This presentation and discussion of the MDT 27th Street Railroad Crossing Study is to provide Council with the background, status, and potential alternatives defined by the study and how they could impact Downtown Billings. City staff has concerns with the construction alternatives' impacts to Downtown Billings, and also that the study has not adequately assessed all options to relieve traffic delays at the crossing. The Council at this meeting should consider providing comment to MDT on the City's position on a future crossing project or other crossing mitigation strategies to help inform whether MDT should consider anything in the near future other than a No-Build Alternative.  Staff supports expansion of the study to adequately assess the application of ITS and the use of the existing underpasses to mitigate vehicle and train traffic conflicts at the 27th Street Crossing as viable, standalone mitigation options in addition to an overpass or underpass.

The Montana Department of Transportation (MDT) is completing a $1.2 million, multi-year study of the 27th Street Railroad Crossing in Billings. The scope of this project is to develop a feasibility study to determine short and long-term solutions for the existing at-grade railroad crossing on 27th Street in Billings. A high-level Montana Rail Grade Separation Study was completed by MDT in 2016, identifying this location as being a high priority for MDT to further assess. The more detailed 27th Street Railroad Crossing Study now being conducted is to identify specific solutions that are feasible and meet the needs at this location. This study is considering, at a minimum, traffic operational and engineering analyses, safety, Railroad coordination, bicycle/pedestrian facilities, ADA needs, environmental issues, geometric considerations, right-of-way, utilities, public engagement, stakeholder input and impacts to adjacent buildings. Information on the ongoing study and the public participation elements to date are available at https://www.mdt.mt.gov/pubinvolve/billings27thstreet/default.shtml 

The at-grade main line railroad crossing at 27th Street in Downtown Billings has been a subject of significant discussion and study for at least the past 62 years. No less than 10 study efforts, including the current one, have focused on how to better address vehicle traffic flow through and around this crossing. The studies are as follows:

• 1958 – Evaluated 6 alternatives, recommended further study
• 1960 – Evaluated 4 alternatives, recommended cost/benefit analysis of relocating railroad
• 1962 – Examined possible relocation routes
• 1964 – Recommended short-term traffic management solutions
• 1980 – Recommended either an underpass or overpass
• 1997 – Downtown Framework Plan recommended preserving railroad tracks downtown
• 2003 – Statewide grade separation study recommended 2 lane underpass at  27th St.
• 2004 – “Over, Under, and Around” study recommended long range and short range projects- including traffic management solutions
• 2013 - City initiated analysis and effort to secure funds to install improved advanced warning system reader boards, implement computer software advanced warning systems, and study the 13th Street and 21st Street underpasses for improvement and traffic routing options. Funding was not awarded and project could not move forward.
• 2019 - MDT Study

Work to alleviate some of the impacts of the crossing has been completed, including construction/implementation of a Quiet Zone along the railroad corridor through Downtown Billings, the current advanced warning signs installed along 27th Street that flash when a train is in the crossing, a southbound left turn phasing at Montana Avenue and 27th Street, and upgrades to traffic signal controllers to improve traffic flow during and following passage of a train.

The study has so far defined three options as possible outcomes of this most recent analysis: Not build anything; Build an overpass; Build an underpass. MDT has stated that, if there is enough interest, the study could look in depth at Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) elements to provide early warning systems and signage, and traffic re-routing software systems for emergency response vehicles and the general public. These options are identified as short or medium term options but are not fully vetted so far as study recommendations like the construction options. The study also is not assessing the feasibility of improving and taking advantage of the existing 13th Street or 21st Street underpasses to re-route traffic when the crossing is blocked by a train. City staff finds these other strategies and options as critical given the substantial costs and permanent, significant negative impacts to Downtown Billings from an overpass, and to a lesser but still significant extent, an underpass. It is notable that other cities in the country have gone to staggering expense in the past decade to remove or re-purpose overpasses in their neighborhoods and downtown core areas to revive economic and social activity, and eliminate negative environmental impacts. To have a highly technical 2020 study seeming to lean toward an overpass as the most viable option in the core of Billings to cross railroad tracks, seems counter to where transportation technology can take us in the next decade or less.

The purpose of this presentation and discussion is to help Council understand the study findings and the ramifications of the study's recommendations, and have the Council decide how it might weigh in to MDT on this study as it is completed in mid 2021.

Given the status of the study, the City Council may:

• Support one of the three current alternatives the study has defined: Not build anything; Consider building an overpass; Consider building an underpass;
• Support expansion of the study to adequately assess the application of ITS and the use of the existing underpasses to mitigate vehicle and train traffic conflicts at the 27th Street Crossing as viable, standalone mitigation options in addition to an overpass or underpass.
• Take no position on the study and its recommendations.    

The impact to downtown needs to be reviewed in more depth and ITS solutions must be explored as a less intrusive and less costly alternative that will have a positive effect in our downtown. The MDT study has not considered the economic or property value impacts of constructing an overpass or underpass in Downtown Billings, or if there are economic benefits to have a project built. There appear to be safety benefits if traffic delays are reduced at the railroad crossings, but City staff is not aware the MDT study has looked at how these benefits may compare to the negative impacts.