A variety of transportation options

Building more through streets allows the vehicular traffic to spread out, making it more inviting to drive more frequently. Hence the construction or widening of roads does NOT lead to less congestion - instead it acutually has the opposite effect because more people drive.

This is a well-known phenomenon (refer to the text Suburban Nation by Duany, et al) and we’ve watched it happen in other metropolitain areas around the country. Some of the great qualities those places once had have been spoiled. I hope Bozeman doesn’t aim to spoil the remaining qualities that made it attractive in the first place.

We all know that we should be making every effort to drive LESS, less frequently, and to choose other means of transportation. A forward-thinking community like Bozeman should be working on a more sustainable transportation and planning model. We need to have the courage and foresight to be doing this differently. People’s transportation habits will not change if they have no choices.

We need routes that allow us to chose other modes of travel - walking, bike riding, bus, XC skiing, etc. Bozeman could instead be spending those design and construction dollars on extending the wonderful Streamline bus system, and by building bike routes and walking paths that are separated from vehicular traffic, so they are safe for kids.

If the large budget for road construction were poured into Streamline and the trail network, INSTEAD OF vehicular roads, think of the phenomenal, and far more sustainable transportation system we could have. We would also be contributing to a healthier population. This is what people want in the Gallatin Valley. I know many people like myself, who would be delighted to have a Streamline bus route reach in their direction to allow them to commute to town or campus without a car.

I have lived on Fowler for 21 years. As it has been extended and paved it has become an increasingly unsafe place to be. More drivers use it as a thoroughfare to get somewhere else, and they are usually in a hurry. They have no vested interest in the safety of our children, our pets, our livestock, or those of us who wish to ride a bike.

The remaining “green fingers” that we currently have interrupting segments of Fowler contribute to a quality of life that we all enjoy. They provide quiet open space that is important habitat, it is a space to relax the eye, with birds and wildlife, mature trees, a few open irrigation ditches, pasture, and seasonally changing landscape.

I presume eminent domain would be exercised to claim the properties of the private dwellings in the path of the proposed road. This in itself would seem an unnecessarily aggressive approach, and still does not consider the impact on the families whose dwellings remain in the neighborhood. If traffic engineers in this century are trained only to think about vehicular traffic, there is something profoundly wrong with the discipline.

The community design firm that has been engaged in this process aspires to developing “enduring communities” - an aspiration which I hope they would live up to, given the opportunity. Bozeman City Planning Office needs to make decisions in keeping with our 2020 Climate Action Plan and Community Plan and be 100% committed to developing and encouraging walking and biking as an ALTERNATIVE, not just as a sideline. If we are brave in this endeavor, our city will look different than others designed on the primacy of the automobile.

I have watched the Gallatin Valley’s growing network of footpaths and trails become one of its huge planning triumphs over the last 32 years. It is excellent. I believe we should continue to extend those trails through to connect all of Fowler, but should not introduce all the increased vehicular traffic to the neighborhoods.

Please consider investing differently in the future of the beautiful Gallatin Valley.