Missoula's planning apparatus (and I use that term half jokingly because we are a small community that gets a lot of planning done on limited resources) has in recent years really integrated collaborative planning into the process and this time is no different. Collaborative planning aims to be as open and inclusive of different interests and community groups as possible to allow a wide variety of input to be included in the planning process.
And from the parts of the process I have been involved in... there is a lot of input coming in. Transportation is one of those topics in Missoula that really brings out a lot of people and groups. The advisory committee alone has close to thirty people (from various city/county departments, nonprofits, community groups, and business organizations) in attendance guiding the process.
The community workshop was pretty interesting to watch play out. The night it was held was cold and snowy, yet about 2/3 of people biked and most of the rest walked. With perhaps upwards of 60 or 70 people in attendance, everyone worked through a series of group oriented activities. Of course everyone's favorite involved drawing on a map of Missoula.
And once the individual groups had finished their discussion and mapping each shared their results with the entire workshop.
Out of this event came a lot different input but the general themes included:
- improved connectivity
- finish the trail/sidewalk/bike lane network
- reduce posted speed limits, at most 35 mph
- improve street lighting
- implement our complete streets policy
- focus transportation more on safety than traffic flow
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5 comments:
Working in auto transport, we are create a lot of pollution, however advances are being made to help trucking companies to reduce these emissions. One of the things I think is great about towns, of any size, working on mass transit is that it will not only reduce traffic on the interstates which allow us to move through quicker, but also will help reduce our countries overall pollution that we generate and that is something I think lots of people will support.
I have to mention that, on that night, the most resounding affirmation was for prohibiting talking on cell-phones while driving.
JW
Your right JW, guess I just forgot about that since it was only mentioned once... but still got the biggest response.
Thanks for covering the workshop, Lewis! Mind if we link to it on OPG's Active Trans Plan page on our site?
Annabelle... feel free. And thanks for organizing the whole thing... it went pretty well
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