Open house focuses on U.S. 93 plans The Daily Inter Lake

A highway plan that includes making two key Whitefish streets into one-way thoroughfares is the focus of a state highway department open house Tuesday in Whitefish.

Whitefish-area residents will have an opportunity on Tuesday to say what they like and don't like about the proposed rebuild of U.S. 93 through Whitefish.

The Montana Department of Transportation invites the public to attend an open house to review background information, status, scope and schedule of the U.S. 93 Whitefish Urban and Whitefish West projects.

The open house will be from 5 to 8 p.m. at the Central School gymnasium.

The urban project begins at 13th Street and continues through Whitefish, ending just west of Baker Avenue. It includes a one-way couplet on Spokane and Baker avenues between Seventh and Second streets and a new bridge crossing the Whitefish River at Seventh Street.

The Whitefish West project begins on Second Street just west of Baker Avenue and follows U.S. 93 west of Twin Bridges Road, ending at milepost 133. It also includes a bridge replacement over the Whitefish River.

An overview of the decisions included in the existing environmental impact statement will be provided, along with an in-depth look at the preferred alternative.

The open house is the first in an ongoing public process, which will include more open houses and a Citizens Work Group. Applications for the work group will be available at the open house and at Whitefish City Hall.

The rebuild is scheduled for 2009, depending on completion of designs and available funding.

Six alternatives were evaluated for Whitefish in the state's 1994 environmental impact statement.

WGM Group Inc., a Missoula-based engineering firm, has been hired by the state to provide public involvement, environmental review and the final design on these two projects.

Comments may be mailed to: WGM Group, Inc., P.O. Box 16027, Missoula MT 59808-6027 or by e-mail, with the subject line reading "Whitefish Public Comment," to jkendall@wgmgroup.com. To be included on future correspondence, include name and address on all comments.