The Planning Division is requesting City Council approval to submit a Community Transportation Safety Grant application to the Montana Department of Transportation (MDT). The grant is intended to assist the community in establishing a Community Transportation Safety plan tailored to the transportation safety needs in Billings and Yellowstone County.  The plan will be prepared in collaboration with other agencies and local jurisdictions with roles in transportation safety.  Safety plans are data driven, address transportation safety with the 4E approach (Education, Enforcement, Engineering and Emergency Medical Services), focus on community specific safety issues, and are community led with MDT support. 
 
If the grant application is approved by MDT, the safety plan, through data collection, will assist in the identification of local transportation safety emphasis areas.  Emphasis areas may include, but are not limited to, intersection crashes, occupant protection, and impaired/distracted driving.  Once local issues are identified, programs and strategies can be developed to address the issues.  In addition to strategies, performance measures will be included in the study to help track progress in achieving the strategies.
 
MDT is offering technical and financial transportation safety planning assistance that requires no local cash match.  However, the Yellowstone County Planning Board, acting as the Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO), would act as the local plan sponsor and Planning staff would commit to coordinate the process with stakeholders, implement strategies, and track and report progress. It is anticipated that the planning process could take one-year to complete.  City-County Planning Division transportation planning staff has the ability to guide this process in addition with other Transportation Planning Studies scheduled for 2015.

City Council may:

• Approve applying to MDT or the Community Transportation Safety Grant funds, or;
• Disapprove applying to MDT for the Community Transportation Safety Grant funds. Not applying for the funds would likely prevent a safety plan from being completed at this time as other funding for the effort is not available locally.

There will be no direct financial impact from applying for and receiving the funds for the Safety Plan. However, there would be local staff time involved in the development of the plan and staff is able to allocate time to the planning effort.  The plan will establishes quantifiable safety-related goals, objectives, and performance measures relevant to the local transportation system.

Staff recommends the City Council approve applying for the Community Transportation Safety Grant funds and authorize the Mayor to sign the application letter. This grant application is somewhat unusual in that it is in the form of a letter that various local entities (Yellowstone County Board of Planning, City Council, Board of County Commissioners, Policy Coordinating Committee) all must sign before submittal of the application. Staff is taking the application to all of the entities referenced above for signatures.