Butte-Silver Bow, Pioneer Technical and the Montana Department of Transportation are in the process of updating Butte-Silver Bow’s Transportation Plan. These plans are compiled and updated every ten years, the last one having been completed in 2005. Transportation Plans help identify funding priorities for near and long-term transportation infrastructure investments in the community, based on current and projected needs.
Beginning this spring, the project team has reviewed existing plans, policies and on-the-ground conditions. The team has assessed existing roadway and intersection geometrics, pavement condition, traffic and accident data, congestion and travel time analyses, planned and previously-approved projects, and socio-economic data and trends. All of this information is used to prepare a baseline for analysis of proposed system improvements.
Beyond the data, one of the most important aspects of a good planning process is input from the public - the transportation system user. We need user observations that may not be apparent in the available data. We have held two initial meetings in Butte to gather information on problem areas, over the summer our team will continue meeting with Butte-Silver Bow staff, area stakeholders, state and local agency staff, and the interested public to begin developing a range of improvement options. Additional meeting dates will be announced soon.
Until those meetings are scheduled, we invite area residents, business owners and other stakeholders to pass along your observations online. Butte-Silver Bow and Pioneer Technical have created a fully interactive issue-reporting map on the Butte-Silver Bow website (http://co.silverbow.mt.us/880/2016-Transportation-Plan-Update). This map allows citizens to identify specific issues such as congested routes, intersection concerns, safety concerns, connectivity issues, parking issues and/or bicycle and pedestrian concerns. The map is easy to use and there are detailed instructions on how to provide comments and “like” others’ feedback. Butte-Silver Bow has also created an online feedback form, available here: http://co.silverbow.mt.us/FormCenter/Planning-12/Transportation-Plan-Update-Feedback-Form-71 for citizens that simply prefer to provide their feedback without using the interactive map.
Public input is critically important to ensure that the Plan is reflective of community needs and priorities. So log on, or call one of our team members with your observations, ideas or questions.
For more information, please contact Butte-Silver Bow Assistant Planning Director, Lori Casey at lcasey@bsb.mt.gov or transportation consultant Darryl James at darryl@jamesconsult.com , for assistance with the interactive map, please contact Butte-Silver Bow Online and Public Communications Administrator, Jeremy Gatz-Miller at (406) 497-6221 or jgatzmiller@bsb.mt.gov.