Improving city transportation grid won't be easy

The last time the Whitefish City-County Planning Board saw the Whitefish Transportation Plan was in March 2008. The board at that time advised the city council to hold off approval until it saw the Montana Department of Transportation's plan for how a reconstructed U.S. 93 will run through town.

Robert Peccia & Associates, which drafted the city plan, recently completed an urban corridor study for U.S. 93 and presented both at the planning board's Dec. 17 meeting.

The final transportation plan takes note of public comment as well as the draft Flathead County Transportation Plan, which was released in November and contains no recommendations for the Whitefish area.

The planning board members agreed that they needed more time to study the plan before making a recommendation to the city council — including taking into consideration a six-page letter by George Shryock asking that a proposed 13th Street bridge be struck from the plan.

City senior projects engineer Karin Hilding suggested the board focus on the chapter titled "Recommended Projects." The board agreed and scheduled a work session for Jan. 7.

All told, the plan includes 30 recommended projects estimated to cost more than $70 million. Of those, the 10 with the highest priority would cost more than $10 million. Two new bridges over the Whitefish River — at Seventh Street and 13th Street, totaling $18.1 million — have been given the lowest priority.

Priority A projects 'should be completed as soon as funding is available," the plan states. "The projects are needed to accommodate existing traffic conditions due to failing levels of service at intersections or exceeded capacities along corridors." Priority B and C projects are generally intended to address future growth — including areas that are currently rural.

The plan also divides recommended projects into Transportation System Management (TSM) improvements — relatively low-cost projects that don't require excessive planning and cost less than $500,000 — and Major Street Network (MSN) improvements, improvements to the grid which are needed to meet traffic demands by the year 2030.

"A good grid system of roads and streets is a key to ensuring the traffic network functions effectively in the future," the plan states.

Establishing an efficient transportation grid in Whitefish, however, can prove difficult because BNSF Railway's tracks and the Whitefish River hinder north-south and east-west connectivity. Adding to that expense are new roads that add capacity and new roads on rural lands that one day might be developed to higher densities.

Four of the eight TSM project involve studies, inventories or plans with no construction at all. The six TSM Priority A projects total about $220,000 and include:

- Improving the 13th Street-U.S. 93 intersection with turn-lane marking, $25,000. This intersection could become part of the future U.S. 93 urban corridor couplet.

- Improving circulation around Whitefish Beach by seasonally establishing one-way traffic on Lakeside Boulevard and Skyles Place, $30,000.

The 22 MSN projects total nearly $70 million, but some may never be completed, such as the $10.2 million Seventh Avenue bridge over the Whitefish River and numerous new roads in the Monegan-Voerman and Denver-East Edgewood areas.

Four of the MSN projects are "committed" even if they are not actually funded. They include streetscaping on Central Avenue, addressing a left-turn "crash trend" at Montana 40's intersection with Dillon and Conn roads, reconstructing portions of Sixth Street and Geddes Avenue, and the $38 million U.S. 93 West reconstruction project from downtown to Twin Bridges Road.

The four Priority A-rated MSN projects total about $10.2 million. They include:

- Addressing traffic congestion on Second Street between Spokane and Baker avenues with synchronized traffic signals and new left- and right-turn lanes, $2 million.

A two-lane roadway will be maintained so as not to divide the downtown area into north and south halves. Parking would be maintained for half a block east and west of Central, and left turns from Second onto Central Avenue would be prohibited.

- Addressing traffic congestion on Wisconsin Avenue, which is expected to get worse with future growth, using a series of small-scale incremental projects that will include left-turn bays, bus pullouts, pedestrian crossings and traffic signals, $5.7 million.

Among the proposed changes on Wisconsin would be left-turn bays at Skyles Place, Denver Avenue, Glenwood Road, Colorado Avenue and Reservoir Road; monitoring to see if a signal light is warranted at Alpine Market; and monitoring the effectiveness of existing pedestrian crossings.

- Reconstruct East Second Street from Cow Creek to the BNSF Railway at-grade crossing to a collector-street standard to improve connectivity to recreational facilities at Armory Park, $2 million.

- Construct one block of Seventh Street between Spokane to Kalispell avenues to improve connectivity to the schools, $500,000.

Several Priority B-rated MSN projects will be of interest to affected residents:

- Reconstruct Karrow Avenue from U.S. 93 south to Seventh Street to a three-lane minor arterial, and south of Seventh to a two-lane rural standard, $4.2 million. This project received much public comment over the past year.

The Karrow rebuild "is not intended to provide a bypass to U.S. 93," the plan states, but it "will likely be needed to facilitate growth likely to occur along the roadway if and when vacant lands are developed."

- Extend Columbia Avenue from the Whitefish River bridge south to JP Road, $2.3 million, all developer-driven.

- Extend Baker Avenue from 19th Street to JP Road, $1.6 million, also developer-driven.

- Two projects, extending Flathead Avenue through the Baker Commons subdivision, where the new Emergency Services Center is under construction, $550,000, and extending West 18th Street from Baker Avenue to Karrow Avenue, $1.6 million, is expected to improve east-west connectivity in that area.