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May 9, 2022 By RGC

RGC Comments to 4/27/22 Open House

RGC’s Review of the County’s Tribal Trail Connector Open House 4/27/22

The Tribal Trail Connector (TTC) project continues apace, without regard to any of the material issues and problems with this project:

  1. The latest public presentation, held in the form of exhibits displayed at an open house on April 27, reflects a glaring lack of data and rigorous analysis, which is appalling, given the stakes, and basically disregarded the “No Build” option.
  2. County Staff do not know the total cost of the TTC, nor have offered any evidence of tangible benefits to justify its cost.
  3. The financial cost is likely to be at least $15-20mm, EXCLUDING the cost of eventual condemnation and lawsuits, which could easily double or triple this number.
  4. In the meantime Staff have allocated a further $850,000 to the TTC in the upcoming budget.

Staff have steadfastly ignored these important issues, either because they are being directed to by the four commissioners who want this road regardless of the consequences, or they are simply not competent enough to deal with them.

There are several other alternative measures to alleviate our summer traffic congestion, which would be much more effective and less expensive than the TTC. Why the County isn’t pursuing these opportunities is a mystery.

More important, we encourage you to stop thinking the TTC may be inevitable. If you oppose it, please get involved. Responsible Growth Coalition and JH Conservation Alliance are fully engaged in challenging this folly of a project and ask you to join us. There is still time and opportunity to defeat the TTC.

So please act now, and submit your own comments. Vote “No Build,” the only sensible option. Thank you.

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The following are the issues identified, and open questions raised by the content of the exhibits displayed at the Open House:

  1. The TTC’s right of way grant is subject to a wetlands study. A document entitled “Memo for TC/WYDOT hydrology analysis” provided by Jacobs Engineering has been sharply criticized and called into question in a review by Clearwater Geosciences.
  2. Staff have disregarded the “No Build” option in their evaluation of the alternatives.
  3. Shifting the TTC roadway west takes it outside the boundary of the easement, therefore not an option.
  4. The wetlands analysis cited has been discredited in a review by Clearwater Geosciences. The conclusion set forth here is false.
  5. The redundancy argument put forth by Staff contains no definition of a “catastrophic occurrence,” nor if/when if there ever has been one in our community. No indication of how does the TTC reduce the likelihood of such an event, nor how much shorter transit times as defined here would be. There is no data or analysis to support this claim. There is no description of how emergency vehicles, most of which are in the town of Jackson, benefit from using the TTC and under what circumstances.
  6. The Y: why isn’t further increasing its capacity considered? That would be much less expensive than building the TTC, which in fact would not reduce congestion at all. The Y’s capacity was increased by WYDOT’s upgrade in 2017, eliminating it as the top bottleneck. As a result, the Spring Gulch and Moose-Wilson Rd junctions have emerged as bottlenecks. Those need to be addressed more urgently than the Y does.
  7. Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT) for trips from points west to the school district would indeed be lower, but Vehicle Time Traveled (VTT) would not, due to induced demand. Even without induced demand, a trip from Teton Village to the schools would only be reduced by a minute or two (5-10%), not worth the TTC’s expense and environmental impact. How does the County justify conferring a minor, if any, benefit to a group of commuters at the expense of all valley residents, especially those in affected neighborhoods? Also, “5% reduction in trips through the Y in 2045” is highly unreliable, and even if it weren’t, certainly not worth the TTC’s cost.
  8. Congestion at the Y continues to be disingenuously used as justification for the Y – because it was relieved when the Y upgraded in 2017.
  9. Redundancy already exists: emergency vehicles (EVs) can travel through ISR or on the bike path, although this is unlikely to be used much since most EVs are in the town of Jackson.
  10. Much is made of the USA Today survey from 2019, which is largely irrelevant. The scope of the survey appears to be limited to the town of Jackson. What would be the impact of being in 1347th place in terms that matter? How much better ranked would Jackson be with the TTC? Isn’t the ranking based on number of ways to exit the area? If so, how does the TTC have any impact on that? (It doesn’t). This point is a perfect reflection of how dependent Staff is on unsupported opinions and assertions. Citing this survey is absurd, and highlights Staff’s lack of professionalism.
  11. Other than bypassing the Y, what else is there? What is the benefit to START to have its buses bypass the Y? How much time and money is saved? Staff haven’t provided anything that would answer these reasonable questions.
  12. Evaluation of the proposed alternatives: the level 1 and 2 screening exercises are shoddy and of no value. Ranking the alternatives was based on hired consultants’ opinion of the potential benefit of the TTC against different criteria/objectives. This approach says nothing about how much actual, tangible benefit any alternative would deliver. For all we know, none does, and the rankings simply indicate the least worst.
  13. Feasibility of the alternatives: three of the four alternatives would cross easements held by ISR, TSS, and JHLT. We understand ISR and JHLT will not grant the County such access, and have advised them accordingly. That leaves the alternative which would join WY22 at the end of the bike path. WYDOT would not accept an additional intersection so close to Coyote Canyon unless the north entrance of ISR is closed, which could trigger an expensive lawsuit. Bottom line: only the “No Build” is feasible.
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Filed Under: News Media Articles, Plans and Policies, Press, Public Input, Traffic Studies Tagged With: NoBuild, Open House, ttc

