Challenge

In 2023, the Billings MPO updated the Billings Urban Area Long Range Transportation Plan (LRTP), which encompasses a broad range of transportation, land use, and demographic topics to forecast what the urban area could look and feel like in the future. The culmination of the LRTP was a project list that addresses transportation mobility and safety for roadway users of all ages and abilities, with a funding plan that extends to 2045. However, the Billings MPO was eager to get projects on the ground sooner, particularly much-needed safety improvements on routes that children use to get to school along which fatalities and injuries were overrepresented.

Solution

After working with the MPO on the 2023 update to the Billings Urban Area LRTP, our team helped them write a Safe Streets for All (SS4A) implementation grant application. Of the 417 projects identified in the LRTP, 20 projects that address Safe Routes to Schools, walkability, bikeability, and equity were put forward in the grant application. We collaborated with the MPO’s active transportation planner to develop project descriptions, detailed cost estimates, crash reduction estimates, and a compelling grant narrative that were submitted as part of the SS4A FY 2023 cycle.