BOZEMAN, Mont. — Bozeman’s transportation director, Nick Ross, gave a presentation on traffic in the city at a virtual forum hosted by Montana State University on Friday.
Ross highlighted the five major projects the city of Bozeman currently has on its slate, including connecting missing arterials along North 27th Avenue, expanding intersection capacity and adding features like bike paths, shared use lanes and sidewalks on Babcock Street, reconstructing Kagy Boulevard, streetscaping College Avenue, and upgrading Stuckey Road.
Those projects are intended not only to ease the flow of traffic but to promote safety on the city’s streets by reducing conflict points for crashes and increasing safety for those walking or biking.
The city also implemented 15 temporary seasonal traffic-calming measures in the past year, including bicycle boulevards and speed tables to address the increase of cars on the road in Bozeman.
“We’ve seen a pretty significant shift, both nationally and here in Bozeman, very much correlated towards more driving based on how we build our places and how we all choose to move around them,” said Ross.
Ross said ultimately, building roads would be necessary to keep up with the city’s growing population. But he touched on some alternatives that could reduce that total need, including incentivizing walking, biking and using public transportation.
