Kalispell bypass project still years away

For anyone who's eagerly awaiting construction of the U.S. 93 bypass west of Kalispell, no news isn't necessarily good news.

At a transportation committee meeting in Kalispell on Thursday, local officials received an update on the status of the project, which has been on the community's wish list for at least 50 years.

The basic message was that the bypass is still years away from breaking ground, there's still no money to build it, and there are still unanswered questions about access and the overall design.

Some of the issues discussed Thursday include:

. Timing - Dwane Kailey, interim administrator for the Montana Department of Transportation's Missoula district, said it's going to be a minimum of four years before work can begin on the bypass, even if all the money needed to build the 8-mile-long route were available today.

"We anticipate it taking about two years to complete the final design," Kailey said. "Then we'll begin active right-of-way acquisition and relocate any utilities. That will probably take another two years."

About 40 percent of the bypass right of way was previously acquired from willing sellers. Anyone with property in the bypass corridor can contact the state right now about selling it, but the state won't start actively knocking on people's doors until the design is finalized.

Kailey said the design work and remaining right of way are expected to cost about $12 million, which is about as much as Congress has appropriated for the bypass in the last few years.

However, there's still a huge financial gap that needs to be filled before any actual construction work begins.

"Basically, we have enough to take care of the design and the right of way, but nothing to start construction. It's a 'Go' project with no money to go," said Tri-City Planning Director Tom Jentz, who was at Thursday's meeting.

Given the high cost of the bypass, Kailey said the project will almost certainly be built in phases. Which part gets built first will depend on a variety of factors, including funding and right of way.

. Money - Little has changed since revised estimates were released earlier this year indicating the project cost had increased from $28 million to more than $93 million.

There are several potential sources for the money, including the six-year federal highway bill that's currently working its way through Congress; the annual federal appropriations process; and the Missoula district's annual allocation of national highway funds.

Denise Smith, representing U.S. Sen. Conrad Burns, R-Mont., indicated Thursday that $1 million to $3 million per year might be available through the federal appropriations process. U.S. Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., also has said he's trying to include funding for the bypass in the highway bill.

However, Kailey said the state can't count on federal "earmarks" for all the bypass money. Some of it will come out of the Missoula district's highway funds. How soon the project gets built depends in large part on how much of it the district ends up paying for.

The Missoula district receives about $30 million per year to take care of U.S. 93 and its portion of U.S. 2, Kailey said. Of that, about $19 million immediately comes off the top for other unavoidable expenditures, such as pavement preservation, bond repayments and incidental project costs.

That leaves $11 million per year for new national highway construction in the entire district, which extends from Flathead County south to Ravalli County.

"It takes an average of $2 million to $3 million per mile to rebuild highways, so $11 million doesn't go too far," Kailey said.

Given these financial realities, he said, people need to ask themselves how soon they want the bypass.

If they want the $93 million version - which includes on- and off-ramps at most of the intersections, plus sidewalks, curbs and gutters along the northern half - then the money may not be available for another 20 years. (Kailey also indicated that the estimated price tag is increasing at about $1.3 million per year.)

Alternatively, Kailey said, the state can build a limited-access bypass sooner and add access ramps later.

Under this scenario, he explained, the state would build a four-lane highway with overpasses - meaning people could get from one end of the bypass to the other without stopping. There also would be four-way access ramps at U.S. 2 and at a new intersection just west of the Lowe's Home Improvement store.

Additional right of way would be acquired up front, Kailey said, so that in the future, when funding is available, more access ramps can be added at the other major intersections, including Airport Road, Foy's Lake Road, Three Mile Drive and Four Mile Drive.

The cost of this scaled-back version hasn't been nailed down, he said, but it's expected to be in the range of $50 million to $70 million.

. Intersection design - While the funding situation remains highly uncertain, the preferred design for most of the bypass intersections has been established. The one area that's still in flux is the north end, at the intersection of U.S. 93 and West Reserve Drive.

The initial bypass plans called for an at-grade intersection, meaning the bypass would be at the same level as U.S. 93.

However, a traffic analysis recently suggested that, using this design, traffic flows at the intersection would deteriorate to unacceptable levels within just a few years of completing construction.

Consequently, the design is being re-evaluated.

During a previous interview in March, Missoula district construction engineer Gary Kalberg said two possibilities are being considered, both of which would create a split-level intersection.

In one scenario, left-turn lanes for the bypass heading north on U.S. 93 and for West Reserve heading south on U.S. 93 would tunnel under the intersection. In the other scenario, these left-turn lanes would remain at ground level and all other lanes would be elevated.

There are problems associated with either alternative, Kalberg said, including the need for additional right of way.

"Basically, we don't know what we're going to do here yet," he said.

Reporter Bill Spence may be reached at 758-4459 or by e-mail at bspence@dailyinterlake.com