00:00:07,870	Good morning everyone. It is 10:00 on Monday, September 14th and I officially call the meeting of the MPO Technical Advisory Committee to order. Um, I have just conducted a military coup and I am acting dictator of the MPO Technical Advisory Committee today.

00:00:32,130	Although Kim Riepl is online and will be voting for the meeting. Um, but we will start with, uh, roll call, please. Tracy. Daniel Nairn here. Dan Schriock here. Deidre Hughes here. Gabe Schell here. Loretta Marshik here. Jarek Wigness here. John Saiki. Here. Logan Beise here. Mitch Flanagan. here. Natalie Pierce. Will Hutchings here and Chair. Riepl Kim. Riepl. Kim, are you online? Yes.

00:01:26,900	Can you hear me? Yes, we can hear you now. Okay. All right. We will move to item two. Public comment. This is restricted to items on the current agenda or the prior TAC agenda, excluding public hearing items. Are there any members of the public that wish to comment? Seeing and hearing no comments.

00:01:56,830	I closed the public hearing period and we will move to the consent agenda. This includes a review and possible approval of the minutes from the August 17th meeting, as well as the traffic data Collection and Analysis Project Certification Curve Management Study Update, big Sky Passenger Rail Annual Conference, uh update, uh funding programs, solicitation schedule update uh are there

00:02:22,470	what are the wishes of the board regarding the consent agenda? This is Gabe. I move to approve the consent agenda. I’ll second. But first from Gabe and a second from Deidre. Any discussion? Seeing none, I will call roll, please. Daniel Nairn. Yes. Dan Schriock. Yes. Deidre Hughes. Yes. Gabe Schell. Yes. Loretta Marshik. Yes. Jarek Wigness. Yes.

00:02:57,100	John Saiki. Yes. Logan Beise. Yes. Mitch Flanagan. Yes. Will Hutchings. Yes. And Kim. Riepl. Yes. All right. Motion carries. Uh, we are now on to the regular agenda item eight. We are looking today at the draft 2027 through 2030. Transportation Improvement Program. And so you will be listening to me talk about this.

00:03:34,000	The I will first begin, uh, because this is a public hearing item. I will open up the draft tip for any public comments. If anybody online or in person wishes to comment on the draft tip, first call for public hearing. Second call. And a third and final call.

00:03:58,600	We have closed the public hearing and I will begin the presentation of the draft. So as I indicated, we have developed the draft 2027 through 2030 tip. This is showing federally funded projects in the region scheduled over the next four fiscal years, along with other relevant information about transportation funding in the MPO area.

00:04:21,530	We make a practice of updating this program every year. Give me a moment to share a screen with you. Please. All right. This is also exhibit Re in your packet. There were no major textual updates made to this year’s program, but the draft contains the usual updates to references, years, projects and maps, and all sections have been updated to

00:04:56,130	reflect current projects and funding amounts for the MPO area and Bazman transit. So we advertise the tip for the required 15 day public comment period. Uh, so far we have not received any public comments with the exception of comments received from NDDOT and FTA.

00:05:18,130	Um, none of the changes resulting from these comments will be substantial, largely typological, or a couple of corrections related to some project labels. So no additional public comment period will be required for this document.

00:05:40,530	Uh, every comment we receive will be incorporated into the final document and that will be brought back to TAC and Policy Board next month for possible adoption. But today, specifically, I have a few items that I want to run over the board. For the board, um, we primarily the program of projects, um, which is obviously the item of most interest related to the tip. This is on page 26 of the packet.

00:06:05,070	This month, and I will give an overview of each project year for the board and then take any questions that people may have. Let’s see if I. Can zoom in on this a little bit better here. Okay. So beginning with, uh, 2027 program here, uh, we start with, uh, a rural project that DOT is leading.

00:06:31,270	This is a project for preventive maintenance, overhead signing on various US and state highways throughout the Bismarck District. This includes three locations on Bismarck’s main avenue, with an estimated total cost of 1.6 million. We have three safety projects. First is a Bismarck project, Washington Street and Bowen Avenue for flashing beacons at that intersection.

00:06:58,500	That’s a total cost of about 350,000. And then we have a DOT project at Expressway and Main Avenue for turn lanes at that intersection. That’s a $934,000 project. And then DOT has another, uh, kind of state highway project around the district. Pavement markings, for a total estimated cost.

00:07:26,400	And this would be statewide of 2.5 million. Moving into the Transportation Alternatives projects, which are trail and other bike ped projects, a Mandan has one at eighth Avenue Northwest and 27th Street. Um, this is trail bikeway, walkway, uh, work. That will be a $484,000 cost.

00:07:57,900	Mandan also has another trail project on third Street from sixth Avenue to Third Avenue, and that will be, uh, about a quarter million dollar price tag for that. And then Bismarck, we’ll be doing a trail project. Uh, from East Century Avenue to Gold Drive. And I do see that that location probably needs to be tweaked. That description is not quite complete.

00:08:17,870	So I will have to make a note of that. But that’s about a $600,000 price tag for that in the urban project category for 27, we have a project from on Bismarck’s US 83 business from seventh Street to Divide Avenue. I think that’s actually state State Street, but that’s the DOT language that they use.

00:08:38,800	Uh, concrete pavement repair, curb ramps and grinding. Um, that, uh, is actually the next two projects are similarly, uh, concrete pavement repair, curb ramps on seventh Street and ninth Street in Bismarck and also, uh, Boulevard Avenue from six to seventh, um, the various costs that are listed in the

00:08:59,870	program for those, uh, Bismarck will be doing, uh, urban Grants program project that’s, uh, some various streets in downtown Front Avenue, third Street, fifth Street. Um, they’re going to do a mill and overlay as well as light skin, landscaping, lighting, pavement markings, uh, similar work there for a $3 million cost.

00:09:19,930	Um, Bismarck is also doing our DOT is also leading a Bismarck project on ninth Street from expressway to front and on seventh Street and ninth Street of varying extents. Both micro surfacing projects. Um, both are under a million.

