Consultantweighs in on town center road

A new street parallel to U.S. 93, between the highway and the proposed Glacier Town Center, is being recommended by a Florida-based traffic consultant.

The consultant, Dan Burden, pointed to the intersection of West Reserve Drive and U.S. 93, saying the heavily used crossroads will become more and more congested.

That intersection is the city's springboard into Kalispell's northern growth as well as the gateway for traffic headed to Whitefish.

West Reserve Drive is the heavily traveled east-west arterial street in northern Kalispell. Besides Glacier Town Center, northern Kalispell is expected to see about 4,000 new homes built during the next 20 years. And Glacier High School has opened a mile west of the crossroads.

Plus, the future U.S. 93 Bypass will be anchored at that intersection.

"It will absolutely be at crash condition," Burden said, referring to the predicted increased congestion in that area.

Burden recommended that the city and Glacier Town Center's developer - Wolford Development Montana - look into building a street paralleling the east side of U.S. 93 to siphon the mall's traffic away from U.S. 93 North's through traffic.

He also contended that city officials, mall developers and other interests could meet with his firm and work out a solution to that predicted congestion in two weeks - allowing construction on Glacier Town Center to begin this year. He estimated such an effort could cost roughly $50,000.

"Everyone has to be interested in solving the problem now, and not putting a Band-Aid on it," Burden said.

"You'll have to convince the Wolford group that it can be done in a timely way. They want to get [construction started] this summer, and I don't blame them," said city planning board member Butch Clark.

Burden also suggested:

. Looking at putting roundabouts on U.S. 93 North at its intersections leading into Glacier Town Center. But, he added, the traffic engineering on such a move would have to be studied in-depth.

. Extending the center of three access roads from U.S. 93 into the mall all the way through to Whitefish Stage Road - essentially splitting the main mall area in half. Burden noted that an extended Rose Crossing is the only east-west throughway in Glacier Town Center's master plan, and that extending this second road would give it two east-west arterial streets.

Burden is an independent traffic consultant plus a partner in the Georgia- and Florida-based urban engineering firm of Glatting Jackson Kercher Anglin Inc.

Citizens For A Better Flathead hired Burden to take a look at the traffic flow situation of Glacier Town Center and the U.S. 93 and Reserve Drive intersection.

"He's here to help us find a win-win to this situation," said Mayre Flowers, executive director of Citizens For A Better Flathead.

Chad Wolford, a partner in Wolford Development, declined to comment Monday on Burden's suggestions, saying he did not have enough information yet to discuss them.

Glacier Town Center will be the cornerstone of Kalispell's rapidly growing north side. It is 485 acres, with 632 proposed homes and maybe a grocery store in a few years. The centerpiece will be a 577,000-square-foot outdoors shopping complex, anchored by three stores of roughly 100,000 square feet each.

At 7 p.m. today, Kalispell's City Council is scheduled to discuss Wolford Development's request that Kalispell annex the 485 acres and approve preliminary plans to develop the site. It could vote on the entire matter tonight, or delay its decisions.

Most of the project has generated very little controversy.

However, controversy does exist on how U.S. 93 and Glacier Town Center's traffic flows will affect the overall traffic picture of northern Kalispell.

Wolford Development plans to extend Rose Crossing from Whitefish Stage Road to U.S. 93 and build two extra access roads between U.S. 93 and the mall.

The corporation - citing its own traffic study which has been validated by the Montana Department of Transportation - wants to put stop lights at U.S. 93's future intersections with Rose Crossing and the southernmost access road, which will be named Many Glacier Road.

The city's planning staff and Citizens For A Better Flathead oppose putting in those two lights - arguing they would dramatically slow traffic on an arterial highway intended to be a limited access, high-speed connection between Kalispell and Whitefish.

The city planning board agrees with the planning staff - but could not come up with a formal recommendation for the city council.

Burden preaches a traffic philosophy that several smaller streets are better than one big roadway.

A network of smaller streets dilutes the traffic that would gather and clog on a big road, he said. Intersections, especially with left turns, also are simpler with less backlogs on several smaller streets than if everything was crammed onto a major highway.

He also promoted mixed-use neighborhoods - combining businesses, shops and homes in the same area. The idea is to promote walking to stores, which cuts down on traffic.

Burden gave a presentation on the matter to about 40 people at the Red Lion Hotel on Monday evening.

Earlier Monday, he met informally with Flowers, City Planning Director Tom Jentz, and planning board members Bryan Schutt, John Hinchey and Clark. The three planning board members were one sort of a quorum, which meant Monday's session was not a formal meeting.

Jentz, Flowers, Burden and the planning board members also discussed the U.S. 93 Bypass and its likely effect on the U.S. 93 and Reserve Drive intersection, as well as U.S. 93 in front of Glacier Town Center.

The bypass route was mapped out in 1993 when the intersection was in an open field a mile north of town.

Today, that intersection is in the middle of what will likely become Kalispell's biggest business district and is now three miles south inside city limits. That means the future bypass - which could take five to 20 years to build - will not go around the future northern Kalispell, but will end up with a northern anchor in the middle of a crowded business and residential area.

Burden made two suggestions:

. Move the northern end of the bypass farther north so it goes around all of Kalispell.

. Convert the proposed four-lane superhighway bypass into a two-lane road that uses roundabouts instead of overpasses and interchanges. As long as through traffic doesn't have to stop, vehicles will naturally divert from Kalispell's clogged Main Street, Burden contended.

Right now, local and state governments have settled on a four-lane bypass built like a traditional superhighway with overpasses and interchanges.

Burden's suggestions intrigued the handful of local officials Monday.

They noted that the $76 million bypass will likely get a only few million federal dollars a year.

A two-lane highway could be built faster with the same amount of money, they noted. Also, roundabouts are much cheaper to build than interchanges.

Another factor is that 65 mph traffic will require more expensive sound barriers for adjoining neighborhoods than a two-lane bypass with 45 mph traffic, Jentz said.

However, Jentz and others worried about how U.S. Sen. Max Baucus, D-Montana - who shepherded the bypass project's funding for 15 years - might react if local officials sought major changes in the current plans.

"Baucus can't build a bypass that's going to go into gridlock," Flowers argued.

Jentz said planning should begin on extending the bypass farther north sometime much later, regardless if the current route is changed or ends up at the U.S. 93 and Reserve Drive intersection.

Reporter John Stang may be reached at 758-4429 or by e-mail at jstang@dailyinterlake.com