Growth and Transportation

Broadway Diet Near Completion, Debate Continues

The so-called "Broadway Diet" has been a sore spot among Missoulians all year and it's been especially contentious this summer. Brenna Moore this week looks at the history of the plan and where, if anywhere, it goes from here.

By Brenna Moore, 7-31-06

	Caption: Photo by Amanda Determan.

The on-going construction taking place on West Broadway is wrapping up these next few weeks, but city and civic leaders say the battle of what should be done with West Broadway is far from over.

Temporary alterations to West Broadway began in October of last year when the city started receiving complaints about how unsafe and inaccesible the then four-lane street was for bikers and pedestrians, as well as automobliles. After five pedestrians were killed over a period of six years, including one who was trying to cross the street in a wheel chair, the city decided something had to be done, said Missoula City Engineer Steve King. During the summer and fall of last year, citizens of Missoula began to petition Missoula's City Council, the mayor's office, the State Department of Transportation and even congressional delegates, calling for action and a solution to the fatalities and injuries occuring on West Broadway. Temporary changes were made in October of 2005, narrowing the four-lane road to two lanes, complete with a turning lane. While the city maintained three lanes were much easier to cross than four, several citizens, particularly Broadway businesses, motorists and several residents were dissatsified with the change. And, as construction on last year's temporary design nears completion this month, not much has changed.

Before the final construction was scheduled to be completed this summer, citizens of Missoula clearly were not on the same page. As Robert Struckman of the Missoulian reported in June, many City Council members, along with many Missoula citizens, supported the three-lane design while many others, including Missoula Mayor John Engen, would rather have a four-lane, (or five or six lane) roadway. The council's final decision was to go ahead and complete the three-lane construction on Broadway. Otherwise, with the contract with the Montana Department of Transportation already in place, voted on and paid for, stopping the project would mean the city's having to pay back over $300,000 in state highway funds, something the council was not keen on doing, said Amber Blake, Transportation Information Specialist for Missoula's Office of Planning and Grants.

The final steps of construction will be entirely complete once the city receives parts for the new stoplight going in at the Toole, California and West Broadway intersection, said Mayor John Engen. The $250,000 stoplight is set to be in and working sometime in August or September, he said.

"We needed to do something and this seemed like our best bet until we figured out something better," Engen said. "The shortest way to getting what Missoula wanted was finishing this project, the next step is the conversation about what the community wants and how to pay for it, and I am committed to getting us there one way or another."

So, Broadway will become a three-lane roadway. The question on everyone's mind is just how long it will remain that way.

Bob Giordano, Executive Director of the Missoula Institute for Sustainable Transportation, thinks the three-lane road is the best design for West Broadway, as it promotes safety for bikers, pedestrians and drivers better than a four-lane design, he says.

"I think it's a great project for Missoula... a step toward sustainable transportation, a new way of thinking and an equitable design to redesign a street that was unsafe and inefficient," Giordano said.

Giordano said that in addition to the five pedestrian deaths, there were also several pedestrians hit and several car accidents happening over a ten year period on the stretch between Russell Street and Orange Street. The cause of this, Giordano said, was because the design of a four-lane road encourages faster driving and continuous lane-changing, while ignoring blind spots where other cars, bikes or pedestrians traveled.

According to Giordano, the city told attendants of the April 20 town meeting that if a four-lane roadway is implemented, it will be without bike lanes, bus pull-outs and pedestrians would be walking one to two feet away from cars. In a three-lane road, motor vehicles still flow and bikers and pedestrians feel safer, Giordano said. West Broadway has been a four-lane road for 40 years, he said, now that it's different it will take some time getting used to, but people need to be patient.

"Street design is not the only thing... it has to be a mindset, everyone has to watch out for eachother and reduce their speeds enough so that a driver is aware and able to stop for anything and everything. I think in our car culture we just go way too fast," Giordano said. "Can't we slow down a little bit, can't we trade a little bit of time for a safer road, more equity among modes of different transportation, cleaner air, less noise?" he said.

The three-lane design is part of a 12-point plan Missoula's Institute for Sustainable Transportation is working on to make Missoula a model city by 2010, Giordano said, including better roadways, a commuter rail system and extended pathways for bikers and pedestrians, to name a few.

But not everyone thinks the three-lane configuration is the best solution to the problems of West Broadway, and some would argue that the new design is making the already problematic West Broadway even worse.

