Staff recommends that the Policy Coordinating Committee (PCC) approve the Billings Community Transportation Safety Plan based on the recommendations of the City-County Planning Board, Billings City Council, and the Board of County Commissioners.

The MPO hired Dowl through a competitive process to develop the Community Transportation Safety Plan (CTSP). The MPO initiated the process to update the CTSP that was first developed and adopted in 2016. The original plan was a collaborative effort between the Montana Department of Transportation (MDT) and the MPO. This update also included coordination with MDT. The ongoing purpose of the CTSP is to reduce fatal and serious injury crashes in the Billings area. Both the original CTSP and this update followed the same methodology as Montana's Comprehensive Highway Safety Plan (CHSP). This process, like the CHSP, used a coordinated, comprehensive, data-driven process with emphasis on collaboration between safety programs and partners representing the 4Es of transportation safety: education, enforcement, emergency medical services, and engineering. This approach was used to identify safety issues and determine areas in need of increased emphasis and strategies to reduce roadway fatalities and serious injuries.

Development of this plan was led by an Advisory Committee (AC) consisting of the Billings MPO, City of Billings, Yellowstone County, local safety partners, and MDT staff members as technical support. The AC elected to adopt Vision Zero, Montana's initiative to eliminate fatalities and serious injuries on the state's public roadways. The vision and goal statement for the Billings CTSP were defined as follows.   Vision The Billings community will achieve zero fatalities and serious injuries through a culture of safety for all travelers.   Goal Based on a five-year rolling average, reduce fatalities and serious injuries by 20% from 57 to 46 by the end of 2024.  The group evaluated ten years of crash data and considered public survey results and the input of local safety partners to identify the following four emphasis areas with the greatest potential for reducing fatalities and serious injuries. After reviewing public comment collected through an online survey tool and conducting a half-day safety summit with community members and safety partners, the AC defined a set of emphasis areas to be addressed through action planning and the development of safety strategies. These areas include: Unrestrained Occupants Impaired Driving Inattentive Driving and Speeding In addition, the AC is recommending a focus on young drivers within each of the emphasis areas. A list of all emphasis areas, strategies and action steps are located on page 39 of the plan.

The project team developed a robust public involvement process to collect public and stakeholder input that included a website that featured and interactive map, a half-day summit, and a public meeting. These activities were supplemented with paid and earned media, email, and social media promotion. The CTSP website,https://billingsctsp.com provided stakeholders and the public an opportunity to learn about and participate in the project.The Safety Summit included over 60 safety-oriented stakeholders who gathered to support and contribute to the CTSP update. The event included: Collection of stakeholder input; Discussion of comprehensive crash data analysis; Consideration of existing community safety programs; Identification of safety management strategies to meet the unique needs of the Billings community. A full listing of public involvement work on this project is located in Appendix B of the plan.

Prior to adoption, the Billings City Council requested an amendment to the Executive Summary to add the following language: "To develop a comprehensive transportation safety plan, the 4 E’s, Engineering, Education, Emergency Medical Services (EMS), and Enforcement must be included in the effort. Professionals representing each of these areas were heavily involved in the data analysis, identification of focus areas, and ultimately the strategies outlined. The focus of the CTSP is to review citizen behaviors, which result in strategies focused more heavily on Education, Emergency Medical Services (EMS), and Enforcement. This plan’s safety focus is to augment other planning efforts focused on the built environment, notably the Long-Range Transportation Plan and the Billings Area Bikeway and Trail Master Plan, completed by the Billings MPO, and through capital planning by City and County Public Works."  The Council wanted to include this language to help clarify the focus of this plan is on education, emergency services and enforcement, while engineering is still a critical and integral component of improving the safety of the traveling public. This language will be incorporated into the final document after the PCC approval.

This plan has been reviewed and acted upon by the City-County Planning Board, the Billings City Council, and the Board of County Commissioners. The Planning Board conducted a public hearing prior to its recommendation of approval. No public testimony was given.Each governing body is forwarding a recommendation of approval to the PCC.

The Policy Coordinating Committee may:

• Approve the Billings Community Transportation Safety Plan; or,
• Not approve the Billings Community Transportation Safety Plan

Disapproval would send a mixed message to community partners working to make our roadways safer and promote safety education for young drivers that Billings participated in the Safety Plan development but does not support implementation of the plan.

There is no fiscal effect to adopting this plan. Implementing the plan will not require direct City or County funds because the implementation strategies include education and enforcement programs that already exist or are readily available at no cost. However, if the City or County determine that a paid education campaign is desirable, funding will have to be secured through a variety of sources including materials provided through MDT safety, grants, or local contributions that could include city or county funds.

The Billings Community Transportation Safety Plan outlines an action plan and strategies to reduce roadway fatalities and serious injuries in the Billings MPO area. The Plan through review of crash data, input from an Advisory Committee, local safety partners and the public developed a vision, goal, strategies and action plan to combat area crashes and the impact of those crashes on families and the community.