Busy Infrastructure Season Reaches the Stretch Run

From the Middle Fork corridor of U.S. Highway 2 near West Glacier south to the Parkline Trail and west to the Foys Lake Road interchange on the Kalispell Bypass, construction crews have been busy this summer as they finish up several projects and Montana Department of Transportation (MDT) officials plan for future construction.

Projects are running on schedule after a few minor rain delays in mid-August and progress continues as crews move dirt, install roundabouts and chipseal roads.

At the Kalispell Bypass-Foys Lake Road Interchange, workers began removing the former roundabout this spring while they continue to replace it with two teardrop-shaped roundabouts and a four-lane overpass meant to increase bypass traffic flow.

MDT Missoula District Construction Engineer John Schmidt says crews will spend the next few months finishing the interchange bridge, and concrete-work is currently in progress for the two roundabouts.

“The plan is to have the final configuration this year in November,” Schmidt said.

Final work including chipsealing, striping and landscaping will be finished in spring 2022.

The Dern Road and Springcreek Road intersection on U.S. Highway 2 west of Kalispell also began this spring, where crews are installing a roundabout. The dangerous intersection saw 48 crashes between 2003 and 2014 and MDT officials determined a roundabout is the safest alternative to reduce speeds.

By the end of August, most of the project’s excavation will be completed and MDT Missoula District Administrator Bob Vosen says gravel and concrete work will make significant progress in the next few months.

“The amount of material moved is tremendous,” Vosen said.

Due to the area’s topography, contractors excavated a significant space, particularly on the northwest quadrant of the hillside, so a flat surface could be created for the roundabout.

Vosen says much of that area will be filled in with topsoil and seed once the roundabout is completed, which is on schedule for November.

On the busy 26.2 miles of Highway 2 between Hungry Horse and Stanton Creek, workers have been busy resurfacing the road largely through cold in place recycling, a sustainable process that recycles and rejuvenates the existing asphalt without additional environmental impacts.

Contractors are currently installing guardrail between West Glacier and Stanton Creek after adding rumble strips, new pavement markings and upgrading the sidewalks to meet ADA standards, which will be completed by the end of the year.

MDT also had to navigate the challenges of Glacier National Park traffic this summer, but Schmidt says it’s been running smoothly.

“There’s a lot of traffic up there in general and it’s a challenge, but everybody is helping,” Schmidt said. “We worked closely with the park to try and coordinate with what they had going on.”

Officials are also busy planning for future projects, which includes the Whitefish Urban Corridor Study, extending from Highway 93 and 13th Street, north on Spokane Avenue to Second Street and west on Second Street to west of Baker Avenue. MDT will host an open house for the project in September.

In Whitefish, the city has faced delays in reconstructing more than 5,000 linear feet on Edgewood Place and Texas Avenue north of town. As of mid-August, there was a water and storm drainage pipe delay due to pandemic-related production impacts, high demand for plastic pipe and plastic pipe resin shortages, and construction shut down in mid-July.

Edgewood Place was reopened to vehicular traffic on July 13 and will remain open for the foreseeable future.

In Kalispell, MDT will host a virtual meeting to present the study results for West Reserve Drive between the intersections with Highways 93 and 2, where vehicle crashes have doubled in the last decade.

In addition to road construction, the Parkline Trail in Kalispell is also on schedule and crews were working on street crossings along the trail as of Aug. 20.

While most of the hard infrastructure on the trail is installed, crews should finish up road crossings and the bridge over Highway 2 in the coming months, while landscaping will be finished in the spring.

“It’s a construction zone right now,” Kalispell Development Services Director Jarod Nygren said. “It’s not going to be officially open until next spring.”

For more information on MDT projects, visit www.mdt.mt.gov.