00:09:50,000	And then Mandan is doing a reconstruction, uh, project on eighth Avenue Northwest from 24th to 27th and 27th Street, from eighth to end 1806, for a $5 million estimated cost. So that is the 27 program of projects. Do are there any questions or comments from the board? Seeing hearing none. That’s good, because if there are any problems, DOT gets the blame. So anyway, uh, 2028 fiscal year.

00:10:19,770	Uh, we have a bridge project that DOT will be doing on I-94. Uh, some substructure rehab, $371,000 price tag. Uh, a couple of safety projects. DOT Ladd one is at the Bismarck intersection of 1804 and Yagan Road. This is lighting listed as a lighting improvements project for 171,000. And then another pavement district wide pavement markings project.

00:10:48,170	That DOT will be leaning, um, about 2.4 million. Bismarck is going to do a transportation alternatives project on State Street. Divide to Calgary 494,000. DOT will be doing an urban project on expressway from Washington Street to 26th, and also at the Washington and Denver Avenue intersection. This is signal replacement and improvement, a $6.

00:11:22,200	1 million project. They are also doing a project for uh, mil, an overlay on Mandan 1806 from third Street to 19th Street, 1.6 million, uh, Bismarck will be doing a million overlay on South 12th Street from Santa Fe to Burley and on Burley Avenue from Jarvis Road to Washington Street for 942,000, and also

00:11:48,330	Bismarck will be doing, um, some pavement markings, signings and turn lanes at the Bismarck ramp of the Schaefer Divide. Tyler intersection for 80,000. And that is the 2028 program. Do we have any questions or comments on these? Very good. We’ll move to 2029.

00:12:23,400	DOT is doing work on a variety of bridges throughout the Bismarck district. In fiscal year 29. Um, a lot variety of substructure and super rehab decks for work, 1.4 million. We have a couple of rural projects. Uh, the DOT is doing one on North Dakota. 1806, uh, for a chip seal coat, about 700,000.

00:12:49,200	And then a larger project for a widening, uh, junction. All ten all the way to the West Mandan urban limits. This is on I-94. A $23 million price tag total is associated with that project. Um, we have safety Bismarck intersection of Lincoln Road and Yagan Road. There’s going to be a roundabout installed at this intersection for about 3.2 million.

00:13:17,300	And DOT is doing another pavement markings project district wide. Again, about 2.7 million in the urban category to for 29. Mandan will be doing a um some work on old Red trail from 40th Street to the urban limits. Uh, some grading and pavement work.

00:13:40,530	Um, Mandan will also be doing a project at Mandan sixth Avenue at the railroad underpass for drainage improvements. This is about $6 million project. Uh, Bismarck is doing some signal work. The intersections of seventh and Boulevard and ninth Street and Boulevard for 1.11 million. And then Mandan. DOT will be doing a project in Mandan, the 94 business from the urban limits to ND six.

00:14:06,070	This is another widening project of about 1.5 million. So that covers 2029. Any questions or comments? Maybe just a couple of comments or one comment? One question. 29.8 The Bismarck intersections of seventh Street and Boulevard. That’s a DOT led project. That’s correct. If we provided that comment as well as 29.6 and 29.7, those are both Mandan projects.

00:14:34,970	20 that was give me my other question. 29.7 is that it says Mandan. But wouldn’t that be a DOT project as well? Will yes, correct. That’s okay. And then 29.6 as well. It’s also a Mandan project. 296 should be Mandan Lead Agency and 29.7 should be a DOT lead agency.

00:14:50,900	Correct. So no changes to 29.6 because it says Mandan on it, but 29.7 instead of Mandan should be DOT correct and 29.8 instead of Bismarck should be DOT. Wonderful. Okay. Thank you. Those will be noted for the final draft. Thank you Gabe.

00:15:16,670	Moving into 2030 to finish the program off for the, uh, we have four chip seal coat projects in the rural category. Um, junction 21, north to the heart River. That’s on highway six. Highway 25. And then we have one on highway 1806 and highway 83. Um, various extents for that, but there are all chip seal coat projects ranging from 2 to $3 million.

00:15:41,130	Uh, the, DOT is doing a safety project again. Pavement markings. They seem to really like doing pavement markings on the state highways. And so they will be doing another one of those. And 2030. We have Bismarck doing some intersection improvements.

00:16:01,930	Um, let’s see a century Avenue near the high school, Washington and Avenue B, Riverside Park Road and Airport Road and Lee Avenue. I believe those are actually rectangular rapid flashing beacons. Uh, for pedestrian improved pedestrian safety. So I’m glad to see that that project is going through. And then Burleigh County will be doing a project for a roundabout, uh, Apple Creek Road in 66. About 5.5 million.

00:16:22,800	And then in the urban category, we have a memorial bridge project. Uh, for some work on Memorial Bridge. Minor work, $701,000 project. Um, DOT will be leaning, uh, a major project on Main Avenue, Bismarck, from Frayne Barracks Road to Washington Street.

00:16:48,930	This includes concrete pavement repair, a potential roundabout, uh, some bikeway and walkway work, landscaping, structure rehab. This is an estimated $7.1 million project. And then finally, are we looking at Mandan? They will be doing some a chip seal coat on 1806 from Mandan Avenue to 27th, 110,000 is the associated cost with that.

00:17:12,400	And you may notice that the table of projects this year looks different. WI DOT is has switched to a new software for their tip or their Stip projects that we are. So I incorporated this into this program. Um, so that might that justifies the change. It’s like I said, it’s DOT’s fault if it’s if it’s wrong.

00:17:35,400	But, uh, yeah, I think that it will be as we work through some of those, uh, loopholes, it will continue to improve as we go on, continue on. Any questions or comments? Yeah. Comments. First would be that for 30.9, um, one of our comments back was that that’s a Bismarck led project. Okay. Gabe’s nodding. So I’ll take that.

