City and consultant present Belgrade Safety Action Plan with 'zero fatality' vision; draft due for public review in August

Joe Hauck, Belgrade’s city engineer, introduced Nick Foster of Kittelson & Associates to present the draft Safety Action Plan developed under the Safe Streets for All (SS4A) grant. Foster summarized the process—project kickoff in February, four safety-working group meetings with stakeholders, and two rounds of public engagement—and described the plan’s long‑term vision: "the acceptable number of people who die or are seriously injured on roads in Belgrade is 0."

Foster said the plan identifies four emphasis areas: intersection safety; walking and biking safety; impaired driving; and nighttime/unlit driving conditions. Technical analysis and public input led to four priority projects—sidewalk gap fills in the core, downtown crossing and intersection improvements, Jackrabbit corridor treatments that require coordination with the Montana Department of Transportation (MDT), and the Dry Creek/Cruiser Spooner project.

Staff and the consultant noted safety perceptions: roughly 60% of respondents said they do not feel safe crossing Main Street (pre-demonstration project). Foster said interim crash‑reduction targets were set to reduce fatal and serious crashes over multi-decade timeframes and that the draft plan will be revised based on staff and stakeholder feedback and posted for public review in August ahead of a second-meeting adoption target.

Council asked about MDT coordination for left-turn signals on the Jackrabbit corridor and the relationship of the Main Street demonstration project to the plan; staff said MDT projects are already in construction for some intersections and that I‑90 crash data are excluded because the city has minimal influence over interstate operations.