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County Adding Concrete Wall, Additional Signage to Rose Crossing Curve

Public works director David Prunty says work will take place next week

By Justin Franz

Amid concerns from neighboring residents about safety and increasing traffic, concrete barriers and additional signage will be added to a tight curve on Rose Crossing north of Kalispell next week.

David Prunty, Flathead County Public Works director, said the barriers will prevent vehicles from going down a steep embankment and the arrow signs will hopefully encourage drivers to slow down before a tight curve.

“It’ll be an improvement,” he said.

Earlier this week, local resident Debbie Street brought her concerns about safety on the road to the Kalispell City Council. Street said that traffic has been increasing on the road in recent years and that it’s only gotten worse with the extension of the road through the Kalispell North Town Center to U.S. Highway 93 earlier this summer. Much of the road is posted at 35 miles per hour, but in the middle there is a 10-mile-per-hour curve that surprises some drivers that are unfamiliar with the route. Street said she frequently hears drivers jamming on their brakes to avoid going off the road or a collision.

Street said she has previously spoken with city and county officials but has not gotten the response she’s wanted: county officials say the road is fine and city officials say it’s out of their jurisdiction. Street said because part of the road is in the city and part of it’s in the county, the two governments should come together and come up with a joint plan to alleviate traffic issues.

Prunty conceded that the curve on Rose Crossing is not up to contemporary road standards but that there are no plans to rebuild the road at this time. He said any effort to redesign the road would require the acquisition of land along the right-of-way.