the minutes of October 26, 2011 as amended. The Motion passed unanimously. ITEM 4. ELECTION OF OFFICERS It was moved by Jeff Ebert seconded by Debbie Arkell to nominate Bob Lashawav as President of the TCC. The motion passed unanimously with an abstention from Bob Lashaway. It was moved by Lee Provance, seconded by Debbie Arkell to nominate Christopher Scott as the Vice-President. The motion passed unanimously with an abstention from Christopher Scott. It was moved by Jeff Krauss, seconded by Dustin Rouse to nominate Aimee Kissel as the recording secretary. The motion passed unanimously. Bob Lashaway as the newly appointed President took over chairing the meeting. ITEM 4. TCC COMMITTEE/MEMBER REPORTS A. Transit Committee Report Dana Piper- Melcher with Galavan/ Streamline said they are trying to get their two new buses up and running they received through a grant. The reporting is working well. Chris Scott asked about whether the Bridger Peaks Town Center bus stop will be taken out as he had seen a problem with it in the paper. Lee Hazelbaker with Streamline found property owners that manage the complex and is waiting for a response from them. Until then, the stop will stay. Debbie Arkell asked about the new GPS system and disability considerations. 2of11 Transportation Coordinating Committee Minutes for January 25, 2012 Ms. Piper—Melcher said the state has acquired a Braille printer and they are looking into getting Braille schedules printed. Mr. Zimmer spoke regarding the need for audio information at bus stops for those with visual impairments. Ms. Piper—Melcher said she would follow up on these issues. A. Gallatin County None. B. City of Bozeman Debbie Arkell said the city is planning on going to bid for the South 8th street reconstruction with the tentative bid opening on March 13th Ms. Arkell explained the bids came in on improvements to the alley that were torn up because of gas pipe reconstruction due to the explosion on Main Street. The bids came in way over what we have money for so instead of hiring a contractor, the city Streets Department will do the paving and the concrete work with construction done by July. Ms. Arkell said the city is conducting an LED pilot project on Durston Road from 7th to l lth They are replacing eight heads in that area for a pilot study. Ms. Arkell said that the city will be participating in the Transportation Safety Plan and is waiting for letters of support from BABAB and other groups. Ms. Arkell explained `Handsfree Bozeman' started January 17th. The Police Department has a Handsfree logo that will be placed on signs in sensitive areas. Ms. Arkell spoke regarding a question raised at the last meeting regarding reducing the speed on South 19th. Ms. Arkell and MDT personnel discovered the study had been conducted and had not been followed up on yet. Speed reduction signs went up on Dec. 5th, so the speed zone was dropped in that area. C. Bike Advisory Board Bill Cochran explained BABAB is on the City Commission agenda either February 6th or 13th with some projects they would like to see accomplished in the next several years. They are applying to be designated a Bicycle Friendly Community through the League of American Bicyclists and BABAB is in the middle of planning for `Bike to Work Week' which occurs in May. D. Pedestrian and Traffic Safety Committee 3of11 Transportation Coordinating Committee Minutes for January 25, 2012 Mr. Zimmer explained the Committee elected officers for 2012 and all officers were re-elected. They also discussed priorities for 2012. Mr. Zimmer commented on the recommendation made at the last TCC meeting to recommend a signal at the intersection of 23rd and College. Mr. Zimmer said he had abstained during that vote because the Pedestrian and Traffic Safety Committee had not fully discussed the issue. The Committee will be making a decision in February regarding which type of signal they would recommend. Mr. Zimmer's sense is that the committee will favor a roundabout. If they do, they will be lobbying for that at all the appropriate places. Bob Lashaway spoke regarding the requirements for a multi-lane roundabout. Jeff Krauss said one of the main concerns at this location for a roundabout is the stopping of traffic in every direction for pedestrian crossing. Sam Gianfrancisco brought up safety concerns where 29th comes out at Kohls, as he has seen five people in the last week make dangerous turns here where it is illegal to turn. Debbie Arkell explained this intersection configuration was an interim solution and changes will be looked into with the College project. F. Other TCC member/committee reports Marianne Jackson Amsden spoke regarding the entrance into the mall and the access back on to Main. Ms. Amsden clarified her vote on the motion for recommending a signalization versus a roundabout at the