HomeMy WebLinkAbout02-10-16 PTS Minutes1 Bozeman (Area) Pedestrian and Traffic Safety Committee
2 Minutes of the February 10, 2016 Meeting
3 Upstairs Conference Room Alfred Stiff Office Building
4
5 Attendance:
6
7 Voting Committee Members:
8 Ralph Zimmer (Gallatin County), Chair
9 Danielle Scharf (City of Bozeman), Vice Chair
10 Marilee Brown (At-large Member), Secretary
11 Mandee Arnold (City of Bozeman)
12 Tom Foster (Gallatin County)
13 Tony Gaddo (At-large Member)
14 Bud Jarvis (Bozeman School District)
15 Vance Ruff (Bozeman School District)
16
17 Official Non-Voting Committee Members:
18 John Van Delinder (City of Bozeman Streets Department)
19 Absent: Bill Brownell, Interim Road & Bridge Superintendent (County), Todd Swinehart,
20 (Bozeman School District)
21
22 City Commissioners, County Commissioners, and School Board Members
23 Present: I-Ho Pomeroy (City Commissioner)
24 Absent: (County Commissioner), (School District Trustees)
25
26 Law Enforcement Liaison Officers
27 Present: Captain Cory Klumb, Traffic Division, Bozeman Police Department
28 Absent: Dan Springer (Under Sheriff)
29
30 Regular Attendees and Guests (City, County, Bozeman School District, and Montana Department
31 of Transportation Staff): None present.
32
33 Citizens and Other Guests:
34 Kelly Pohl, Gallatin Valley Land Trust
35
36 Quorum: Present.
37
38 1. Call to Order, Introductions and New Business. Ralph Zimmer, PTS Committee Chair
39 called the meeting to order at 12:00 PM and introductions of attendees were made.
40
41 2. Agenda. The agenda was corrected to say February 10, 2016 instead of January 10, 2016.
42
43 3. Public Comment.
44 None
45
46 4. Minutes. The minutes of December 9, 2015 – Tom moved to approve the minutes and
47 Danielle seconded. They were approved. The January 13, 2016 minutes were also approved.
48 The motion was made by Vance and seconded by Mandee.
49
50 Report on Results of Previous Actions & Consideration of Follow-Up Action.
51
52 Highland Crossings: Sam Miller and Bridger Ski Foundation have not gotten back to Ralph
53 regarding whom he should write regarding the Highland crossings, but he will contact them so
54 he can send a letter.
55
56 Crossing on Davis at Cattail: On January 11 an email was sent to the City by the School
57 District designating it as a Safe Walk to School. Therefore, the crossing warning signs have
58 been put up on Davis on either side of Cattail.
59
60 Update on Frontage Road: Ralph reported the following:
61
62 - Frontage Road is the official name of State Route Primary 205 (between Bozeman and
63 Belgrade).
64
65 - The State Transportation Commission did leave the speed limit at 50 mph. PTS had
66 recommended that it be made no greater than 55mph.
67
68 - The Slope Flattening Belgrade project is in the design phase. It starts at the Mountain View
69 subdivision and ends approximately 1.6 miles to the west. PTS voted at the January meeting to
70 attach a shared-use path to the project. On January 27 the Transportation Coordinating
71 Committee passed 8-4 a motion authored and introduced by Ralph:
72 To maximize safety for non-motorized users of the old US 10 roadway running
73 west from Bozeman, a ten-foot wide paved separated shared-use path should be
74 an integral part of any construction or reconstruction project in that roadway
75 right-of-way. An effort should be made to extend this path as far as possible and
76 to make it a part of a connected system. Such a path should be incorporated into
77 the design of the current slope flattening project reportedly under design east of
78 Belgrade.
79
80 The MDT has sent Ralph an email stating that they need a couple of weeks to consider options
81 on adding a path. We have been led to believe that the MDT will not approve a separated path
82 unless the appropriate local government signs an agreement accepting the responsibility for
83 maintenance which would most likely be the County. They have signed agreements on other
84 paths in the past.
85
86 Kelly met with Chris Scott and the County roads department prior to the TCC meeting. They
87 have maintenance agreements for Jackrabbit and Valley Center and now have the equipment to
88 maintain them. The County also contracts with an individual for the maintenance on a third path
89 on Huffine. A large part of the frontage road is within the Belgrade Planning jurisdiction and
90 the County thinks that Belgrade may need to be involved.
91
92 PTS has scheduled a meeting with the County Commission to take place in their office on
93 Monday February 22 at 8:30 a.m.
94
95 The road will be slightly relocated to the north as the railroad will not allow the road to extend
96 any further south than it presently is. Danielle suggested that we try and find out if additional
97 right-of-way will be needed if a path were included. Kelly emphasized that now is the time to
98 do so with Montana Rail Link (which leases the right-of-way from the BNSF Railroad). Tony
99 will try to get additional info on where the MRL right-of-way exists and where the MDT has a
100 right-of-way independent of the MRL.
101
102 Marilee suggested that we have representatives attend the upcoming Belgrade City Council
103 meeting and the Belgrade City/County Planning Board meeting and perhaps get on their
104 agendas. Given enough time, we could come up with the user groups to help maintain the path
105 but that will take time to plan.
106
107 Danielle suggested waiting on the County Commission meeting to see what they say first. The
108 County is the appropriate agency to accept maintenance responsibility.
109
110 Kelly suggested that the County Road department is continually getting requests to take care of
111 more projects but the Commissioners do not increase their funding. They suggested that as
112 more development takes place along the road, Road Improvement District’s could be formed.
113
114 Marilee reported that at the TCC meeting Steve White stated that he was apposed to using Mill
115 Levy’s to fund the project as it might set a precedent.
116
117 Kelly has the impression that routine maintenance such as sweeping and plowing is not the
118 issue but the more major and hence more expensive maintenance such as crack sealing is the
119 real issue.