January 6, 2017 By RGC

Proposed SPET Ballot initiative is premature

January 6, 2017

Dear County Commissioners, Town Council Members, and Staff:

We write on behalf of the Responsible Growth Coalition (RGC), a local non-profit corporation whose mission is to raise public awareness concerning planning and transportation issues in Teton County, Wyoming and the Town of Jackson.

As we understand it, you are considering raising public funds in a new SPET to design and construct a Tribal Trails Connector (TTC). We strongly oppose inclusion of that project in the upcoming SPET ballot for the following reasons:

1. When the ITP was adopted, you, our elected officials, committed to undertake a comprehensive review of the need for new or expanded roads. You promised the public that you would conduct an analysis of current and historic traffic data and modeling of alternative measures to deal with current and future traffic congestion. No such analysis was ever done by the consultant who developed the ITP. It is exceedingly premature to seek public funds for a new road like a TTC, before starting, completing or sharing the results of that work with the public. As we understand it, a RFP has just now been developed by your Staff, but a consultant has yet to be selected from WYDOT’s vendor list, so no actual work has started. In fact, the only study of traffic data that has been done to date is the one we did and shared with you earlier this Fall, and it demonstrates that the TTC is not needed to alleviate congestion at the Y.

2. To the extent that your support for a TTC derives from its inclusion in the ITP (from what we gather this is the main reason), we note that a TTC’s justification in the ITP is “alleviation of traffic at the Y.” WYDOT has recently confirmed that it will be making improvements at the Y on an accelerated schedule to do just that, at a fraction of the cost of a TTC. The Y improvement project is due to be started in August 2017 and completed by April 2018. WYDOT believes the Y improvements will address traffic congestion at the Y Intersection for the next 12-15 years. These improvements are consistent with those suggested by our independent consultant. There is no demonstrated need for a new road, such as a TTC, in the near future.

3. If emergency access to South Park is a concern, such access already exists along the existing bike pathway (which is wide enough to handle emergency vehicles) and through Indian Springs (which has given access to emergency vehicles), both the north and south parts of South Park Loop Road and High School Road.

4. Last but not least, the neighborhoods that would be most affected by a TTC (Indian Trails, Indian Springs, Creamery and Dairy, and 3 Creek), in fact, strongly oppose its construction and will mount an opposition campaign, along with RGC and its members. In sum, a TTC should not be included in a new SPET. If it is, the project will be vigorously and visibility opposed.

Thank you for considering our comments.