00:17:55,400	And then, um, uh, as you mentioned, we’ve switched to a new program this year. Um, we’re still rolling it out. Eventually, it’ll get to the point where the MPOs and the all the jurisdictions have access to be able to submit their projects directly.

00:18:13,270	But in that vein, is there’s anything missing, uh, that you guys, um, you know, we’ve had a couple kinks where we found things that were supposed to be on the program list. I believe we got them all, but if not, just let us know. Thank you very much. Well, um. Yeah, that concludes the presentation of the program.

00:18:30,870	And I made note of the comments as well as DOT’s provided comments that they gave on the program. All these changes will be incorporated into the final draft, which will be brought forward next month. Data. I just one other, um, minor note for everyone.

00:18:53,270	Um, just to let you guys know that the maps, uh, in the appendices will be we will be removing the demographic maps that are currently in the appendices due to more detailed versions of this being in our title six plan, which is updated annually, as well as, uh, in our monitoring report. Uh, but we will obviously be retaining these maps showing the projects for each, uh, each year.

00:19:15,070	Um, and again, we will incorporate all revisions, uh, based on comments received into the final version. Uh, any additional questions? Okay. Thank you. Stephen, what in in the spreadsheet or this exhibit, it says a column called tip revision and local fund information.

00:19:37,630	Can you maybe just elaborate on what that is and what it will be in the future too? Yes. That will be moved to the outside of the program, but it’s basically a way of showing which local agency is responsible for the local share of the project. If the project indeed has local funding attached to it.

00:19:54,800	So that’s the local fund part of it. I you know, I’m not sure if there’s a better way to to communicate that. Um, but yeah, that’s the local fund part of it.

00:20:08,330	And then the other part of it is, as projects are amended or modified during the course of the year, uh, there needs to be a way to notate which projects are changed and, and how and so that box will be used to fill in that information as well. Maybe as a follow up to that, I know what I thought. In previous iterations we had the distinction.

00:20:26,200	If it was a Parks and Rec, where there’s Mandan Parks and Rec or Bismarck Parks and Rec, actually supplying the local funds, is that critical to capture in this document? If so, I’d have some edits. If not, it’s fine. You can just say Bismarck and someone from the Bismarck side of the river will pay the local share.

00:20:38,470	But if you’re trying to capture that here, I guess I’d have some other edits as well. Yeah. It’s not it’s not critical. It’s just really it’s an informational item. So I’m certainly willing to add more detail if that’s the desire of the tag. But it is not.

00:20:52,970	There’s no requirement that we, that we have that it’s just yeah, it’s informational. One thing that I had mentioned in DOT comments is that the Federal Highway is always looking for conformance between the Stip and the tip, and so it might be beneficial to move that column to the far right and then put for MPO purposes

00:21:08,330	only onto it. So that way she’s not looking at why the two don’t match. Um, so, um, just a recommendation. I would recommend checking your cost estimate on 30.8 that deck overlay. I think that’s more in the $5 million range than 700,000. Thank you Logan. Yep. We can look into that. Sorry, Logan.

00:21:40,370	Which one was that? Uh, Memorial bridge deck overlay, 30.822902. We’ll look into it. All right. Why, uh, barring any further comments, what are the wishes of the board in regard to the draft tip? This is a bad move to approve with the edits noted and incorporated. First, Loretta, I second that.

00:22:13,430	We have a first from Gabe and a second from Loretta. Uh, roll call, please. Daniel Nairn. Yes. Dan Schriock. Yes. Deidre Hughes. Yes. Gabe Schell. Yes. Loretta Marshik. Yes. Jarek Wigness. Yes. John Saiki. Yes. Logan Beise. Yes. Mitch Flanagan. Yes. Will Hutchings. Yes. And Kim. Riepl. Yes. All right. Motion is approved.

00:22:48,200	We move to item number nine, the traffic data collection and analysis project consultant selection. This is with Kim Riepl. Well thank you, chair Larson. Good morning. Members of the TAC.

00:23:09,530	Uh, back in July, we approved an RFP for traffic data collection and analysis project to be conducted over the course of the next several months. It does have a not to exceed budget of $37,000. And it shall be concluded approximately December 31st of this year. The deadline for proposals was August 14th. Uh, we do typically anticipate interviewing 3 to 5 firms for each of our project selections.

00:23:34,130	However, we did receive above, over and above that in proposal submittals. And so the selection committee, which was comprised of representatives from the city of Bismarck and Burleigh County, along with an MPO staff person acting as moderator, engaged in a qualification based selection cutdown process. This resulted in four candidates being interviewed on September 3rd. They were Walt Hamilton Associates, TS traffic LLC, Idex, and NDS Data and Survey.

00:24:01,370	The selection committee recommends Gabe Walt Hamilton Associates as the consultant for the project, based on high scoring and ranking, and MPO staff is requesting confirmation of the recommendation this morning. Be happy to answer any questions on the selection process. Any questions for Kim? Seeing and hearing no questions.

00:24:31,370	Will it be the wishes of the board regarding the consultant selection? I’ll move to approve. I’ll second. First from Deidre and second from game. Any further discussion? Hearing none. We will call roll. Daniel Nairn. Yes. Dan Schriock. Yes. Deidre Hughes. Yes. Gabe Schell. Yes. Loretta Marshik. Jarek Wigness. Yes. John Saiki. Yes. Logan Beise. Yes. Mitch Flanagan. Yes.

00:25:11,230	Will Hutchings. Yes. And Kim. Riepl. Yes. All right. The motion carries. We will move into item number ten 2026. Fringe area road master plan update. So that would be me today. Um, just a very brief update for the board to let you know that the, uh. Yeah.

00:25:39,000	So we were the public comment period on the draft plan and map for the Orange Area road plan runs through Wednesday the 16th. Um, to this point, we have received a, you know, some comments from the public on both the map and through comment cards, but nothing of particular note as far as any changes required to the plan.