Several of these people happen to work for the Missoula Downtown Association and the Missoula Chamber of Commerce, not to mention members of the City Council and the mayor. Earlier this summer, the Missoulian reported on the Downtown Association and the Chamber's efforts to put the choice to keep the three-lane configuration or halt the three-lane construction and instead implement a four-lane configuration with "ehanced safety features"—meaning more lighting, a traffic light near Burton Street to facilitate safe pedestrian crossings, left turn lanes, indentifiable pedestrian crossings, reduced speed limit and cautionary signals, all to meet or exceed the Montana Department of Transportation, the State of Montana and federal standards, according to the petition.

"We're trying to give the people of Missoula a voice by asking them to say whether they want the three-lane configuration or the four-lane with enhanced safety features," said Kim Murray, vice president of membership for the Missoula Downtown Association.

Murray said the three-lane was not safer for bikers, pedestrians, or drivers. In trying to avoid the new changes to the road, drivers have been traveling up into the residential areas around Toole and Russell. Furthermore, in a survey conducted by the Downtown Association for pedestrian safety relating to Broadway's new changes, fifty percent of those that responded said they felt less safe than with the four-lane road, fifteen percent said they haven't noticed a change and four percent said they felt safer, Murray said.

"We definitely want a safe road for bikers and pedestrians, but it has to function for drivers and for businesses, and right now the three-lane doesn't seem to be meeting those objectives," Murray said.

The new three-lane design is brand-new, Giordano said, and people tend to criticize unfamiliar things before giving them a chance. The MDA and the Chamber have perpetuated negative feelings about the road, and when that's coupled with a foreign idea it becomes an uncomfortable process that people aren't willing to see if it can work, he said. "A big part of it is that it's a construction area... it's like judging a house that doesn't have a roof on it yet. I want to see it finished, see how it works," he said.

In order to get the issue on the ballot for the November election, the Downtown Association and the Chamber of Commerce have to obtain signatures from 25 percent of confirmed, registered Missoula voters, or 12,475 signatures by August 8, Murray said. So far, Murray says they are well over half-way, with several signatures still needing to be counted.

Those interested in signing the petition can find them at any public event, such as Missoula's Out to Lunch and Out to Dinner, in local stores and businesses, or can contact the Downtown Association or the Chamber to receive a copy of the petition. As the Missoulian reported, the Downtown Associaton and the Chamber's efforts are widespread, so it is almost impossible to miss the chance to sign the petition.

"If you have a strong opinion about West Broadway, then get involved. Help exchange dialogue. We've had a lot of three-lane supporters sign (the petition) because they want the whole city to be invloved," Murray said.

If enough signatures are obtained before the due date in August, the measure will appear on a special election ballot in November. However, the issue might be moot by then.

Mayor Engen, who supports the idea of a four-lane, has put forth the idea of a charrette, described by Blake as "an interactive, intensive visioning session." Experts from every aspect in transportation planning will be called upon to analyze the area and come up with what they think is going to be the best solution for Missoula, said Blake. The request for candidates went up on the Office of Planning and Grants Web site last Monday, and the deadline to submit the application to be a consultant is August 11. Anyone can apply, but stringent qualifications must be met, Blake said. The contract for the charrette will be awarded roughly two weeks to a month after the consultants are chosen, making the charrette scheduled for sometime in or around September, she said.

The charrette will discuss the future of the Broadway corridor, possibly a four-lane system that works for cars, bikes and pedestrians, much like Stephens Avenue, Engen said.

"I think that part of town, West Broadway, could use a beautiful gateway," he said. "No one thinks the three-lane will work forever."

Engen thinks those in support of a four-lane should help by spending their energy on fundraising or coming up with ways on how to pay for this new gateway corridor, perhaps instead of devoting all their time to gathering signatures to put the issue on the November ballot.

The good thing about a charrette, Engen said, is it takes a short amount of time, boils all the plans down constructively and is a public process. Furthermore, a charrette doesn't just focus on the transportation issues of the road, but rather the entire vision and every aspect of the corridor. It is also the best idea in moving forward as it utilizes many people's expertise and suggestions and allows for citizens of Missoula to comment on the whole process and ultimately decide whether to fund it and how, so that it is literally a group effort, Engen said.

"There will be a broad range of folks. I won't be sitting in a room picking 28 of my best friends to agree with me on everything," he said.







[End of article]

Thanks for the continuing articles on this complex issue.

I love Mayor Engen's idea of a Stephens Avenue-type four-lane boulevard.

One thing I don't understand is, why a three-lane on Broadway but not on all the other high-traffic streets in town? Reserve, Brooks, Orange, Higgins -- can you imagine?!

