HomeMy WebLinkAbout08-20-14 Pedestrian and Traffic Safety Committee Minutes
Bozeman (Area) Pedestrian and Traffic Safety Committee 1
Minutes of the August 20, 2014 Meeting 2
Upstairs Conference Room Alfred Stiff Office Building 3
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Those Present: 5
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Voting Committee Members: 7
Gary Vodehnal (City of Bozeman) 8
Danielle Scharf (City of Bozeman) 9
Sue Brown (At-large Member) 10
Frank Manseau (Gallatin County) 11
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Official Non-Voting Committee Members: 13
John Van Delinder (City of Bozeman Streets Department) 14
Dave Fowler (Gallatin County Road and Bridge Department) 15
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City Commissioners, County Commissioners, and School Board Members (Non-Voting on PTS): 17
(None in attendance) 18
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Liaison Law Enforcement Officers (Non-Voting on PTS): 20
(None in attendance) 21
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Guests: 23
Rebecca Gleason (Western Transportation Institute/Bozeman Area Bicycle Advisory Board) 24
Tony Becken-Gaddo (Dowl HKM) 25
Sam Miller (Bozeman Deaconess Hospital) 26
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Quorum: Not present initially, but quorum was established when Sue arrived at 1:00 pm. 28
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NEW BUSINESS: 30
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Ralph Zimmer, PTS Committee Chair was unable to attend the meeting today due to a scheduling 32
conflict, so Gary Vodehnal is chairing the meeting today in Ralph’s absence. Gary called the 33
meeting to order at 12:10 PM. 34
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1. Public Comment. Gary offered the opportunity to provide comments on items not on the 36
agenda. Sam mentioned that he intends to submit a letter to the editor about distracted driving 37
now that school will be starting again soon. He also intends to follow up with the Police 38
Department regarding enforcement efforts. 39
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2. Minutes. Draft minutes of the June 11, 2014 meeting were distributed. We initially planned 41
to vote on the minutes at our next meeting, but had a quorum when Sue arrived. A motion to 42
approve the June 11 meeting minutes was made by Sue, second by Danielle. Minutes were 43
approved. 44
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3. Bozeman Area Bicycle Advisory Board (BABAB). Rebecca reported that city-wide bike 46
counts will be conducted in September at about 15 locations for 3 days from 5-7 pm. BABAB 47
has also recently provided input on the City’s upcoming striping plan that we will be 48
discussing today. They recently made a recommendation for the addition of sharrows on 49
Mendenhall, which will be considered by the City Commission on September 8th. Rebecca 50
explained that their recommendations include sharrows in the center of both lanes. They are 51
also discussing the City’s policy regarding kids on bikes on sidewalks and whether parents 52
should be allowed to ride on the sidewalk with them. 53
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4. City Street Department Report. John reported that missing sidewalks on Oak and Durston 55
are currently under construction as part of the city’s current CTEP project. The Oak Street 56
Trail has also been completed and is getting a lot of use. The crosswalk improvements at two 57
locations on Willson (Grant and Lincoln) that were recommended by this group are currently 58
under construction, but the City is having a difficult time finding a contractor to install the 59
crossing at the Medical Arts Building. The signing and striping changes we recommended at 60
the Lincoln crossing have been completed, and the ramps are under construction at Grant. 61
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5. County Road Department Report. Dave reported that the County has completed paving 63
along L Street and has received a lot of positive feedback from the City and County. Striping 64
is all that is left to be completed. They are also working on finishing up Bracket Street to the 65
County line near Clyde Park. Montana Department of Transportation will be installing a four-66
way stop at the intersection of Love Lane and Baxter within the next month. There has been 67
an issue with violations there, as well as a crash history, and MDT’s recent study 68
recommended four-way stop control. 69
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6. Gallatin Valley Land Trust (GVLT). Gary reported that GVLT helped fix up the 71
Sourdough Trailhead in the last year or so. Just recently they were able to transfer the 72
improvements to the Forest Service. 73
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7. Sidewalk Funding Study. Kesleigh Walin is the MSU student who has been working on a 75
research effort to identify best practices regarding sidewalk funding. She was scheduled to 76
attend our meeting today, but now will be attending next month instead. Rebecca provided a 77
brief overview about what Kesleigh has been working on. She is researching what other 78
communities have been doing (Kalispell, Missoula, Ithaca NY, etc.). She has been 79
researching on-line and is contacting city employees for input. She’s identifying trends, pros 80
and cons of various alternatives and will be presenting findings at upcoming focus group 81