00:25:59,870	Um, the consultant will compile, uh, comments and responses received, and that will be part of our, uh, presentations to, uh, the commissions and councils and obviously to TAC and Policy Board in October, which is still our target.

00:26:19,670	Um, as for approvals for the plan, um, we also did receive, uh, comments from DOT. Uh, and those are also will also be addressed and incorporated into appendix. And uh, again, nothing too substantial to report on that front, but yeah, we’re been very grateful for all the engagement that we received so far from our steering committee, from this board and from other partners.

00:26:41,570	And appreciate your continued participation as we get to the home run stretch for this. Any questions? I’m happy to take any. All right. Seeing hearing none, we can move to number 11. The transit development plan. And I believe this is with Paul. Yes. Good morning, Chair Larson and members of the TAC. Hopefully. Can you hear me? Okay. We can.

00:27:06,570	Okay, great. Uh, give me one second here, and I will share my presentation. Uh, we’ll try and keep this relatively brief, but happy, of course, to answer any questions that you have. Um, so we wanted to give you an update on a few things.

00:27:28,570	And by the way, Aaron Bartlett, who is the project manager for the for the project, he’s unfortunately out today. So I’m going to be covering and giving an update. The Aaron has been leading the project. So there are some of the things with the existing conditions report that um, I haven’t necessarily been too involved in, but I’ve got enough background information.

00:27:45,230	I should be able to answer questions. Um, but we will give you an update on the steering committee meeting that we held on the 19th of August. Um, actually, I’ll give it to you right now. It’s pretty very well attended.

00:28:01,870	Was basically, uh, similar kind of an overview that we’re going to give you today. Um, on some of the existing additions work. But we also asked a number of sort of questions about values and priorities and things that will help us as we move through the project. So that was held on the 19th.

00:28:17,270	We will be having other meetings with the steering committee, but that was our first official meeting with them. Um, I’ve got a few slides that we’ll talk about the existing conditions, evaluation work that we’ve been doing, as well as a few slides on our first phase of community involvement. So, uh, quick update on the schedule.

00:28:36,800	I know the line here is maybe a week off, but essentially we are in the middle of September. We are starting our first opportunity for community involvement. We and I’ll talk about that. We’ve got a few slides that gets into some of the some of the materials and other things that we have going on right now.

00:28:54,500	Um, over the past couple of months, we’ve been working on, I think you got a briefing in August, but we’ve been working on the existing conditions work. We’re getting close to delivering a draft of that report, and we’ll quickly be moving into kind of future service needs.

00:29:10,530	We will have a planning game workshop that I’ll talk about just a little bit. And, um, and then basically developing scenarios for potential improvements to the fixed route and paratransit service. Um, and there are a couple other minor tasks here in terms of designated bus stops.

00:29:29,600	We’ll be looking at those to see if that’s feasible, as well as a transit hub analysis. And those will be coming in the fall as well. Um, and then the other elements of the project policy guidance, federal requirements that we’ll be doing that will happen in the new year. And we’ll be talking about that as we meet with you later.

00:29:45,730	So we wanted to give you a quick update on the current state of transit. Um, and, um, some of you are probably quite familiar with this, but just to give an overview, the the last full year of data that we have is 2025. So in terms of revenue sources for businesses and transit, this includes both paratransit and Cat bus.

00:30:05,530	Um is about half federal, as you know, and then about 40% is local either through the sales tax which is 12%, or just local contributions, about 28%. And then the remaining revenue sources come from the state or from fare box revenue.

00:30:23,800	So the passenger fares and then in terms of how that money is actually spent or allocated in the service, about 40% is Cat bus fixed route service and about 60% paratransit. And that’s pretty typical of some of the agencies that we’re also going to be looking at some some peer agencies. And I’ve got a few slides on that.

00:30:40,830	But this split between fixed route and paratransit is pretty typical for regions of your size. Uh, we’ve also been looking at performance, um, and one of the key things that we look at, of course, is ridership. And how well is, is ridership.

00:30:59,870	Uh, how much ridership are we seeing on the system and between the two different types of services? Paratransit, fixed route. I think the thing to note here is that paratransit services are remaining about the same. And that’s interesting because even coming out of Covid in 2021, uh, ridership hasn’t really recovered too much. But that’s okay. That’s not necessarily we don’t always say, well, ridership has to be growing on paratransit.

00:31:20,200	So that’s pretty interesting that that’s stayed about the same. Um, but what’s I think the most interesting thing on the slide is, um, how much ridership is recovered on fixed route. And that’s not totally typical across the nation. Um, and we’ve also got a slide a little bit further on that.

00:31:38,930	We’ll show 2019 versus 2020. Uh, I think it’s 2024 data, 2025 data maybe, but, um, showing that recovery. And so what we’re seeing is that the fixed route network, uh, ridership on fixed route is recovering much quicker.

00:31:57,000	This slide are a couple of performance indicators that we use to look at the transit service. Um, so this is the entire system. Uh, and when we look at the light blue, you can see that boardings per revenue hour, it’s kind of, uh, a way of thinking about how productive the system is, is is increasing. That’s what we want to see. More is better in this situation.

00:32:17,100	Um, and but a lot of that’s being driven by the change in fixed route ridership. And so the productivity of the fixed route network, um, hasn’t quite tripled, but about two and a half times from 2021. So that’s a good trend.

00:32:34,400	And that’s something that, um, we we’re also looking at that at the root level. So we can kind of see where that’s happening. Um, whereas on the paratransit system and we don’t always think of passengers per hour as like the only thing that’s important. Um, but it is important to see that on the paratransit system. And that’s stayed about the same.

00:32:50,400	So overall, that has meant that the system has been growing in terms of productivity. So that’s a good trend. We’ve also been looking at cost per passenger. And so this is kind of a assessment of how cost effective the system is.

00:33:09,230	And you can see in the light blue here that um, the cost per passenger is about the same between 2021 and 2025. It’s gone down a little bit, which is good. The less is better in this, uh, in this indicator.

