Public transportation and carpooling compelling options
By
Michael Somerby
BIG
SKY – What characteristics define the typical Big Sky vehicle? Perhaps cracked
windshields from stones flung backward from the tires of other vehicles; or back
seats stuffed with an assortment of outdoor sporting gear; or, as residents will
say, the near-impossible task of keeping a car’s exterior grime free.
What
defines Big Sky’s Lone Mountain Trail, however, is another story, one where
cleanliness, cargo space and chipped glass pale in comparison.
Projected growth
Traffic
volumes on Lone Mountain Trail, otherwise known as Highway 64, increased by an
average of 9.2 percent annually between 2011 and 2016, with average annual
daily traffic (AADT) figures surpassing pre-recession peak traffic volumes for
the first time in 2015, according to the 2017 Big Sky Transportation Study
Report prepared for the Big Sky Chamber of Commerce by Bozeman-based civil
engineering company Sanderson Stewart.
For
2016, the average number of vehicles on the road on any given day came in at a
historic 7,500.
By
2037, that number could reach a staggering 18,000 vehicles per day if AADT
volume increases at the projected year-over-year rate of 4.34 percent over the
next 18 years, according to the same study.
Byproducts
of such volume increases are easy to imagine and already occur to some degree,
such as longer waits to access the resort or various commerce areas said Chief
William Farhat of the Big Sky Fire Department.
“We’ve
begun to see unheard of non-accident related traffic in Big Sky,” said Farhat,
adding that other consequences, like
spikes in vehicular accidents, are also rearing their heads with no signs of slowing.
“It’s really simple: More vehicles mean more accidents.”
One
such accident recently underscored the reality of the situation.
At
approximately 8:51 a.m. on Feb. 22, a flatbed truck laden with a 25-ton load of
boulders careened into a Skyline passenger bus at the intersection of Lone
Mountain Trail and Little Coyote Road in Big Sky, injuring seven.
Miraculously,
the only reported passenger injuries were minor, with the most severe being a
few broken bones.
Yet,
the sheer number of people involved coupled with the potentially devastating
alternatives and strain placed on morning commuter traffic, spurred fresh
public outcry over traffic conditions in Big Sky.
“There
are short-term, medium-term, and long-term solutions to this problem,” Farhat
said. “Simply slowing down speeds along [Highway] 64 is short-term, installing
more turn lanes is medium-term, and seeing the rest of the projects mapped out
by the TIGER grant is long-term.”
The TIGER vision
In March 2018, U.S.
Sen. Steve Daines announced that a $10.3 million Transportation Investment
Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) grant was awarded to Big Sky.
The proposal for the
grant, written via a combined effort of the Western Transportation Institute and
Sanderson Stewart, and submitted by Gallatin County on behalf of Big Sky in October
2017, was a direct result of the Chamber’s 2017 Big Sky Transportation Study Report.
Funds provided through
the grant will be allocated for the construction of a pedestrian tunnel beneath
Lone Mountain Trail, approximately seven left-turn lanes, and nearly $2.5
million for the Skyline Bus system, adding four buses and six vans to the
existing fleet that serves commuters traveling from Big Sky to Bozeman, among
several other improvements.
The need for these
improvements is paramount, with rapid and expansive developments underway in
every corner of Big Sky, increases in wealthy homebuyers seeking footing in the
fledgling community, and an influx of visitors from around the country and
globe pursuing the winter and summer experiences boasted by Big Sky Resort.
“I don’t think we
would have received the TIGER grant money the federal government not looked at
those technical pieces, and said ‘you’ve cleared that hurdle for a need,’” said
David Kack, director of the Western Transportation Institute.
Bozeman Yellowstone
International Airport’s increasing number of nonstop flights from major U.S. cities
in recent years and plans to add an additional 70,000 square feet of concourse
to existing facilities solidifies the urgent need for improvements.
Fifty percent of
employees in Big Sky commute to work, including 33 percent coming from Bozeman
alone, according to the 2018 Human Resource and Development Council’s Big Sky
Housing Assessment Update and Action Plan. This figure does not include “trade
traffic” statistics, which in the 2014 Big Sky Transportation Review prepared
by Kack, had 83 percent of Big Sky’s employees commuting from another Gallatin
County community.
In greater Gallatin
County, where nearly 80 percent of people commute, according to Data USA and the
American Community Survey, traffic issues along Lone Mountain Trail could
persist as Big Sky grows and sees natural increases in labor and employment
needs.
While projects set
out by the TIGER grant stand to alleviate those pressures, there is no assurance
they will suffice in perpetuity given the steady rates of growth cited by the chamber’s
Big Sky Transportation Study Report.
Although it’s easy
to suggest, expanding the number of lanes on both U.S. 191 and Lone Mountain Trail
isn’t financially feasible, says Kack.
According to Kack,
it costs nearly $2 million per lane mile to build a road in a relatively flat
area, with that number increasing more than six-fold for stretches such as Gallatin
Canyon.
“It really isn’t an
option,” Kack said.
The
TIGER grant is technically an agreement between Gallatin County and the U.S.
Department of Transportation, which will eventually reimburse the county for
each measure of infrastructural upgrade set out by the TIGER grant proposal.
All
forward progress is pending a vote from the county commissioners to authorize
the chairman to sign the agreement, which is currently scheduled to happen
March 19.
“The
thought is that in the summer of 2020 they will have hired a construction firm
to start building these additions,” Kack said.
A simple but effective concept
The keystone to Big
Sky’s traffic dilemma might not require upgrades to roadways or buses, but a
shift in behavior on the part of commuters.
According to Kack,
an integral piece of WTI’s vision is to convert workers driving solo to work
into staunch carpoolers and public transit users. His battle is an uphill one,
considering the percentage of “drive alone” commuters in Gallatin County, and the icon status of
the car to American—and especially American West—culture.
While
modern European communities grew within a historically developed space, the
U.S.’s fledgling communities spread westward on the premise that long stints of
travel in between is nothing to raise an eyebrow at. Eventually, the advent of
the motor vehicle cemented the principle.
“We Americans have a love for our cars,” Kack said. “One thing that is telling is how many people actually have a name for their car. They don’t typically name their house, which costs a lot more, and where they spend a lot more time, but somehow there is this emotional attachment to their car.” [
The
cost of commuting is the second highest financial sink in a family after
housing, Kack said, and average costs for operating a car hover somewhere
between $8,000 and $8,500 annually.
Through
educating people on the annual cost of their car and commute, and incentivizing
carpoolers and public transit goers, Kack and WTI hope to reduce the total
number of cars on the roads to and in Big Sky—at least where workforce,
community members, and local recreation-seekers are concerned.
“What
we see in big cities, large urban areas, is that paid parking is a massive
incentive in driving people to public transit,” Kack said. “For example, the
lots for Big Sky’s free skier parking is really good land, and eventually
someone will have an eye to turn those into housing. One day, we might see the
resort charging for parking, and that should incentivize people to carpool and
share those costs.”
Combatting
the mounting pressures of traffic in Big Sky has no simple answer. Funding from
the TIGER grant will allow for much-needed capital improvements, but it’s
unclear of what the impact ramping tourism will bring to Big Sky; commuters and
locals will be faced with a decision on their role in the equation.
