Presenter Dan Burton urges Missoula to prioritize walkable, mixed‑use streets to boost safety and local business

Dan Burton, a visiting presenter and community design consultant, outlined design and policy steps Missoula could use to make streets safer, more walkable and more economically vibrant during a public workshop in Missoula. Burton, who said he has visited more than 600 cities, presented a condensed version of a full-day charrette and a two‑to‑two‑and‑a‑half‑hour workshop he runs for communities.

Burton told the audience that places succeed when residents return to the same public spaces multiple times per day and singled out lower traffic speeds and continuous sidewalks/greenways as top priorities. "If we were to do a poll ... the number 1 decision always is low traffic speeds," he said. He added, "Trails, greenways, sidewalks are the number 2 choice for buying the neighborhood." Burton also emphasized the role of sidewalks, benches and lighting in allowing older adults and people with disabilities to participate in public life.

Burton offered concrete engineering and land‑use examples drawn from projects around the U.S. and abroad to illustrate what he called “livability”: narrower block patterns, shorter blocks, medians or raised refuges for pedestrian safety, bike lanes that buffer sidewalks, and street‑edge buildings that support walking and local retail. He cited conversion examples where a previously four‑lane road was reconfigured to a two‑lane plus center turn/scramble lane and later gained bike lanes and pedestrian space while still carrying high daily traffic volumes. He said one conversion has carried as many as 29,000 cars per day after conversion.

Why it matters: Burton framed the recommendations as public‑health, safety and economic priorities. He said children who can walk and bicycle to school develop better physical activity patterns, and merchants benefit when streets invite people to linger. He referenced studies and practice from state departments of transportation and the Federal Highway Administration, and recommended broad public participation such as charrettes to build consensus for change. "We gave them the radar guns. We gave them the survey tools. They went house to house ... we got a 98% involvement rate of the community and a 95% approval rate to go forward with the engineering study," Burton said describing one community process.

Details and examples Burton cited included: a recommended minimum sidewalk width of about 6 feet where practicable; use of medians and access management to reduce crashes on multilanes; bike lanes acting as buffers to sidewalks; and angled median cuts or refuge islands to help older pedestrians cross. He noted tradeoffs communities face with access and business concerns but said in several cases businesses saw no long‑term loss and sometimes an increase in property values after street improvements — one property example he cited rose from $750,000 to $4.8 million after streetscape work.

Burton stressed that engineering details matter: appropriate curb radii, turn lanes instead of full road widening, properly designed channelized islands and mid‑block crossings, and attention to snow‑country markings where crosswalk visibility and longevity matter. He also discussed traffic‑calming tools — humps, narrowed lanes, roundabouts — and said properly designed calming can notably reduce fatal pedestrian outcomes.

On process, Burton emphasized collaborative public engagement and a multi‑stakeholder approach. He recommended charrettes and steps that include balanced neighborhood representation, technical support (for example, traffic counts and safety data) and staged engineering trials. "If we're gonna get a buy in ... we need a lot of people on our side," he said.

No formal decisions or motions were made at the workshop; Burton presented recommendations and examples for city staff, elected officials and community groups to consider. He repeatedly urged consistent policy and interagency collaboration as a prerequisite for lasting change: "As long as agencies and governments will not speak to one another, we cannot build real places for people," he said.

What to watch next: Burton recommended that Missoula consider targeted engineering pilots (median/refuge islands, bike lanes that buffer sidewalks, lane‑reduction trials), expanded pedestrian audits with schoolchildren and public charrettes to build a shared vision before committing capital projects. He did not present or request formal council action during the session.

Sources: Presentation by Dan Burton at a Missoula public workshop (presentation condensed from a full‑day charrette), examples and data cited in Burton's slide talk.