BISMARCK, ND (KXNET) — The Bismarck Mandan Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) invited the public to an open house at the Dream Center in Bismarck on Tuesday, June 18th, to learn more about a study that focuses on making transportation routes safer and more accessible in the cities. They presented public feedback received earlier this year […]
BISMARCK, ND (KXNET) — The Bismarck Mandan Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) invited the public to an open house at the Dream Center in Bismarck on Tuesday, June 18th, to learn more about a study that focuses on making transportation routes safer and more accessible in the cities.
They presented public feedback received earlier this year when they launched the Safe Routes to Services and Complete Street Study, which was phase 1 of the year-long project.
“How do we make safer streets for people getting to their services,” questioned Blue Weber, who is Community Outreach Specialist for Bolton & Menk. The company was contracted by MPO to facilitate the study.
Weber explained that those involved in the study are taking a look at people in the community who are struggling the most with transit issues and finding ways to solve them.
He said that residents and many different community service organizations have been involved in providing feedback and discussing various transportation challenges. Some of those people who shared, said that it was a challenge to get to their destinations safely.
“This data was important for us to look at in this, like the transit ridership. How many people are riding the bus? What are major [transportation] corridors? What is the infrastructure? Where are the sidewalks? The last one is traffic barriers. So, this is like unsafe intersections; where traffic accidents are happening,” said Weber.
The Bismarck Mandan M-P-O will take the feedback they received today and begin narrowing down what areas need the most improvement for the next phase of the study.