The Billings Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) identified the need to conduct a Safe Routes to School (SRTS) Plan Update to evaluate walking and biking conditions for students attending elementary schools in the Billings Public Schools District. Through a competitive process, the MPO selected Toole Design as the consultant for this project. A project oversight committee consisting of representatives from the MPO, Billings City Council, Billings Public Schools, City of Billings Engineering Division, Healthy By Design, RiverStone Health, and community advocates provided feedback and helped guide the process throughout the development of the plan. This is an update to the City of Billings Safe Routes to School Study completed in August 2011 by the City of Billings Engineering Division. 

The draft document is undergoing further staff review. As a result, this will be the first of two public hearings on this item. Final internal staff edits will be incorporated into the draft document ahead of the June 28 Planning Board meeting. 

The goals of this plan are to:

• Evaluate current walking and biking conditions for students in the region
• Identify barriers or issues that might discourage students from walking or biking
• Recommend policy or programmatic changes that would encourage more students to walk or bike to school
• Develop a list of prioritized projects that can be built to improve walking and biking conditions for students
• Create walking route maps for all 22 public elementary schools in Billings

Project locations were identified through several sources: 

• Geographic data showing gaps in pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure
• Crash locations showing crashes involving people biking or walking
• Interviews with principals 
• Conversations with crossing guards
• Public input via an online interactive webmap and survey 
• On the ground observations of either arrival or dismissal
• A walking audit of the .5-mile radius around the school

The body of the document identifies observed and reported safety concerns at project locations and describes the type of concern at that location. Examples of concerns include long crossing distances, turning vehicles not yielding, etc. Then, Section 4 of the Plan provides an infrastructure toolkit that offers some common engineering solutions that can be used to address the observed and reported concerns. A matrix helps identify possible solutions based on the type of concern. 

Based on guidance from the project oversight committee, Section 5 prioritizes projects based on four criteria: traffic safety, feasibility, demand, and equity. Each category was assigned a certain number of points based on the metrics in the category. For example, traffic safety was based on the posted speed limit and the roadway classification. Points for each category were then added up for a total score. In the final draft of this document, projects will be grouped into short, medium, and long-term project categories. Due to a variety of other factors, projects will be selected based on category first and may not be completed exactly from highest to lowest score. 

Section 6 of the Plan contains walking route maps for each school. 

Appendix B includes school summaries including existing conditions maps for each school, data about the school, a summary of interviews with the principal and crossing guard, webmap comments, and on-the-ground observations. There are also project suggestions that are for planning purposes only and will require further analysis and design before implementation. Staff are making updates to these suggestions. These staff amendments will be incorporated into the plan prior to the next public hearing. An overview will be provided to the Planning Board during that time.

Staff recommends that at the June 14 meeting, the Yellowstone County Board of Planning receive a presentation on the Safe Routes to School Plan Update and conduct a public hearing to receive public comment on the plan. A public hearing will also be held at the June 28 Planning Board meeting given the upcoming changes to the document. The Planning Board is scheduled to take formal action on the Plan and provide a recommendation to the Policy Coordinating Committee (PCC) at its June 28 meeting. The PCC is scheduled to take final action on the study at its meeting on July 19, 2022. 

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Stakeholders were engaged at various points throughout plan development, including through the interactive webmap, principal and crossing guard interviews, the Project Oversight Committee, and feedback from principals on walking route maps.