intersection of College and 23rd. She said she understood the reasoning behind the vote for a signalization but wanted to place on the record that she voted in favor of a roundabout because in general she is in favor of considering roundabouts whenever possible and gives faith to the citizens to figure out a more complex roundabout system. Ms. Amsden asked a question regarding County road maintenance saying Cottonwood and Patterson's road height has been raised, with steep embankments and there is not a shoulder. She does not understand why the County is maintaining State secondary roads. She asked how the County prioritizes road improvements and how can Cottonwood be dealt with due to steep embankments, no shoulders and steep approaches and uneven road conditions. Mr. Provance said that portion of Cottonwood between Huffine and South 19th is part of the State secondary. They do not put a lot of money towards those roads for improvement. Mr. Gianfrancisco explained details about how the road was built when he was road supervisor explaining about limited right of way and water rights in the ditches. 4 of 11 Transportation Coordinating Committee Minutes for January 25, 2012 Mr. Provance spoke further about difficulties with Cottonwood and then said Patterson was built within the specifications for rural roads and spoke further about the specification details. Jeff Krauss spoke regarding the new High School that will be going in on Cottonwood and Stucky. Lee Provance spoke regarding right of way issues. Bob Lashaway asked from the TCC perspective how should we approach this issue and asked how the TCC would like to identify how we want to track this or follow up on it? Lee Provance said if you start putting that much more traffic on roads that were meant to take 500 trips per day you will have a bad situation. Ms. Jackson-Amsden asked what the nature of the agreement is with the state. Rob Bukvich said he would be glad to discuss this with Ms. Amsden after the meeting. Lee Provance spoke regarding a swap that happened between the State and the County. Sam Gianfrancisco said Cottonwood became a secondary because they used it as a detour for a number of years. Bob Lashaway spoke to what the role of TCC should be in any recommendation or action. Jeff Krauss said at some point we need to engage the school district about their plans and expectations as Cottonwood and Stucky are not well suited for the increase in traffic a High School would produce. This issue needs to be significantly addressed in the next Transportation Plan update. Rob Bukvich said this is a good time to start thinking about that as those roads are now State secondary routes. The department does not have the purview to nominate either road to be fixed. It would need to come through the city and they'd have to significantly change their priorities. Lee Provance said we do get a nomination form from MDT yearly and that would be top priority whether a school is going in or not. TCC members spoke regarding when the next Transportation Plan update needs completed. Debbie Arkell said there is a planning committee that meets with the School District and there are several planners on the committee. Ms. Arkell said she will let those committee members know of this issue. Jeff Krauss asked whether it would be appropriate to write a letter to School Superintendent Miller explaining TCC member concerns. 5of11 Transportation Coordinating Committee Minutes for January 25, 2012 The Committee discussed this issue further. Mr. Lashaway spoke regarding forming a Committee of the players involved in this issue. Mr. Lashaway asked that this issue be placed under old business for the next meeting. G. Montana Dept. of Transportation Dustin Rouse explained MDT just completed their Red book process. He will review those projects within Committee reports later in the meeting. H. Federal Highway Administration Jeff Patton with the Federal Highway Administration said there is currently no sign available with a cell phone with a cross through it that is compliant with MUTCD (Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices). He asked that the city work with MDT on that. They may try to come up with one experimental feature for the State. Debbie Arkell said they picked up some signs from DEQ for anti-idling. Further discussion occurred regarding sign symbols and compliance. ITEM 6. OLD BUSINESS A. Revisiting Downtown urban Route Transformation (DURT) project (Naumann) Bob Lashaway disclosed for the record that he sits on the Downtown Tax Increment Finance Board as the University representative. Chris Naumann, Executive Director of the Downtown Bozeman Partnership provided a presentation on this subject. Please see PowerPoint. Mr. Naumann explained that all traffic pattern alternatives would necessitate improving the streetscape. He said the Downtown Partnership with Tax Increment funding contracted with Alta Planning to render images showing the current state of the streets and later images adding streetscape improvements. The Downtown Partnership through the TIF has preliminary engineering to improve the streetscapes on the side streets going north and south from Main and replicating the design on main. Mr.Naumann showed what adding the streetscape design would look like and how it would add some traffic calming. The two way scenario would eliminate bike lanes unless we took away one or both sides of street parking. Keeping the one ways provides the potential to get a lot more out of the street width. 