00:33:25,670	Uh, and but a lot of that’s being driven by the fixed route network, as you can see, that’s been going down as ridership has been going up. Uh, whereas paratransit costs per passenger has been going up. And again, I don’t that’s not an atypical thing that we are seeing in other systems. Um, but what you really want is to try to see an overall trend for the whole system going down.

00:33:43,270	So you’re being more efficient, more effective with the resources that you’re putting into it. Uh, ridership is a big part of what we look at here. So, um, where are people riding in the system? This is the fixed route network. Um, only.

00:34:04,600	But of the six routes, um, you know, this chart kind of shows the difference between 2022 and 2025 and the growth, um, and really interesting in the sense that, you know, many of these routes have nearly doubled in terms of ridership.

00:34:20,070	And so we’re looking at that and we’ll be, um, comparing not only just how they’ve trended year over year, but also where we’re seeing ridership and how that’s changing. And the whole point of all of this is really for us to understand.

00:34:36,270	Are there changes that might need to be made to these routes to make them, uh, generate more ridership, be more productive, serve the community better? So this is one indicator of that, and it helps us understand how the routes are performing individually. Um, likewise, we’ve been looking at ridership. This isn’t every single stop. So there are flag stops along each of these routes, but at the major stops you can see that, um, some of the highest ridership locations for an avenue, of course, is where many of the transfers happen on five of the routes.

00:34:55,870	Um, but also some of the other transfers that are happening between, um, between the routes of Mapleton Avenue at the Bismarck State College. Um, but that also gives us a sense of where some of the major activity centers are.

00:35:11,970	Um, and again, it’s the point of all of this is for us to understand, are there changes that we might want to consider? Um, and to, to more effectively serve the community and the region? We are also looking at a lot of maps and demographic information to understand how the fixed route network is. And a paratransit, of course, is serving the region.

00:35:35,930	And so this map is from 2020, which is when we get the most recent data at the block level, which gives us that granular information for us to know kind of where people are living and how, um, where they are in relation to the existing fixed routes.

00:35:58,500	Um, when we do that, about 70, 67% sorry, of the people in the region are served by fixed route, and that’s within about a half a mile of transit. And but even better in terms of jobs, about three quarters of the jobs in the region are being served by the fixed route network.

00:36:16,600	And so that’s a good indicator of how well the the fixed route is serving the region. You can see it’s hitting most of the most of the region fairly well. We also look at demographics and I’ll the next slide, I’ll kind of get into this in more detail.

00:36:36,870	But looking at the number of people living in poverty, um, the non-white or Hispanic Latino origin communities, uh, households that do not have access to a car, people with disability, older adults and people who are younger. Um, those tend to be the populations that are more likely to use transit.

00:36:54,130	So we want to kind of focus in on that and compare how the service is provided in the region compared to the region as a whole. So that’s that’s one thing we’ve been doing. This map shows kind of what we call our transit needs index.

00:37:09,470	And so we take some of these indicators, these demographic indicators, and combine them into a single index to give us a sense of where the needs are a little bit higher in the region, and where we might want to consider looking at potential changes are the services that are being provided.

00:37:24,370	Are they hitting those areas that have the greatest need? So that’s one thing that we will be doing and we’ll be using as an indicator as we move into the, um, developing service scenarios. Um, this was a slide I mentioned in terms of ridership. We wanted to kind of get a better sense of recovery and post-pandemic recovery.

00:37:41,400	Um, I like to think we’re out of the pandemic, but it still is in terms of the, um, in terms of ridership. It’s always interesting for us to understand how if things change, what are the what’s the new normal, how have travel patterns sort of settled into the new normal? And where are we in terms of ridership? And

00:37:57,930	so one of the this is actually quite different than what we see in many other parts of the country in terms of ridership. You’re above where you were in 2019. So you’re you’re growing in terms of ridership. Um, and at the same time, your revenue hours are down.

00:38:16,070	And so you’re much more effective at providing service. And that’s not a typical trend that we see. And so that’s a good sign. It means that the routes are, um, largely performing well. And so it may be an indicator of like what level of changes that we might be considering to make here.

00:38:34,130	So this is just at the system level, but it’s a good indicator for us to know that the network is quite healthy and is growing. And that’s good. Uh, this just gives you a sense of some of the, uh, ridership changes that have happened since some of the more recent service changes.

00:38:52,330	And that’s, um, basically putting more service hours out, as well as some Sunday service. Um, and so that’s good. We’re starting to see we’ll probably want to, you know, uh, give a, give it another year maybe to see how those changes, uh, affect and how, uh, people respond to those changes.

00:39:10,800	But already we’re starting to see some changes in terms of ridership. Um, and at the same period of 2025, there was sort of a decline between April and May this year, where we’ve seen a slight increase. So all of that is good.

00:39:29,200	And we’re looking at some of those changes on a route by route level as well, to see where are those changes having the biggest impact? Um, we also as I mentioned, we’re looking at some peers. And so, um, I won’t go through this in a lot of detail, but we did consider quite a few peers throughout the Upper Midwest. And, um, selected.

00:39:48,930	Um, I think we selected five peers, though one of them, Saint Cloud. We are I think we’ve sort of decided that it’s, uh, it’s throwing our numbers off a little bit. And I can say that because we’ve been working with, uh, in Saint Cloud. Um, and I think a lot of that is because of the university there.

00:40:04,200	So we kind of are thinking we’ll probably take Saint Cloud out, but that still gives us five good peers of Minot, Grand Forks, uh, Rapid City, Sioux City and Jefferson City, Missouri. And we we basically selected those those peers because they had a similar population. Their ridership was about the same.

00:40:25,270	Um, they either didn’t necessarily have a large university. So like Lincoln, Nebraska has a much larger university as a presence, much higher ridership because of that. So we kind of excluded them for that reason.

