State transportation officials are looking at ways to address the congested intersection of Dern Road and Springcreek Road on U.S. Highway 2 West.
The Montana Department of Transportation is hosting an informational meeting on Tuesday, Sept. 13 in the Glacier III Room at the Hilton Garden Inn.
The open house will begin at 5:00 p.m., and a presentation will follow at 6:30 p.m. Project team members will be available to discuss the project before and after the presentation.
The purpose of the meeting is to inform the public about the scope and purpose of potential improvements, and to solicit input from the public. Traffic and safety analyses and conceptual designs have recently been completed that examined potential improvements for U.S. Highway 2 at the Dern and Springcreek Road intersection. The examinations included several improvement scenario configurations.
This section of road has been the subject of concerns for years as traffic has increased and development has picked up. U.S. Highway 2 runs on a tight curve through the area and Dern Road comes up on a steep incline on the inside of the curve. On the outside of the curve, Springcreek Road joins the highway on another steep hill. Those factors, combined with fast highway speeds, mean drivers have a hard time seeing what’s around the bend and do not have much time to react to an oncoming vehicle.