Long-Overdue Road Construction Projects Bring Traffic Safety to the Flathead Valley
Several Montana Department of Transportation projects are slated for completion by next summer, including the highly anticipated five-lane improvement project on West Reserve Drive
By Maggie Dresser
To keep up with the Flathead Valley’s growth trajectory, Montana Department of Transportation (MDT) officials this spring have launched a busy construction season with a slew of road projects, including the five-lane improvement of West Reserve Drive.
After breaking ground on the project last year, Schellinger Construction crews are picking up where they left off on the $30.9 million project.
Matt Straub, an MDT engineering project manager, says crews are currently moving utilities to prepare for the roadway’s widening, which will include a center turn lane, while concrete work is being conducted on the west end. The Stillwater River bridge deck will be replaced and will include sidewalks, a shared-use path and a pedestrian sidewalk. Intersection improvements to Hutton Ranch Road and Whitefish Stage Road will include dedicated turn lanes, signals and concrete resurfacing.
Construction is expected to extend into summer 2026.
“Things are going well,” Straub said. “This project is the right fix and the right time, and it will improve efficiency.”
According to MDT studies, Kalispell’s annual growth of average daily traffic has grown 2.4% per year from 2000 to 2019, which is expected to continue at that trajectory through 2040.
“The traffic volume is three-fold and the deterioration of the bridge on the Stillwater River and other areas necessitated this project,” Straub said.
The City of Kalispell in 2022 was awarded a $25 million Rural Surface Transportation Grant to fund the long-anticipated project. In a partnership with federal and local agencies, officials completed a corridor planning study in 2021 on West Reserve Drive, which concluded that the Flathead Valley saw a 12% population increase since 2010.
According to the study, the intersections of U.S. Highway 93, Whitefish Stage Road and U.S. Highway 2 are failing with the current traffic congestion, which officials say is nearing capacity. An estimated 18,000 to 20,000 vehicles travel on the west end and 13,000 to 15,000 vehicles are on the east end per day.
Projections for 2040 conclude that there will be 30,000 to 32,000 vehicles on the west end and 22,000 to 25,000 vehicles on the east end as growth continues.
According to traffic crash data, vehicle crashes on West Reserve Drive have doubled in the last decade, with 50 crashes in 2010 and 100 crashes in 2020. Developments in the Hutton Ranch Road area and the completion of the Kalispell Bypass likely contributed to more traffic and the uptick in crashes, with 38% of crashes occurring during peak traffic congestion from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. Fifty-eight percent of crashes were rear-end collisions.
In addition to the West Reserve Drive project, orange cones and crews wearing high-visibility uniforms can be seen across the Flathead Valley, including in Creston where work continues on the 7-mile pavement replacement of Montana Highway 35 between Creston and Bigfork.
Work on the Creston South project began last fall to improve the section of highway that was originally constructed in 1957. The last major reconstruction of the roadway took place in 1996 but has since only received minor repairs and maintenance.
West of Whitefish, work began last week on stretch of U.S. Highway 93 from Mountainside Drive to Twin Bridges Road following decades of delays. Project safety enhancements will include a new driving surface, designated turn lanes, improved lines of sight, wider shoulders, new signage and guardrails. There will also be a shared-use bike path and pedestrian path along the stretch of highway.
Construction on the roadway project is slated for completion in 2026.
MDT officials remind motorists that Memorial Day weekend kicks off the start of summer travel, which will remain busy through Labor Day. Known as the “100 Deadliest Days of Summer,” the timeframe historically represents an increase in vehicle crashes and fatalities on roads due to a high volume of traffic and clear travel conditions that enables complacency.