00:40:43,930	Um, and then we also wanted to kind of dig into whether or not they had fixed or Flagstaff bus stops and whether or not they have a on street or off street transit facility. And as I mentioned earlier, those are a couple things that we’re going to be digging into in just a little bit more. So we’re using the peer comparisons to get a better understanding of that.

00:40:57,270	What are the peers doing? Um, this is just a slide that shows, um, some of the basic information we’re going to be looking at. So this is boardings per revenue hour. And looking at uh, uh, Bozeman Transit compared to some of the peers. Um, so boardings per hour or productivity is one of the first things we’re going to be looking at.

00:41:13,930	Boardings per capita, operating cost per revenue, our cost per capita cost per boarding and the fare box recovery. So we’ll be looking at all of those and sort of getting a sense of what are some of these other agencies doing that we could learn from as part of this project? And so some of our key

00:41:30,270	findings through the existing is that, yeah, transit demand is growing. That’s great. Um, and it’s really concentrated on some key routes and destinations and locations. So that’s going to help us as we start to develop scenarios. Um, productivity continues to improve.

00:41:49,600	Uh, paratransit, as I said, isn’t we don’t always look at productivity as the key indicator. It’s an essential service. Um, and so we want to consider that as we start to think about the fixed route network, um, and again, transit provides a really broad range of coverage throughout the region, serving a lot of residents and most of the jobs.

00:42:11,470	So 30, 75% of the jobs, um, and as I mentioned, those service changes that that happened in April, those appear to be promising. And so we wanted to think about, like, are there other improvements that we can make to build on that and to help that to continue that trajectory? Um, so as we start to get into the next phase of the project, we’ll be looking

00:42:25,930	at some of the recent growth in ridership. Um, there may be areas where that have higher need that we might want to look at potential changes. There. Um, and, um, helping us to evaluate where places where we could make future investments to help continue that trajectory of growth. Um, engagement plan.

00:42:49,470	I will touch on this very quickly and then open it up for any questions. I want to take too much time today, but, um, we do have a project website that is up and basically includes a little bit of background about the project.

00:43:07,570	Um, it does have the timeline, which I mentioned earlier on in the in the presentation. Uh, we do have a digital surveys or an online survey that is available. There’s uh, we have an online map that we can allow people to comment specifically about where they might want to see improvements.

00:43:27,330	Um, it and then there will be promotional items and other posters that we have available as we go through the first phase of engagement. Um, the comment map here, this is basically allows again, people to kind of zoom in and identify, hey, I want a new stop, or I have an idea for making an improvement. This route needs a frequency. We they can also just add general comments.

00:43:48,800	And so this is available and we will be um, trying to get as much input, uh, as we can through phase one engagement. We will also be doing, as I mentioned, we have a digital survey. This is just a screenshot in the upper right.

00:44:07,800	We also may be doing a paper survey that will be available on the buses, as well as at the open house. Um, and so those will be um, will basically the same sets of questions. So our engagement timeline, as I mentioned, we met with the steering committee in August. We launched our website in August. And now here we have a couple of months of public involvement.

00:44:27,200	So we will have an open house at the end of this month. Um, and then towards the end of October, we’re going to be doing a planning game workshop. And that’s really kind of a more focused, uh, um, invite only, I will say.

00:44:44,130	So it’s not the general public, but we will want to invite many of you, I imagine will be at the at the planning workshop, if you’re available. Um, and that will allow us to kind of, you know, present a little bit more about existing conditions, but really to have you give us input on what are the priorities, where are the needs, what are the things, and how do you how

00:44:59,670	would you see, uh, planning out the future network? Do you think it should be about the same, or do you think there might want to be? You might want to see changes in the network. And so that will happen in late October.

00:45:15,170	And from there then we’ll basically be evaluating the feedback that we get from the public involvement, um, as well. And then kind of moving into service, um, scenarios. So with that, I will open it up for any questions, and I’m happy to go back to any of the slides, um, that you may have questions about. Thank you. Paul, that was a good update.

00:45:35,970	Any questions? Can you provide that website that you said you created? Uh, I didn’t quite catch that. It’s kind of hard to hear the. Yeah, sorry about that. I was wondering if you could provide the web address for the website you mentioned. Yes. Um, I will do that.

00:45:54,200	I have that pulled up and I will put that. I can put that in the chat. It is right here. It is not something I would be able to memorize, but, um, I will put it in the chat. And it is, I believe it is also on the MPOs website. I do have a question, so thank you for that.

00:46:13,030	That was very interesting. The data you’ve collected presents a very, um, interesting story about about the trajectory we’re on and very encouraging. So I do thank you for that. The I have a question about the peer study you’ve done so far.

00:46:28,970	Um, you mentioned that our paratransit to fixed route ratio is about 40% to 60%. Is that did you find that among the other peers that you studied as well? Um, that’s a great question. Yes it is. That is, as I mentioned, that is a pretty typical split between, um, how paratransit costs. And it’s not necessarily service hours, but it’s cost.

00:46:48,600	So that cost per hour for paratransit tends to be higher. It’s just a more specialized service. So yeah, that’s a pretty typical trend. I don’t have it right in front of me, but that is one of the things that we will be including in the peer review.

00:47:06,330	Um, and again, we’ll be looking at this is just boardings per hour, but we will be looking at cost per capita, and we’ll be splitting it between the fixed route and the demand response networks. So that’s a great question. And the next probably the next time we come back to you, we can answer that question a little bit more clearly.

00:47:22,400	And we can show it for all of the peers that we’ve selected. Thank you. Um. Okay. Yeah. Maybe it’s a question for Paul. Maybe it’s even for Deidre in terms of just strategy of this plan and how it moves forward.

00:47:43,600	Is it take what we have and tries to find some improvement areas on the side, or is it, hey, actually we might start a seventh route, an eighth route, or we’re going to totally get rid of blue route and redo it.

