3-Plus for Russell Street

Seems that we cannot grow our roads enough to achieve a desired level of service to solve traffic congestion. From the “Lifespan Analysis” on page 52 of Kittelson’s final report on Russell Street reconstruction options:

“However, none of the alternatives and options are expected to operate acceptably under year 2035 traffic conditions and meet the City and MDT’s operation standards per the projected traffic volumes…”.

But we must be cautious with “Projections” and “Levels of Service”, as summed up tidily in an article by John Williams in “Centerlines”:

“…Level of Service has long been a misnomer. What it actually measures is the level of comfort for drivers, who tend to like streets that have very few other cars and where they can drive fast without interruptions. To get a “good” LOS (i.e., an A or B), you needed to widen streets, add lanes, get rid of on-street parking, limit crossings, add turn lanes, etc. In the US, LOS was never intended to measure how well a road performed for all interested parties (e.g., the people who lived near it and worried about high speeds, the kids who wanted to cross it to get to school, the bicyclists who wanted to use it to get to work, transit users, etc.)”.

Also on page 52 of the Kittelson report, they go on to point out where the community could focus for more effective changes at managing traffic:

“For a reduction in traffic projections to occur, changes in current land use, mode split, population growth, and/or culture would need to occur.”.

In sum, we all need to change the way we practice living and moving about.

A recent article in the Missoula Independent, points out that “culvertizing” irrigation ditches is obviously bad for the adjacent trees also. The article is about growth in the target range area but touches on the subject of a grand old cottonwood gallery that has been dying-off for years and now the last one is slated for removal. As pointed out in a previous post, the traffic engineers pursuing a super-size expansion of Russell Street somehow managed to figure a way to extend the project footprint to the west side of the mobile home park at River Road, the location of the irrigation ditch in question. The design of this proposed north/south bypass road over this north/south irrigation ditch appears to impact the yards of 4 mobile homes and likely cause the removal of 2 of them.

Technical and design information on the roundabouts proposed in the 3-Plus for Russell Street plan are now available at http://www.russellstreet.org/about-3-plus/roundabouts.

Welcome. This blog was created to inform and engage the public about the City of Missoula’s plans to rebuild Russell Street and about the efforts of citizens’ to make the project more friendly to our community.

Background: The City of Missoula is planning to rebuild Russell Street in the next few years. Despite substantial public comment calling for a three-lane facility, the current plan calls for a massive five-lane roadway. The city’s plan also requires acquiring and demolishing several houses and businesses. A coalition of groups is proposing a project with a more human scale that enhances the character of the corridor. Enter the Citizens’ Plan. The Citizen’s Plan strives to take input from ALL stakeholders to arrive at a plan that fits within the context of the neighborhood and the greater community.

The draft Environmental Impact Statement is now available for the city’s plan. Please take a moment to review the city’s plan

Then explore the Citizens’ Plan, 3-Plus for Russell Street. Download the PDF handout, sign our petition, come to the D-EIS presentation, and make comments on the city’s plan!

A number of guiding principles informed the design process for the Citizens’ Plan: The citizens’ plan works within the existing right-of-way (ROW). All segments include sidewalks, bike lanes, and two travel lanes. Space permitting, green boulevard strips, and center turn lanes are added.

Artist rendition of a Russell Street cross-section at Longstaff