In January, the city counci approved a $186,000 contract for a peer review of the D-EIS traffic projections and modeling by an outside engineering and planning firm.
Coucilman Jason Wiener had some insightful reflections on what should come from this peer review process:
The purpose of the peer review is to get the enormous volume of comments received, and the Draft Environmental Impact Statement’s analysis, reviewed by people with the technical expertise to move the prime consultants and Montana Dept of Transportation to a different solution and no commitment to the conclusions that have already been drawn…
He continues on to defend the cost of the peer review:
$186,000 is a lot of money. In a $40 million project, however, it is less than .5% of the project budget. If even one turn lane drops out of the preferred alternative, the study pays for itself in eliminated construction costs.
Read his entire comment on his post on the MissoulaGov listserv.
For more background see:
The contract with Kittelson and Associates that passed council, or Keila Szpaller’s post at Missoula Red Tape.