00:47:54,870	As to a light blue and a dark blue and well, I mean, is everything on the table at this point in time or is there more of a tweaks and refinements kind of strategy for this plan? Um, so it’s a lot different than previous CDPs where it’s always been financial and where we can cut. I think this is a lot more open. Um, for those more creative transit solutions.

00:48:10,800	And then also reviewing our current system, you know, we know that there’s a need for a second route or some sort of solution in Mandan because right now, operating it as a two hour route, you can see purple route ridership is continuing to decrease.

00:48:25,230	So that’s, you know, one of those key items that we’re looking at to, um, but I think it’s pretty much everything’s on the table. Let’s see what we can do with the resources we have access to now. Okay. That’s great.

00:48:37,230	I would I would agree that that seems like a good strategy for this time around, especially at a planning level, just to throw lots of good ideas out there and see which ones can get traction and execute them. So thank you. Absolutely. Thank you. Yeah. That’s a that’s a great question.

00:48:55,000	If I could follow up to that, I think, you know, when we when we do this uh, the planning game workshop, it kind of does allow you to kind of start over if you want. Um, and we’ll, we’ll basically have a map that will allow. And it’s just, it’s really more about understanding priorities and needs.

00:49:13,670	But the planning game workshop is it’s it’s fun, I will say, but it’s also pretty informative because it really makes you make kind of tough decisions about how you allocate resources. And we will want to be, um, you know, thoughtful about how much we want to consider in terms of increasing the budget, um, or increasing the amount of service that’s out there. We don’t want to say, oh, we’re going to triple service. That’s just not financially feasible.

00:49:33,530	But, um, but, but, but the planning and workshop really allows members at that participate. That really gives us the feedback of of how you prioritize things.

00:49:56,100	Um, and I think if we give the background of the network and show where some of the routes might need more improvement, um, and those routes that are performing quite well, I think what we typically see when we’ve done these planning game workshops and other places, Saint Cloud was one of them. And what we typically see is, you know, a lot of the a lot of the routes, um, tend to kind of come back.

00:50:09,800	They people, um, like the way that it’s functioning now. It’s working. Well. It’s serving the community well. Um, but what we what we see through that is that, oh, it might be the edges and, um, you know, so it might be Mandan it might be a place

00:50:24,670	where we might want to make more changes or, you know, sort of the, uh, some of the growth areas, those are typically places where we might want to consider changes, because that is, as the region grows, it’s kind of harder for the existing network to do that, to serve those areas. So. Chair Larson, this is Kim. Yes.

00:50:49,830	I just wanted to add that in case anybody just wants to jump right on to that interactive map and provide a comment or take a look at the overview, you can access that very easily through the MPO website.

00:51:08,170	We’ve got that right on our landing page under the Headlines and Announcements, with a link that will take you right to the project map. Or you can use another link just to take you to the general project website as well. Um, and then that would allow you to maybe bookmark those areas, um, for future reference. Thank you.

00:51:26,170	Kim, do we have any other comments? Kim, while we got you, can you speak a little bit about how this study might or may not be timed right to incorporate any findings from the the Rail study Passenger Rail study, um, corridor say this working. Well. Thanks.

00:51:44,700	Well, um, kind of coincidentally that you mentioned the rail study because we’re going to be talking about that next. But, you know, we’re very early on in both studies. So, uh, we’ll be working actually quite closely with one another between the project management teams, uh, to make sure, number one, that we are not duplicating any efforts, but we know that there is going to be

00:52:01,970	a pretty direct correlation between the efforts of each of these studies. Um, and so, yeah, we want to make sure that we are touching base as project management teams kind of throughout both. So there will be more to come on that. Perfect. Well, again, thank you, Paul, for the update.

00:52:26,670	And thank you everybody for the, uh, discussion. Um, well, we can, uh, I think, move into number 12, the passenger rail station siting study update with Kim. Well, thank you, Chair Larson. And Will your question provided a perfect segue into this, exhibit.

00:52:49,470	Are I on page 99 of your packet is a staff memo just regarding the passenger rail station siting study? We have been eagerly anticipating the kickoff of this study, and so we’re very happy to be at this point where it is finally underway. And it is absolutely my pleasure to introduce the project manager for this study. Uh, with KLJ.

00:53:15,130	Her name is Cassie McNames, and I believe that she is joining us online. And I’ll just let you take it away. Cassie. Sounds great. Thanks for introducing me, Kim. Um, good morning, Chair Larson and members of the TAC.

00:53:31,200	As um, Kim mentioned, we are very early on in the study, so, uh, not a lot to report, but we did want to introduce ourselves. So, um, as Kim mentioned, I’m the project manager with kale. Jamie Olson is on the call here as well. She is our public engagement coordinator.

00:53:47,800	Um, we did kick off the study here in September, um, with Kim and the design team. Uh, Jamie has been working to with Kim to establish the study review committee and development of the public involvement plan. Her team is also preparing study, branding and marketing material templates, and working on a project website.

00:54:11,600	Our planning team is currently working on a desktop review to establish existing conditions along the existing rail corridor, uh, which includes the MPO area between Mandan and Lincoln. David Evans and Associates, uh DEA, they are our kind of rail, uh, consultant on the team. They will be leading the coordination efforts with BNSF, and we’ve been working with them on a communication strategy, which will be reviewing with Kim next week.

00:54:32,000	Um, as far as the BNSF coordination goes, uh, the DEA team is also reviewing the Amtrak and BNSF guidelines to help us establish criteria for a future passenger train station. And in conjunction with this, they’ll be developing a list of potential peer communities to assist with the station programming efforts.

00:54:54,470	Um, although we haven’t actually started the, uh, I, uh, alternatives identification uh, phase yet, we’re we’re still working on the existing conditions. Those will be screened in a two phase process. The first one will be technical principles, you know, is it feasible based on the infrastructure that we need and the requirements that we have through Amtrak and BNSF.

00:55:17,930	And then the remaining options that we pull out of that will be further vetted using planning. Planning principles such as community connectivity and corroboration, accessibility and multimodal connectivity, potential environmental impacts, land use development, um implementation strategies.

