Let the bypass work begin

The northernmost segment of the U.S. 93 Alternate Route in Kalispell is fully funded and on track for construction to start this year, according to the Montana Department of Transportation.

“People can expect to see a lot of work going on this fall and next spring and summer,” Missoula District Administrator Ed Toavs said.

The estimated $8 million project goes out for bid on June 27.

A contract award and notice to proceed should be finalized sometime in July or August. “Then we’ll see some work get done this fall,” Toavs said.

“The contractor will be able to do some work before the snow shuts them down. Then when the snow melts they’ll get back to it in spring and try to finish the bulk of the work in 2014.”

The project will build a half-mile of four-lane bypass from the intersection of U.S. 93 and West Reserve Drive down to Reserve Loop near Glacier High School.

The bypass will connect to Reserve Loop with ramps in anticipation of a bridge over Reserve Loop and a full interchange eventually being built there in the future.

The project means big changes are on the horizon for one of north Kalispell’s busiest intersections.

When the project is done, West Reserve Drive will dead-end just west of where it now meets U.S. 93 for the intersection to accommodate the new bypass.

West Reserve Drive will be resurfaced between Reserve Loop and the dead end and be renamed Reserve Place. It will get access to and from the bypass.

It also will get sidewalks and a shared-use path extending from Mountain Villa Apartments and the Country Estates Subdivision to Reserve Loop with a new signalized crosswalk across Reserve Loop to the high school.

Reserve Loop and the rest of West Reserve Drive west of U.S. 93 will be renamed Old Reserve Drive.

“Anybody who drives past Country Estates knows it’s a narrow road and the top is in pretty bad shape,” Toavs said. “If you want to walk to school it can be a touch uncomfortable. This will serve that area with an improved roadway with paths and sidewalks.”

Numerous construction logistics will be worked out and announced this summer as a contract is awarded. One certainty is incentives to encourage the contractor to reconfigure the U.S. 93 intersection in short order to try to minimize traffic impacts.

“They will have 10 days to get that done. The intent is to get them in and out of there as quickly as possible,” Toavs said.

This bypass segment was made a top backup project for the Missoula District earlier this year. The project is now a go with a surplus of federal funding available and some of the department’s other road projects coming in under budget.

“We’re excited about getting this one out the door. One more phase down on the bypass corridor,” Toavs said.

The southern half of the bypass from U.S. 93 south of Kalispell to U.S. 2 opened in November 2010 and cost about $22.6 million to build.

The northern half of the bypass has been split into several phases.

Other than the northernmost section, none are funded in the transportation department’s five-year road construction plan:

• Extending the bypass from Reserve Loop to Four Mile Drive, where the city of Kalispell plans to use its share of federal highway money to build Four Mile Drive with a bridge over the  bypass path for a full interchange there.

• Building a bridge on Three Mile Drive over the bypass path for a full interchange there.

• Extending the bypass from Four Mile Drive to Three Mile Drive and from there to U.S. 2 to connect to the bypass’s southern half.

The northern half is estimated to cost a total of $30 million to $35 million to build.

THE BYPASS SEGMENT is one of several construction projects anticipated to materialize in north Kalispell, making for a busy year of growth.

Construction is expected to start in May on a 42,000-square-foot Cabela’s in the third and northernmost phase of Spring Prairie Shopping Center.

That store should open this fall.

Crews there will not only build the store but prepare the entire site with pads and parking lots and landscaping for nine other stores the developer aims to attract to the shopping center.

Glacier Eye Clinic also has plans to build a new 22,000-square-foot medical office off of Reserve Loop.

“With a half mile of highway and two new buildings and a large parking area, it’s going to be a busy summer up there,” Kalispell Planning Director Tom Jentz said.

Reporter Tom Lotshaw may be reached at 758-4483 or by email at tlotshaw@dailyinterlake.com.