Others thanked local, state and federal officials in attendance at the public meeting at Franklin School, and emphasized the need to make the stretch of road safer than it is now.
The hearing on the draft environment impact statement, a document which provides five alternatives for how to fix the traffic flow issues plaguing Russell Street, attracted a crowd of 200 people, including state lawmakers, city council members, Mayor John Engen and even Montana Department of Transportation Director Jim Lynch. The deadline to comment on the proposed fixes is Oct. 20.
Scott Bouma owns the house on Russell whose “garage you can slap when you drive by,” he said. In fact, his home may be one of the 11 homes and 10 businesses along Russell that has pavement slated for where his living room currently sits. Dozens more property owners will be affected by the project. Some families will be displaced by the project; others may lose a corner of their driveway.
Yet, Bouma is all right with that idea.
“It's selfish to say we are going to keep our neighborhood at the expense of the city,” said Bouma, who has children who play next to Russell, with the traffic that roars by and the thick exhaust. “It's not safe now,” Bouma argues. He would like to see additional crosswalks and medians.
Many complained that the city's traffic projections are out of date, especially with the high price of fuel anymore. The road needs to accommodate, and encourage, a greater flow of bicyclists, said Marta Meengs. Part of that is accomplished by designing the road so bicyclists feel safe there.
Bob Wachtel with the Bike/Walk Alliance called the preferred alternative “unsatisfactory” and supports the 3 Plus for Russell, a citizen-initiated alternative. Local residents have provided their own plan that includes a three-, sometimes four-lane road with roundabouts and undercrossings for bicyclists and pedestrians. Many argued that would fit better with the character of the neighborhood.
Jeremy Keene drives Russell every day on his way to the WGM Group where he works as an engineer. On Wednesday, however, Keene spoke as an informed citizen. One who thinks the “preferred” plan proposed in the EIS is pretty well on target. With redevelopment in the area and with the city's emphasis on higher density in urban centers, building the infrastructure to accommodate that growth is vital, he said.
However, the preferred plan is not without some tweaking, Keene said.
Naysayers of the project are too focused on the number of lanes, he said. If what's important is the ability to cross the road safely and have cars driving reasonable speeds, then those are things that can be achieved through the design process, he said.
Kristi Dubois drives Reserve Street every day to and from work. She believes that EIS preferred plan will turn Russell into another Reserve. Traffic “backed up when it was two lanes,” Dubois said of the old Reserve. “Now it backs up with four lanes. If you build it for cars, they'll come.”
About 35,000 cars pass down Reserve Street daily, said Bob Giordano, of the Missoula Institute for Sustainable Transportation. The proposed Russell plan is going to accommodate 34,000 daily vehicle trips, he said.
Peggy Miller has a vision of what Russell could look like - with an overpass for bicyclists and pedestrians with park benches and shrubbery - and she wanted everyone else to clearly see that vision, too. So she painted it.
Miller held up a colorful picture she painted earlier that day.
An underpass is not inviting for people and provides shelter to the homeless at night. But an overpass can look attractive and moves traffic quickly. It's visibility to the cars below may even encourage drivers idling at a stoplight to grab a bike instead, she said.
Russell was first identified as a sore spot by city transportation officials in 1996.
Still, the earliest anyone will see road construction on the project is four to five years out. The final EIS and the issuance of a “Record of Decision” won't happen for a year from now, Darryl James of HKM Engineering, a Helena-based company working on the project. Then, the city must design the road and acquire the easements.
Those still interested in commenting on the EIS can do so online at www.mdt.mt.gov/pubinolve/eis_ea.shtml, or by written comment to Gregg Wood, Missoula Public Works, 435 Ryman St.
Reporter Chelsi Moy can be reached at 523-5260 or at chelsi.moy@missoulian.com.
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