120
121 Ralph stated that he has not yet sent letters to the MDT requesting design considerations for
122 either of the two projects being planned on Frontage. They are the Valley Center Spur and the
123 Slope Flattening Belgrade project.
124
125 5. County Commission, City Commission, and School Board Reports.
126 I-Ho (pronounced ee-ho) Pomeroy suggested that the Transportation Master Plan update look
127 at asking businesses, schools, and other facilities to cooperate in an offset work schedule to
128 help alleviate traffic during rush hours especially 5-6pm which has the highest crash rate.
129 Perhaps PTS would be interested in approaching the City Commission.
130
131 6. Liaison Officer Reports.
132 Cory stated that the Bozeman Police Department is very understaffed and working hard to
133 remedy that. There is only one officer on traffic right now and they will be adding another
134 one in the near future. They also are hiring a civilian crash investigator. The issue of rush
135 hour crashes is that morning crashes are usually associated with weather events. The end of
136 the day is associated with distractions. Most of the crashes are at controlled intersections. He
137 believes that the best way to deal with that is with enforcement and education. Currently,
138 there is no crash reporting mechanism to the City engineer’s office.
139
140 7. Reports from Non-Voting Official Committee Members.
141 John reported that the City is still trying to pick up snow from around parked cars.
142 Regarding the January minutes on line 222, there was a misunderstanding. The shared grant
143 with the police department and the school district was for rapid flashing beacons that were
installed at 5
th
and Peach along with Cambridge and South 3
rd
144 . They were not planned at
145 Davis and Cattail. Steve Johnson at the School District was contacted about payment issues
146 due to City billing problems and the issue has apparently been resolved.
147
148 8. Reports from Related Groups.
149
150 a. Kelly Pohl reported on Gallatin Valley Land Trust activities:
151 The West side trail was awarded Transportation Alternative funding from MDT based on a
152 joint proposal from the City, Western Transportation Institute and GVLT. $78,000 was
153 awarded.
154
155 b. TCC: Ralph reported that in addition to the Frontage Road shared use path, substantial
156 public concern was expressed about the upcoming improvements to Kagy Boulevard between
South 3
rd
and South 19
th
157 Avenues. Objections were raised to the possible expansion to five
158 lanes and several citizens commented on the difficulty that would pose to pedestrians and also
159 bicyclists. Danielle reports that the design process is in the very early stages and there will be
160 public involvement in the design process. Danielle’s firm is in the process of working with
161 the land use projections and volume projections. Lots of effort is being put into the design
162 considerations. Everyone would like 3 lanes but there is no other east west major route so it
163 may have to be 5.
164
165 There was also a report on traffic signal timing, which is coming. MDT’s project to optimize
166 traffic signals on major arterials is coming to an end.
167
168 c. BABAB: Is working on goals to present to the City Commission on tentatively March 21.
169 They reportedly wrote a letter to the MDT on the Frontage Road Path but we have not seen it.
170
171 d. Transportation Master Plan: Danielle stated that the consultant provided MDT a summary
172 of the land use projections at a lengthy meeting. They are looking at future land use for
173 modeling and testing different alternatives. The focus is on the growth areas at this time.
174
175 e. Bike Walk Montana: There will be a summit on April 27, 28 and 29 in Missoula.
176
177 9. Consider Meeting with City, County, and School District Governing Bodies.
178 Should we be meeting with any of the above? Danielle said that the TOP Fund might be a
179 good potential for the Frontage Road. Should we apply for TOP and for TA funding? We
180 should join forces on ONE project and include Belgrade and the County. It would be a good
181 idea to talk to GVLT about funding ideas.
182
183 It was agreed we do not need a routine meeting with the City Commission but should request
184 to be on the agenda for specific issues as needed. It takes time to get on agenda – about 6 – 8
185 weeks. We agreed to let GVLT take the lead. (Note: GVLT was not in the room so they need
186 to be notified).
187
188 10. Consider Raising Safety Questions with Legislative Candidates
189 It was decided to not invite candidates to discussions on safety issues until we have explored
190 working with other interested groups first to see if we can mutually explore our interests.
191
192 11. Implementation of Bozeman Community Transportation Safety Plan
193 Danielle had nothing new to report. The highway safety funding applications are due in
194 March. She will work with Tailor Lawnsdale and Jessie Malcome on the applications. Rick
195 Musson, a Bozeman Police Department officer, is the leader of the CTSP emphasis area on
196 distracted driving.
197
198 Based on comments by Mayor Carson Taylor at the February 3 BABAB meeting, Ralph said
199 the City and MSU might go together to fund a bike/pedestrian coordinator.
200
201 12. Additional Business (Time Permitting)
202
203 a. Consider making safety-related recommendations to Congress, the State legislature,
204 MDT, City & County Commissions, planning boards, & other review groups,
205 administrative bodies & advocacy groups on proposed projects and on policies & budgets
206 scheduled for consideration by those bodies or under staff review.
207 It was decided that we need to work with other groups in talking to State Legislature
208 candidates this summer. Perhaps we need to let Bike Walk Montana take the lead in
209 identifying issues that might be addressed.
210
211 b. Specific Sidewalks & Pedestrian Crossings (existing or proposed)
212 Marilee from Safer Bozeman is hoping that the Master Plan will consider looking at
213 Kimberwicke now being used as a collector street instead of a local street but she will
214 pursue that outside of this group.
215
216 13. The next meeting will be held on March 9, 2016.
217
218 14. Adjournment
219
220 The meeting was adjourned at 1:34 PM.
221
222 Minutes by Marilee Brown
223 Edits by Ralph Zimmer
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