Kalispell Officials Apply for Federal Safe Streets Grant
The grant would fund two roundabouts and various safety measures along Main Street, including a designated school zone in front of St. Matthew’s Catholic School
By Zoë Buhrmaster
Kalispell city officials are applying for a grant to fund the construction of two roundabouts and various safety features along Main Street in downtown. The implementation grant is the final opportunity to secure funds from the federal Safe Streets and Roads for All program, which finances safety initiatives across the country.
Kalispell City Council adopted the city’s Main Street Safety Action Plan in 2024, funded through a planning grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) program. Councilors sought to apply for an implementation grant last year but ultimately paused the application process after residents spoke out against the inclusion of a road diet that would have downsized Main Street from four to three lanes.
City staff proposed a new implementation grant application in April that included two roundabouts; one at the intersections of Main Street and 11th Street, and another at the intersection of Main Street, 13th Street and Airport Road. The application also includes safety features, such as high visibility crosswalks, rapid flashing beacons, leading pedestrian intervals at stoplights, and a school zone near St. Matthew’s Catholic School.
“We are not pursuing the three to four lane conversion at this time,” the city’s Community Development Manager Nelson Loring said. “Most of the budget is going into the roundabouts.”
There were 258 crashes along Main Street between 2018 and 2022, according to data city staff collected for the Main Street safety plan. The traffic calming treatments included in the grant application are all proven safety countermeasures by the Federal Highway Administration.
The application is for $25 million dollars, the maximum request allowed for the implementation grant. If awarded, the city will be required to provide a 20% match, which would be paid for through a combination of downtown and westside Tax Increment Funds.
Councilors praised the application Monday night for addressing traffic merging concerns around the two proposed roundabouts, particularly at the intersection of Main Street, 13th Street and Airport Road. Councilor Jed Fisher noted that the roundabout could help divert traffic off side streets during cruising events in Kalispell on Friday nights. Several residents who live on streets adjacent to Main complained about the noise during the meeting’s public comment period.
“There could be a benefit to that too, of having the cruisers go on down to that area with good policing to keep them off the streets of First Avenue East and the hazards and issues that we all are concerned about,” Fisher said.
Councilors also said they were happy the application included a school zone for St. Matthew’s, a designated area that would include a 15 mile per hour speed limit and high visibility crosswalks in front of the school.
“It’s decades late that we’re doing this for those intersections and just being able to take your kids across the street or go across the street by themselves would be something novel that nobody would let their kids do today,” Councilor Sid Daoud said.
Councilors unanimously approved staff’s application for the grant, which is due May 26.