Gallatin Valley MPO Transportation Advisory Committee Meeting - June 10, 2026
Gallatin Valley MPO Transportation Advisory Committee Meeting - June 10, 2026
At its June 10, 2026 meeting, the Gallatin Valley Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) Transportation Advisory Committee (TTAC) reviewed a Unified Planning Work Program (UPWP) amendment, the draft FY27 UPWP, the Long-Range Transportation Plan (LRTP) project list, and a background report on the Valley Center Spur connection. All votes were unanimous.
Consent Calendar
- Approval of Minutes (March 2026): Motion to approve moved by John, seconded by Beth. All 8 voting members present voted yes.
Public Comments & Testimony
- General Public Comment: No requests.
- On Valley Center Spur Report: Marilyn Brown praised the report as "amazing" and thanked staff for the work.
Discussion Items
- Amendment to FY26 UPWP (Item E3): Jeff (MPO Manager) requested an additional $53,159 for the LRTP to cover GIS work, modeling, and enhanced spring community engagement. Funding would come from reserve savings ($20,800), staff savings due to departure, reduced conference attendance, and minor program reductions. The amendment recommends TPCC approval. TTAC voted unanimously to recommend.
- Draft FY27 UPWP (Item E4): Jeff presented the draft work plan for FFY27 (Oct 2026 – Sep 2027). Budget includes $601,835 after federal and state allocations. Notable changes: reducing out-of-state conferences to one per year, dropping two proposed continuous count stations (returning for refund with 10% restocking fee) due to cost/feasibility, and emphasizing partnership-building and e-notification. No action required; first look for feedback.
- LRTP Project List Presentation: Consultants from Nelson Nygaard (Zach and Chris) presented the evaluation framework for scoring projects. 21 metrics across 6 goals yielded 29 possible points. 116 projects were scored and placed into four tiers. Members requested seeing full scores, adding metrics for number of users impacted and cost per user, and geographic labeling. Chair noted that scoring is not the final prioritization; cost, timing, and other factors will be considered later. No vote taken.
- Valley Center Spur Background Report: Jeff summarized the report on this critical connection between Valley Center and Frontage Road. Historic safety issues (fatal/severe crashes) led to signal installation in 2019, but multimodal gaps remain. Near-term concept: pedestrian signal across Frontage Road. Longer-term: feasibility study for underpass and trail connections. Chris (City of Bozeman) noted upcoming lighting standard changes. City of Bozeman also closed an RFQ for pre-design of the Frontage Road shared-use path from this intersection to Cherry River fishing access.
Key Outcomes
- FY26 UPWP Amendment: Unanimously recommended to TPCC for approval (8 yes, 0 no).
- Draft FY27 UPWP: No action; committee to provide feedback via email before next meeting.
- LRTP Project List: No vote; staff to provide full scoring data and consider additional metrics raised.
- Valley Center Spur: Background report accepted; no formal action but future discussion possible.
- Vice Chair: Jason Murphy (acting Belgrade Public Works Director) introduced; consideration of formal vice chair appointment deferred to next month.
Next Steps
- LRTP prioritization workshops and modeling alternatives to be presented in July/August.
- FY27 UPWP to return for formal recommendation at next TTAC meeting.
- Valley Center Spur feasibility study and pedestrian signal concept to be advanced collaboratively.
Meeting Transcript
All right, folks. Looks like we've got a good crew in the room. With that, we'll get underway. Welcome to June's meeting of the Galton Valley Metropolitan Planning Organization Transportation Advisory Committee. If you anyone interested uh from the public in commenting, can do so in writing uh at comments at Bozeman.net uh within uh about a day before the meeting by noon. And reminder that opportunities for public comment will also be available with each item on the agenda. Uh with that, we'll go ahead and call this meeting to order, and I'll ask Marcy to take roll. Chris Saunders. Nicholas Ross. Lisa Murphy, acting public works director. Here. John McCollum, yeah. I think he mailed and said he wouldn't be with us today. Leba Ewing. I'm here. Beth Larkson Proxy for Jeff Streeter. Brandon Jones. Here. Sunshine Ross. Todd Wilson. John Howe. We have eight out of eleven. Okay, thank you, Marcy. We have a quorum. One item of housekeeping before we uh get started with approval minutes. Uh I'm going to request that uh we have a minor change the agenda to shift items E3 and E4 up to uh the first two items in our new business agenda. We've got a pretty full meeting today, and those are the two most proximate time sensitive matters on the agenda. So I think it would be best for all to uh have us running those ones first and then give us plenty of time to discuss the the uh current E1 and E2 items. Uh Marcy, I think I um technically uh should get confirmation from the group. And so if I can uh have somebody motion to um change the agenda to move E3 and E4 up, that probably would be best for posterity. I'll move to um adjust the agenda to move E3 and E4 to the first two items on the agenda. Thank you, Sunshine. Sorry, that was a second. I'm joking on a grown bar over here. Appreciate it, John. Okay. Um, any any concerns from the group with making that adjustment? Okay, any opposed? All right, we'll go ahead and count that as motion passes. Uh okay, thank you, everybody. Um, next up, approval of minutes. Uh, been a couple months since we've gotten together. Uh so uh Jeff's put together the uh Jeff and Marcy have put together the minutes from last March or this past March. Um, I will welcome the motion to approve. Move to approve. Thank you, John. I'll second that. Appreciate it. Beth. Uh anyone with comments on the minutes.
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