U.S. 93 bypass construction

Safety tops list of criteria

The Daily Inter Lake

A public hearing Wednesday about the U.S. 93 bypass attracted about 100 people but resulted in few changes to the criteria that will be used to prioritize construction along the $76 million project.

Most of the criteria were established Tuesday during a meeting of the Technical Advisory Committee, which oversees construction projects in the Kalispell area.

The Wednesday session offered the public an opportunity to dispute the committee's recommendations and propose additional criteria.

The meetings were held because only $30 million is available for construction, meaning some segments of the bypass will be delayed until Congress allocates additional funds.

The goals and criteria established this week will be used to rank phasing options for the project. A recommendation on which segments to build first - and whether they should be built as two-lane or four-lane sections - could be available in the next month or two.

Kathy Harris with Stelling Engineers, the Great Falls firm hired to design the bypass, said about 20 people provided comments during the Wednesday meeting.

The Technical Advisory Committee met again Thursday to review those comments. Several were discussed, but the members decided that most of the concerns had been addressed by the criteria established Tuesday.

Consequently, the primary goals that will be used to rank phasing options are improving safety and traffic flows, "constructability," and cost impact.

Each goal comes with a set of criteria that will help determine whether and how well a goal is met.

Stelling and the committee will meet in June to review the draft phasing recommendations. Another public meeting will be in July, when the phasing recommendations will be finalized.