meetings. 82
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Questions she has for the PTS Committee: (1) What is most relevant in terms of sidewalk 84
safety?,, (2) Are there any questions we think she should be asking her focus group?, (3) Are 85
we aware of other programs and how successful they’ve been?, and (4) What would we like 86
to see from her in terms of presenting her findings (oral presentation, copy of her draft 87
report)? Kesleigh is hoping to attend our next meeting. 88
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John said he would like to see maintenance funding addressed. Right now it’s the property 90
owners’ responsibility. It’s also a challenge to hire a contractor to do such a small amount of 91
work. The City has been hiring Precision Concrete, a contractor out of Utah with a patented 92
method of grinding down trip hazards in concrete sidewalks, but it is only cost effective if 93
they can do a large quantity all at one time. 94
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Gary also thought it would be helpful to learn what other communities are doing to prioritize 96
sidewalk improvements. He suggested she also address when sidewalks should be installed 97
for new development – when the streets are constructed or when the homes are built lot by lot. 98
Rebecca mentioned that Helena recently adopted a new policy requiring that they be installed 99
with the streets and utilities. Contractors have pushed back on implementing a similar policy 100
in Bozeman. 101
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Frank said his concern is that the City owns the right-of-way where the sidewalks are located, 103
but the property owner is responsible to pay for them. He thinks the City should be 104
responsible for installation and maintenance. John said they could, but that would just require 105
an increase in taxes. 106
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Danielle suggested that Kesleigh so a search in the Missoulian on-line to review the methods 108
of sidewalk maintenance they were discussing a year or more ago. She was not sure what 109
they may have implemented, but there were some good ideas that can be reviewed. 110
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8. City Striping Plan. John said the City is considering a new city-wide striping plan that may 112
include some typical striping plans, but primarily identify locations where striping 113
improvements are desired. BABAB suggested that we hire someone to evaluate the current 114
system and make recommendations for improvement. An example would be the Willson 115
crossings we’ve been discussing, but the plan could also address a policy for use of mid-block 116
crosswalks, over use of signs, etc. Danielle suggested that it also address the use of yield lines 117
vs. stop bars at crosswalks on uncontrolled intersection legs. John also noted the importance 118
of addressing the cost of maintenance of striping. It is an on-going battle for them to keep up 119
with maintenance. 120
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The City will meet internally to discuss this further, then bring it back to PTS and BABAB 122
for further discussion. 123
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9. Bicycle Accidents. There was a recent fatal bicycle accident on the frontage road between 125
Bozeman and Belgrade. It was apparently not the drivers fault, he swerved and almost rolled 126
the vehicle trying to avoid the bicyclist. John said there was another fatal bicycle accident 127
near this location approximately 10 years ago. Gary said it would be nice to get wider 128
shoulders on that frontage road, but it is not a priority for Montana Department of 129
Transportation right now. 130
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The Valley Center Spur Road (underpass at I-90) will likely be closed due to the recent fatal 132
accident at the frontage road intersection. There have a number of crashes in this location. 133
Sam asked if we should contact Tom Kech about putting together an effort to install a trail 134
along the frontage road. John said that Montana Rail Link owns the right-of-way on both side 135
of the highway and they’ve said they are not even interested in attending a meeting to discuss 136
it. 137
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10. School Starting September 2nd. Frank asked if there are any efforts underway to run an 139
advertisement/announcement to remind drivers to be aware of kids walking and bicycling to 140
school. As discussed previously, Sam plans to write a letter to the editor. John said he would 141
request that the PR firm the City uses for street reports put out a notice. Sam said he would 142
also contact MSU Police to see if they intend to put out a notice. We agreed to also ask Vance 143
if the School District has plans to continue their Safe Routes to School education program. 144
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11. Next Meeting. Our next meeting would be scheduled for September 10th at 12:00 pm. There 146
were no conflicts for those in attendance. 147
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The meeting was adjourned at 1:10 PM. 149
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Next Meeting: September 10, 2014 at noon as noted above. 151
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Minutes by Danielle Scharf 154
Edits by Ralph Zimmer 155