by Nathan Boddy
A group comprised of city officials, citizens and policy makers met on the sidewalks of Hamilton’s State Street on Thursday, June 1 to discuss the function of the thoroughfare. City planning staffers, Matthew Rohrbach and Mark Rud hosted Matt Madsen and Rebecca Gleason of the Western Transportation Institute of Montana State University to join them, and the public, for a ‘walk audit’ of State Street, which was among several public corridors of concern during Hamilton’s recent comprehensive plan update. State Street, which often acts as a bypass of Main Street, also houses the current Fire Station, the Hamilton Middle School, Library and sees significant foot and bike traffic of people going to and from downtown.
The Western Transportation Institute (WTI) had been in contact with the City of Hamilton, as well as Bike Walk Bitterroot on account of planning and advocacy efforts made within the city. WTI generally works with rural and tribal communities on transportation issues such as mobility, infrastructure, traffic calming and safety. Matt Madsen described how WTI uses its grant money to bring WTI expertise into a community to begin a public process of identifying potential problems and making decisions about how to solve them.
“A lot of Montana towns have main streets that are also highways,” he said, indicating that conflicts around transportation issues are a common theme. “With this grant money we were looking for other communities to partner with.”
Madsen described the walk audit as a first step in the process of addressing transportation issues in an area.
“We really come into the community and start to hear from people,” he said. He also added that data collection and community engagement come long before any recommendations about infrastructure alterations.
As the group moved westward along State Street, Madsen and Gleason asked that the participants share their experiences of using the corridor, as well as their observations and concerns. Most participants agreed that crossing from one side of State to the other can be difficult and even dangerous in certain locations. While the relocation of the Fire Station will undoubtedly remove some of the pressure from State Street, visibility issues still make crossing less than ideal.
Madsen and Gleason will be compiling the group’s observations in order to create a full report and begin a deeper look at the future possibilities.
The City of Hamilton has sought and secured funds for its partnership with WTI, therefore avoiding usage of general funds for any analysis that may take place.
In another project, city officials, along with participation from Bike Walk Bitterroot and input from WTI, are also exploring traffic calming measures within several south-side intersections where speeding and failure to stop has been a recurring issue.