"Street design is not the only thing... it has to be a mindset, everyone has to watch out for eachother and reduce their speeds enough so that a driver is aware and able to stop for anything and everything. I think in our car culture we just go way too fast," Giordano said. "Can't we slow down a little bit, can't we trade a little bit of time for a safer road, more equity among modes of different transportation, cleaner air, less noise?" he said.
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There's more congestion, thus the air is dirtier. People's mindsets are now less concerned w/the guy on a bike or the kid in a wheelchair and more concerned w/how late they are for work. Drivers, pedestrians and bikers are more impatient and irritated than ever. Idealism is great on paper, but when you only have one main street between Orange and Russell, you have to set real priorities over let's-hold-hands-and-skip-down-broadway hopes. If you want better drivers, talk to the DMV who hands out the licenses.

Has everyone suddenly become transportation engineers? Designing complicated roadways such as West Broadway takes expertise that is in high demand these days. Leaving the task to amateurs, particularly amateurs with vested interests, doesn't seem the wisest course in the long-term.

The reality is that West Broadway is changing, and I hope that people are not opposing change just because they don't want to adapt to changing situation. What was once a major thoroughfare, now travels through much more mixed (cars, bikes, pedestrians) with local traffic. What was once a mix of commercial and light industrial land uses has now become a residential neighborhood.

And, then, as the Riverfront Triangle gets developed, and more use is made of that side of the waterfront, we will see more and more people looking to cross through this neighborhood. Folks will be crossing the river, maybe following a rail-trail from the Northside neighborhood, and others will be walking over to the new Safeway.

In the future, this will be a lively part of town, and I'm not sure a busy, through-road is going to belong any more.

I'm not a transportation engineer, but I know a gut feeling about a city council reprioritizing public opinion for state funds when I feel it. I agree that Amsterdam traffic in the Rockies would be nice and all, but I still think that the particular placement of our stretch of road poses different considerations. For example, bikers and peds have a bridge at California street, cars do not. Even if it wanted to, where is that flow supposed go now? The back roads that might take it are detours at best and don't presently seem suited to do so.

The more opinions I see about this, the more I see it's effectively a fight for space between Missoula ideals and practicality - not unlike recent housing debates here. I just know that all this fuss is not just growing pains. Direct effects on businesses have prompted negative changes, siren frequency has significantly increased, and I've never seen a stronger citizen campaign in this neighborhood before. I don't think it's as simple as either side likes to believe.

My idea for foot bridges fizzled like a generic firecracker so I give up...

Wait, by Jove, I've got it. We tear down the entire stretch of road on Broadway from Russell to Van Buren, fill it in with grass and flowers and fairies and unicorns and then put two huge concrete parking structures at either end of the "Blissful Broadway Path."

Next we get the city of Missoula to buy 3 or 4,000 donkeys. When you park your car in either parking structure, you get a donkey to ride in return. They could have fun names like "Road Rage", "Stagnant Pollution", and Tipper. Grass is cheaper the gas (most of the time) and who doesn't like traveling aboard a donkey...well besides the donkey, tah-he.

Oh boy, it'll be fun. Maybe someone can open a shop that rents croquette mallets and instead of going to work everyone can play a city-wide game of Donkey-Polo to go along with the Donkey-Show that is the Broadway Road Diet.

For the most part -- since the road is way to congested for regular walking folk -- the only "pedestrians" I see down around that area are the people trying to get the anti-road diet petitions signed.

by the way, solid job on this story Brenna. Keep up the good work.

Wow, Mark- while I actually like the 3 lane configuration, your comment is the best. Just one question- where did you find the unicorns? I'm going to see if I can trade my bike for one on EBay.

Silly Sara, unicorns are readily available in Missoula. They usually like to hang out around affordable housing, so I'd start there. Good luck.

Anyone implying that MIST is an amateur group with no expertise in transportation planning, is sorely mistaken. Members of that group have decades of urban transportation planning under their collective belt.

MIST is a anti-growth, anti-automobile activist group focused converting Missoula into a "model city" of ineffeicient and ridiculous transportation systems. Their agenda is to promote increased bicycle usage and decrease auto usage at the cost of business and jobs downtown.

The accidents and fatalities are the result of horrible lighting and the victim's state of sobreity. Not the road or the driver! Quit using that as the excuse - it's a lie! The proponents need to be honest and tell the truth - it's for the bike lanes and the first step in eliminating automobiles downtown.