00:55:42,500	Um, and these will all be reviewed with the uh study review committee here and stakeholders at key phases throughout the project duration. And as Kim just mentioned, we will be reviewing, um, the the options with the Transit Development study. Um, just to identify potential opportunities to, um, connect with that team and identify, um, impacts. As we we look at that connectivity component of the study. Um, excuse me.

00:56:07,100	And then from a schedule perspective, the existing condition review is anticipated to be completed by the end of October. Um, we will be working with the alternatives analysis. We’ll start on that most likely here late September, early October. With that phase completed in March.

00:56:29,470	And then the draft report will be, um, is anticipated to be ready for review in April of 27. So with that, I will, I guess. Jamie, is there anything else you would like to add to that? No, nothing more for me. I think you covered it very well. Okay. Thank you. Um, I’ll open it up for questions. Thank you very much. Cassie. That’s, uh.

00:56:49,270	It’s a very exciting project, and we’re excited to, uh, hear receive future updates from you. Are there any questions? I’m not seeing any, Cassie. So thank you very much for the update today. Um, we will move into item 13. Uh, this is, uh, Roadway Projects. Um, still work going on. So, uh, maybe we’ll start with, uh, Logan from the D.O.T. side.

00:57:15,370	Yeah, I think they’re kind of quieting up a little bit, but we still got the more highway. Phase two is still going strong. I think right now they’re getting ready to do some paving towards the end of the week, and they’re doing some trimming of the base, but they plan To pay.

00:57:29,800	Friday, the contractor is also prepping to do the big jack and bore pipe that kind of goes under the levee at third Street. I think that’s going to be September 21st through the 24th. Starting somewhere in that time frame, I, um, IV or not, I mean, uh, Tyler Parkway, um, there plan to pour sometime this week.

00:57:48,200	I think they finished the small repairs last week and traffic switched to to, uh, to pour some concrete on Tyler Parkway. Logan. That’s the bridge, right? The. Tyler. Yeah. Sorry. Yeah. Tyler Parkway. Bridge, not the other. Yeah. You guys, there’s another project. A bigger project. That’s. Yep. Yeah. Good. Good clarification. Um.

00:58:05,700	Interstate reconstruction. I think they’re pretty much done paving the concrete on that, but they’re paving the shoulders this week. Finish up some rest area work in the next couple of days as well. But that project is is wrapping up as well. So we’re doing pretty good. It’s good. Thank you. Logan. Um, we’ll go online.

00:58:22,700	Uh, John, is there anything for Morton County? Uh, no. We’ve wrapped up everything that was on County Road 139A. We have a few other projects that we’re wrapping up, but they’re not part of the MPO. So thank you very much.

00:58:42,870	Dan, do you have anything for Burleigh? Burleigh County is just, uh, we have a bridge project replacement that starts up next week. Um, everything else is starting to hit the end phase, so hopefully we get most of our other flex fund projects and our locally funded projects wrapping up in the next few weeks. All right. Loretta, do you have anything for Lincoln? I do not have anything to update for Lincoln.

00:59:06,270	Well, then we’ll go with Gabe for Bismarck. Sure. Our, uh, two Highway Safety and Pro Improvement Program funded projects, one at the intersection of Jericho Road and Centennial, is a rectangular rapid flash beacon that one’s final complete up and running. At this point in time.

00:59:29,970	Our other CIP project is the traffic signal replacement and turn lane improvements at Century Avenue and 19th Street. Traffic signal is. The new traffic signal is constructed and it’s operational, and now the contractor is working on the turn lane modifications and ADA improvements in that area. That one will will use the rest of the the summer here to fall.

00:59:47,130	I can say fall now, uh, fall season to finish construction. Um, last one, I’ll provide an update. Not federally funded, but it does tie into some MPO work products from the past. Our safe Routes to Services project plan. That was a couple years ago now. Or a year and some change.

01:00:04,000	Um, one of the recommendations were some improvements in the area of 24th Street between Main Avenue and Broadway Avenue. And this year is part of the city’s annual pavement rehabilitation project.

01:00:21,300	We actually did a million overlay and Broadway Avenue, as well as on 24th Street, and we were able to integrate some of the recommendations from that safe Routes to Services plan into the million overlay that we were doing on 24th Street, in particular, was a asphalt roadway that was about 60ft wide, but was only two lanes of traffic.

01:00:37,800	So we were able to move that curb line, um, eat into the street segment and then replace that right of way with pedestrian improvement or a sidewalk along that area. So we have now a pedestrian sidewalk from 20 to from Main Avenue to Broadway Avenue along 24th Street. Instead of having to walk in the really, really wide shoulder slash gutter that was there previously.

01:00:53,200	So I just wanted to thank the MPO for some good suggestions, and we’ll continue to integrate those as we are able to do so in our annual maintenance type projects. Fantastic. And I appreciate that. Uh, that note, uh Jarek. For Mandan. We have an urban Grants program project going on in downtown Mandan right now.

01:01:15,030	Um, right now, the contractor is wrapping up on First Street. We’re expecting, uh, concrete paving to occur this week on on First Street. And then the only remaining segments would be on Fourth Avenue Northwest.

01:01:33,770	Um, we’re expecting the segment between Main Avenue and first Street to be, uh, paved and open again at the beginning of October. And then between first and second streets, uh, towards the end of October. So plugging away. All right. Great to hear. Hopefully we get good weather for a little bit longer for everybody. Um, move into other business.

01:01:55,030	Um, does anybody have any other business they’d like to bring to the board? Um, this will be my last meeting. I’m been replaced by Miguel Andrews. He’s in the audience today. I switched positions within the districts that will be taking over the district. Um, portion of. This. Well, we would extend your thanks for your service on our board, and I’ll welcome, uh, Miguel. So thank you very much.

01:02:17,570	Seeing no other business, we stand adjourned. Thank you.