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Bozeman Main Street Commercial Truck Route Modification Project

Started: April, 2014 Ended: December, 2014 Project ID #4W4888 Status: Completed

Results & Findings

As discussed in the final report, there is an existing perception that a high volume of commercial truck drivers choose the route through downtown Bozeman because it is shorter and therefore takes less time to travel. However, as shown by the data collected in this study, this route takes the most time of all four routes studied during this project. There are trade-offs between all four routes, but two routes 3 and 4 were identified as most beneficial to both the drivers and the pedestrians of Bozeman. While the number of trucks this study found using Main Street appears to be consistent with numbers collected by the Montana Department of Transportation (MDT), this study indicated a smaller proportion are using Main Street as a through route. Regardless, the City of Bozeman should consider whether re-routing this proportion of trucks would have benefits for enhancing the downtown environment. In addition, it would be valuable to determine if the other trucks (categorized as “non-through” in this study) are traversing the majority of the route of concern (i.e. to 7th Street), or if they are diverging prior to the main pedestrian area of Main Street.

Objective

The objective of this project is to conduct a study of commercial truck travel on Main Street (US 191) in Bozeman, Montana.

Abstract

The purpose of this project was to conduct a study for the City of Bozeman (Montana) and the Downtown Business Partnership regarding commercial truck travel on Main Street (US 191), through downtown Bozeman, in order to provide the City and Partnership with information regarding truck use in said area. A literature review focused explored whether other cities have similar concerns and their approaches to identifying alternative satisfying situations to all parties.  The literature review also investigated current regulations regarding identifications of truck routes.  Data collection was also conducted to document commercial vehicle use of the Main Street corridor:
  • Video cameras were used to document commercial truck travel on Main Street, and to identify peak periods of usage.
  • Probe vehicles were used to obtain time travel estimates for three alternative routes.
  • A commercial truck stakeholder group was contacted to obtain information about how drivers select their routes.

Contacts

Files & Documents

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