Thanks for exposing MIST's nefarious agenda Andy. Short-sighted policy hawks almost make me wish the near-future was upon us -- One with $4.00/gal. gas, insanely expensive consumer goods, oodles of dying sprawl up and down the valley, throusands of miles of roads that we can't afford to maintain, etc... Much like most of Missoula's anti-infill crowd, our citizenry who thinks that the solution to every traffic issue is to make the road bigger look at the issue through a narrow lens and are generally motivated for selfish reasons and have no plan for future conditions.

^To be fair, we're all being selfish here.

You're not pedalling off years of hell just because you might ride a bike. I don't think city council has a place to decide between missionaries on either side. We all have personal agendas, and no one seems to want to acknowledge the other. If the people can't tally up unbiased research and present a complete solution, I really believe it's at the stage where a vote is needed.

I'll vote against this mess until planners respond to a lot of unanswered questions.

Mark I liked the idea of donkeys, but do we get "donkey ed" at little or no cost? Unicorns and fairies are not practicable with our pollution problems. Grass planted on a median is not good in the winter time either. Try driving on East Pine street in the winter time you will see. The traffic "bottleneck" at Broadway and Orange Is a" nightmare" for the Hospital and the clinic. Again I suggest one or more pedestrian bridges like the ones built for the " Northside" pedestrian traffic. I too am sympathetic to plight of diabled people living in that area. Traffic is not going to decrease any because of housing subdivisins developing all around this area. The pedestrian bridges if built high eneough and placed properly could help the disabled residents of the area to cross with no exposure to or danger from traffic. Fours lanes would surely help the ambulances, fire trucks,lenforcement vehicles. Are there any more important vehicles than these? Unless some one has a plan for a small continuously flowing light traffic method like small busses and etcetera or baning all but energency or serviceehiclesork. If anyone really thinks three lanes are doing a good job try going through Broad and Orange after 3:00P.M. or Russell and Broadway and maybe you will rethink your position whether going by car or bike.

then the "I's" will have it.

Traffic is not going to lessen or flow more smoothly on West Broadway just because you try to reduce it's flow. What part of this does the M. I. S. T. group not understand? We are surrounded on all side by continuing subdivision developments. The developers try to maximize the number of house on lots for one reason only," MONEY". With each additional subdivision you can expect at least one or more vehicles per househould.Each one of these additional vehicles will pass through this east to west corridor numeruous times for work,pleasure,and etc.. If the charrette the mayor suggests can come up with a viable solution, we stand a chance of avoiding the traffic problems that are currently growing worse in the Miller creek area. Ask any one who lives in that area. If you have any doubts try turning into the southside Wal-Mart at 5:00 P.M. or leavimg the Golden Corral restaurant or entering or leaving upper and lower Miller Creek. We are now experiencing the same type of traffic problems to our west, particulaly in the area around Mullan road & Deschamps Lane also Flynn Lane and etc. because developers in the name of providing "affordable housing" haven't bothered to provide eneough accessable entries to and from their developments therby creating traffic "boondogles" like West Broadway & Russell.Progress shouldn't be stifled by any meams, but what has happened to the principle of "common sense" along with the progress?

If you provide excellent bike, walk, and transit facilities, many people will choose to use them. This latent demand has been identified in numerous surveys over the last decade in Missoula County. What's great about 4 to 3 lane conversions ('road diets') is that you end up with much better bike, walk, and transit facilities, while maintaining approximately the same motor vehicle capacity. In a 4-lane system, the inner lanes clog with left-turning vehicles. A 3-lane system solves this, though some left turns are sometimes restricted (not many with good design, and very few if modern single lane roundabouts are worked in). Yet the conversion is very much worth it if one considers the equity and safety of gaining bike lanes and pedestrian islands.

I agree that massive growth has the potential to overwhelm what we all like about this valley. This means we need to rethink the commute-only-by-car-go-as-fast-as-possible lifestyle. It does not work when thousands try it all at once.

Broadway was 4-lanes for forty years. Business owners fought the expansion to 4-lanes back in 1966 because they understood fast traffic is not good for business. Some change is a bit painful.

This is what MIST proposes: all arterials in the Missoula Valley become 3-lane systems. The flow will work for everyone. In combination, we double bus service and restore passenger rail. We also do everything possible to encourage bicycling and walking. And instead of creating more and more sprawling subdivisions, we create more real communities. Can this work?

Well, it's over a year later, the Diet is no longer new, and it still doesn't work. It's made a mess of traffic. It's time to admit that this is an experiment that didn't work.