Sincerely,
Officers of the Board of the Responsible Growth Coalition
Lance Cygielman
Michele Gammer
Geoff Gottlieb

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Filed Under: Public Input Tagged With: letters, rgc, ttc

June 8, 2015 By RGC

Mother’s ITP Safety Concerns

From: Adrianna Anderson

Date: June 8, 2015 at 7:14:35 AM MDT

To: commissioners@tetonwyo.org, council@townofjackson.com
Cc: sbirdyshaw@tetonwyo.org, awatkins@tetonwyo.org, county@jhnewsandguide.com

Subject: Teton County Resident with ITP Safety Concerns

Dear Commissioners & Town Council Members,

Thank you for your hard work and time dedicated to the ITP last week. Last Monday’s Joint Information Meeting was a long, informative session that provided many solutions as well as areas needing further exploration in the coming weeks regarding Teton County’s traffic situation. We trust that you will make the right call for Teton County and it’s inhabitants and I look forward to future discussions.

I am writing you today as a South Park resident and mother to two young children (6 & 9) who attend Jackson and Colter Elementary schools. My comments are regarding the proposed Tribal Trails Connector Road (TTCR) being built as a bypass in the South Park neighborhood. I am aware you have heard many rationale in favor and opposed to the TTCR and with so much information it can be challenging to sort through the minutiae of it all. I promise to stick to the facts of the matter.

While Mr. Charlier spent much time persuading how the TTCR would reduce traffic at the Y by up to 10,000 cars a day, he did little to provide rationale as to how the TTCR would not become a bypass for pass-through traffic. According to the study on South Park traffic by his competitor he mentioned (Teton County’s 2010 Felsburg South Park Study), Mr. Charlier states that most of the traffic using the TTCR would be South Park local traffic. When reading the study however, I was surprised to find that only 33% of traffic using the connector would be South Park “Local” residing traffic. The other 67% would be pass-through traffic. See details in traffic engineer Robert Bernstein’s Analysis of the 2010 Felsburg South Park Study.

How this increase in pass-through traffic will affect our children:

One of the main take-away points of the ITP is that Teton County’s goal is to increase pedestrian and bike traffic while decreasing vehicular traffic. A wonderful goal for our future indeed. While facing a 400-1,200% increase in traffic on many South Park roads that already deal with traffic congestion during school drop-off/pick-up times, how can a parent feel comfortable allowing their children to bike/walk to school and athletic practices? Daily I witness drivers failing to stop at cross walks for children and adults attempting to cross the road in school zones. What will be done to mitigate this blatant danger to our children? I find it contradictory that our county goal is to increase bike/pedestrian commuter traffic yet the proposed TTCR will make it more dangerous for our kids to get to school this way. I think you will find more parents driving their children to school if the TTCR is built thus nullifying our goal.

The thing I found troubling about Mr. Charlier’s comments was his attitude that addressing safety is not something that should be first and foremost. Comments like, “I’m not an advocate for writing a safety section” and “It’s essential to everything that’s in there but it’s not a separate topic” seemed lacking to me when referencing our most child-dense and sensitive zone in Teton County. His inability to provide details when questioned by Commissioner Newcomb on Charlier’s outline for safety consideration left me disappointed and feeling like this proposal hasn’t properly been vetted. Perhaps an independent child-safety analysis would be prudent?

When asked by Commissioner Vogelheim if roundabouts in the TTCR proposal would mitigate traffic, Mr. Charlier’s answer was, “You really don’t know until you get into the details of project planning”. The impression I got was that this is a plan that has been drafted yet details of safety mitigation and how to protect our children have not been fully thought out. Is this how Teton County works? Vote on a road rife with child safety concerns yet wait until later to find out if the risk is worth it? I believe our kids deserve better from us, the adults who are granted the honor of keeping them safe and out of harm’s way.

These are the questions that keep me up at night and I feel you have the power to challenge our county engineers and planners as to giving us the full story before a vote comes to order. I disagree with Mr. Charlier about the details; the details are where we are going to find out if the risk to our children’s safety is worth easing congestion at the Y. If you also felt like vital information was lacking, I urge you to please dig deeper on this one.

Please feel free to contact me to discuss this further.

Sincerely,
Adrianna Anderson

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Filed Under: Public Input Tagged With: letters, public comment, ttc, ttcr

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