6of11 Transportation Coordinating Committee Minutes for January 25, 2012 Mr.Naumann provided details on the images shown. This is a full pallet of potential options that incorporates much more of a complete streets philosophy on Mendenhall and Babcock. The Downtown Bozeman Partnership would like to come before the TCC at a future meeting with a more advanced design, discussion about funding, partners and rough time lines. The Improvements between the curbs may be able to be done with the scheduled mill, paving and epoxy scheduled in the next several years on Mendenhall. Creativity with funding options will be important for streetscape improvements. The city may need to seriously consider a municipal SID for construction money to implement sidewalks and streetscapes or could potentially add this to a CTEP project list. Mr. Naumann showed a video rendering of how the bike lane option would work. Bob Lashaway began discussion on this item. When Mr. Naumann comes back to the TCC at a future meeting with further details he may be requesting a preliminary endorsement or recommendations from the TCC. One discussion is Mendenhall, Babcock corridors run beyond the downtown districts and discussion has occurred how the transition would be handled. Mr. Naumann spoke regarding questions and possibilities for this transition. TCC members discussed this item further. Bill Cochran asked Mr. Naumann to bring the presentation to BABAB if possible and spoke regarding the difficulty of bicycling down Main Street. He said the presentation with bike lanes looked good. Ralph Zimmer said he would also like the presentation brought to the Committee, but is worried about timing since they have very full agendas at the next several meetings. Mr. Naumann said Alta Planning took into consideration that a bicycle destination would likely be Main Street and making a left hand turn is more ideal. FURTHER OLD BUSINESS Debbie Arkell said MDT is hosting a public information meeting tonight on the Rouse Project at 6:30 p.m. at the Senior Center. Bob Lashaway said MDT is also hosting a series of public information meetings regarding Jackrabbit as well. Debbie Arkell also said Keri Thorpe is here from the NSURB. At the last TCC meeting, the Committee endorsed the concept design on Peach Street from Rouse East with a statement that the Pedestrian and Traffic Safety Committee had not yet had a chance to review that design. The Pedestrian and Traffic Safety Committee supported the design in November with a 7of11 Transportation Coordinating Committee Minutes for January 25, 2012 recommendation to change the language from 11 1/2 feet to 11 feet so the sidewalk could be widened from 5 feet to 6 feet. On December 6th that recommendation was taken to the Northeast Urban Renewal Board. That board considered all the input they've received and voted to keep the final design at 11 1/2 feet with the justification they need to accommodate the industrial traffic in the area as it is a main route for Karst Stage buses and Simkins-Hallin. That recommendation will be going to the City Commission this winter. Rob Bukvich asked that this be incorporated into future Intersection Improvement updates. ITEM 7. NEW BUSINESS ITEM 8. PROJECT UPDATES A. Montana Department of Transportation upcoming projects Dustin Rouse with MDT said they just looked at the next five years with their Redbook process. Without a Federal Highway bill, projects are projected based on current funding levels. If things change they will have another look. The following are upcoming projects. I-90 Interstate System: • Rocky Canyon—2012 • Bozeman East—2012 • Bozeman Structures—2012 • West of Chestnut slide repair over Bozeman Hill - 2012 • Amsterdam— 1-90 east bound on ramp—let September, 2012, likely constructed in 2013 • West Bozeman Interchange (North Seventh)—let date November 2012, constructed in 2013 • Jeff Ebert said the luminaries were approved by Federal Highways. National Highway System Projects: • Four Corners north will be let tomorrow. • Turning lanes in Gallatin Canyon- 2013 • West Yellowstone North preservation project—2013 • Spanish Creek north and south—2013 • Belgrade South—2015 • Primary Routes—Main St., 19th to Grand in Bozeman—2015 • Rouse Ave., Bozeman—2015 8of11 Transportation Coordinating Committee Minutes for January 25, 2012 State Urban Projects: • College from Main to 19a'—fiscal year 2014 • Bridge on system—Logan area 1-90 bridge decks - 2013 Several safety projects in 2012: • Lighting and signing on Thorpe Road • Four Corners North • Safety improvement east of Manhattan • Interstate I-90 east of Bozeman Interstate Reserve and Capacity: • East Belgrade Interchange is listed as outside our program, but we have ten million dollars committed to that project Urban pavement preservation projects: • Madison, Broadway and Dry in Belgrade - 2012 • South 3rd Street in Bozeman from Goldstein to Kagy - 2012 • Baxter has already been let A. MSU Projects Updates None. B. CTEP Projects Rob Bukvich said they would really like to get the Huffine Path project closed out. Jeff Patton said they are also getting pressure as well to make sure that projects get closed out. Ms. Arkell will connect with Ron Dingman on this. C. Intersection Improvement Projects Rob Bukvich said they turned on the signal at Huffine Lane and Quarter Circle and the signal at the Belgrade off ramp at Amsterdam. They are having issues with the video detection systems and are working on that. D. North Rouse Ave. Dustin had reported this is a 2015 project. There will be a public meeting on this project tonight. One of the new items on this project is that parking will be allowed near Peach. 9of11 Transportation Coordinating Committee Minutes for January 25, 2012 E. I-90 Improvements None. F. I-90 East Belgrade Interchange Report Jeff Ebert said they had a meeting with the airport, city of Belgrade, County Commission and and the consultant. There is concern that right now they are getting ready for program funding on the right of way acquisition and need to find a source of funding for that. The earmark was a potential source,but based on the agreement with the department and the local governments would require a revision to that. The right of way was the responsibility of the local group and to move the utilities. The final funding source for construction has also not been identified as needed in the agreement signed by the group. The department is 100%behind the project,but as of right now we are between 16 and 23 million dollars short on funding for the project. A smaller committee will look at developing a fund plan with all the stakeholders. Typically on federal aid projects,when a project is not built any funds expended have to be paid back. The department agreed they would assume the liability of payback and right now they are approaching 4 million allocated towards preliminary engineering with 2 million expended. 1.5 million has gone to the consultant with .5 towards reviewing the process. They are currently determining right of way appraisals. The Committee will meet and MDT will be writing a letter to the County, the city of Belgrade and the airport and possibly have that Committee come before the TCC with an update. MDT is here to assist with finding a funding package. TCC members discussed this project. Mr. Zimmer asked about the upcoming series of meetings on Jackrabbit. Rob Bukvich said these were public notices for comments on this project. Jeff Ebert said the Four corners -North project has the bid opening tomorrow. There will be a series of weekly public meetings to talk about progress and where work will occur as it progresses through the summer. G. TSM Reports None. H. Jackrabbit Lane Improvements Jeff Ebert said they are asking for comments on the Belgrade South project which starts at Hulbert and goes roughly to Frank road. L Other Dustin Rouse provided the following construction project updates: 10of11 Transportation Coordinating Committee Minutes for January 25, 2012 • Grayling Creek—new bridge over and Grayling Creek and Gallatin Canyon—approaches up to the bridge are complete, they will be pouring the deck this spring. • Big Sky North—awarded Sept. 2011, completion Sept. 2012 • North Gallatin Canyon to Four Corners—includes widening is 75% complete. • Huffine Lane and Cobb Hill Signal is complete • I-90 Amsterdam road signal is complete • Thorpe Road west- awarded Dec. 2011, completion Sept. 2012 • Belgrade West—this summer • Valley Center-paved and signal operational, completion this summer • Bozeman East and West—awarded Sept. 2011, completion October, 2012 • MRL Structures—95% complete • Bozeman Hill east and West—95% complete ITEM 8. 2012 MEETING DATES AND ADJOURNMENT • April 25, 2012 • July 25, 2012 • October 24, 2012 • January 23, 2013 Bob Lashaway adiourned the meeting at 11:45 p.m. Bob Lashaway, Chairperson Bozeman Area Transportation Coordinating Committee Prepared by: Aimee J. 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