Panel picks Four Mile Drive for road project

Aiming to complete a major road project in a few years instead of a few decades, Kalispell will leverage some of its federal road money with cash raised by the nonprofit group Kidsports to build the last half-mile of Four Mile Drive.

Technical Advisory Committee members representing Kalispell, Flathead County and the Montana Department of Transportation met on Tuesday and chose the unfinished road as the city’s next federal urban highway project.

Four Mile Drive was a last-minute consideration. 

But it was picked from a list of much more expensive and entirely unfunded road projects — including a $23.8 million upgrade of Whitefish Stage Road, a $29.6 million upgrade of West Reserve Drive, a $24.6 million upgrade of Willow Glen Drive and a $12.5 million extension of Grandview Drive into Evergreen — that would take Kalispell decades to fund and build.

About $600,000 in federal urban highway money trickles into Kalispell’s coffers each year. 

That money has paid for two Kalispell projects in 30 years — reconstruction of Main Street in 1983 and North Meridian Road in 2006. To finish Meridian Road, the city had to borrow against its future allocations and did not start accumulating money again until 2010.

The hope now is to get an important road finished in the short term and start planning again for another road.

“We now have about $1.2 million in the bank. That sounds like a lot until you start trying to build a highway,” Kalispell Planning Director Tom Jentz said.

Four Mile Drive is estimated to cost $3.1 million.

The project will extend the road across a steep dirt gap between U.S. 93 and Stillwater Road.  

The road plan includes a 20-foot-tall bridge over land where the Montana Department of Transportation plans to build the U.S. 93 Alternate Route. The alternate route would be connected to Four Mile Drive with a full interchange.

Jentz and Missoula District Administrator Ed Toavs pitched the project on Tuesday. 

Toavs had heard about Kidsports’ plan to raise money to finish Four Mile Drive in exchange for Kalispell buying the nonprofit group a $2.3 million easement that gives it a permanent home on school trust land along the road.

But Toavs said he didn’t want to see Kidsports or Kalispell spend money to build Four Mile Drive without a long-planned bridge because then the road would have to be closed and part of it torn out when the bypass is constructed. And Kalispell or Kidsports would have to build that bridge over an active highway if they wanted to reopen the road or have an envisioned interchange with the alternate route there.

The steep hill where Four Mile Drive pavement ends at the corner of Kidsports makes it easiest to properly grade the road to build a bridge over the planned path of the alternate route from the start, Toavs said.

The Department of Transportation plans to build the alternate route’s $30 million northern half in several phases. The first would reconfigure the intersection of U.S. 93 and West Reserve Drive and build the bypass to Reserve Loop. From there, additional phases would extend the route south to Four Mile Drive, then Three Mile Drive and finally to U.S. 2 where it would join the southern half of the bypass.

That first phase is a backup project in case another road project in Montana falls through. “The bypass from the loop to 93 is our number one backup this year and I do like our chances,” Toavs said, adding that if Four Mile Drive is finished and in place, it makes for another natural place to tie in a future phase of the long-anticipated bypass. 

“It’s easier for us to slip those pieces in when we break them up at major roadways,” Toavs said.

WITH FOUR MILE DRIVE selected, some issues remain to be worked out.

Building the missing link on Four Mile Drive will require right-of-way acquisition. Private property extends from where Four Mile Drive officially ends now down to where the state owns land for the alternate route corridor.

New regulations for federal urban highway projects impose some time constraints. Nonexistent roads must be classified as collector or arterial routes and then put under contract to be built within four years.

Finally, there’s the question of how much federal road money Kalispell will spend and how much Kidsports can raise and contribute.

Kalispell’s $2.3 million payment for the Kidsports easement was accepted by the state of Montana on Tuesday. 

Several months after that purchase was approved by a majority of the Kalispell City Council, the city and Kidsports still have no agreement to define their future relationship or what the nonprofit group will do in exchange for the city buying the easement.

Preliminary talks focused on Kidsports raising $2.3 million in matching donations within five years to build Four Mile Drive and improve the athletic complex with new sports fields, a playground and better parking and access roads. 

“We haven’t worked out the funding details,” Jentz said on Tuesday about the Four Mile Drive project. But Jentz referred to a recent talk with Kidsports Director Dan Johns, who said, “You can check my pocket. It’s empty now, but there’s hope.”

Other road projects

 Several Kalispell road-construction priorities are still on hold. No funding is available for these projects.

• Grandview Drive Extension: Two-lane minor arterial from U.S. 93 to Evergreen with new bridge, bike lanes and turn lanes at major roads. 

Estimated cost: $12.5 million.

2011 annual average daily traffic: 0

2030 projection: 19,600

• Willow Glen Drive: Two-lane minor arterial from Lower Valley Road to Conrad Drive with bike lanes and turn lanes at major roads. 

Estimated cost: $24.6 million.

2011 annual average daily traffic: 7,400

2030 projection: 10,900

• La Salle Extension: Connection from Conrad Drive to U.S. 2 with new bridge to work as an east-side bypass. Should be done only after Willow Glen Drive is improved.

Estimated cost: $7.3 million.

2011 annual average daily traffic: 0.

2030 projection: 13,100.

• Whitefish Stage Road: Two-lane road with pedestrian amenities from East Idaho Street to East Oregon Street and three-lane road with bike lanes and center turn lane from Oregon to West Reserve Drive. 

Estimated cost: $23.8 million.

2011 annual average daily traffic: 7,300.

2030 projection: 17,100.

• West Reserve Drive: Five-lane arterial from U.S. 93 to Whitefish Stage Road and three-lane arterial from Whitefish Stage to U.S. 2 with two new bridges. 

Estimated cost: $29.6 million.

2011 annual average daily traffic: 16,000; 13,200 from Whitefish Stage to U.S. 2.

2030 projection: 28,300; 17,100 from Whitefish Stage to U.S. 2.