Kalispell bypass paving begins

Kalispell’s newest section of U.S. 93 bypass is on track to open in mid-November. Like other bypass projects that are yet to be built and pieced together, the road might look a little strange to motorists.

With the intersection of U.S. 93 and West Reserve Drive rebuilt to accommodate the bypass, Schellinger Construction crews are extending the four-lane bypass from there down to Reserve Loop near Glacier High School.

Paving started on Monday after a winter storm predicted to hit the Flathead Valley never showed up.

“Weather is a big factor this time of year, but it’s probably about two weeks of paving,” said Nathan Malmin, project manager for Schellinger Construction. “Depending on the weather, it should be open in mid-November. We hope to stay on it and get a big enough window to get her done.”

One thing the new section of bypass won’t have is roundabouts.

Heading south and west from the U.S. 93 intersection, a short connector named Garden Drive exits the bypass to the north. That road gives residents of Country Estates subdivision, Mountain Villa Apartments and other neighborhoods on “Reserve Place” — the stretch of West Reserve Drive that’s located east of Reserve Loop and that now dead-ends just west of U.S. 93 — a way to enter and exit the bypass.

From there, the four-lane bypass starts to climb as it continues south and west. The road bed climbs almost 25 feet in elevation and then ends just north of Reserve Loop. The bypass will be almost 100 feet wide where its main trunk ends for now. At that location, a two-lane exit ramp branches off to the north and runs back downhill to Reserve Loop, where drivers can turn left or right. Also at that point, a one-lane on ramp from Reserve Loop enters the bypass from the south.

About 200,000 cubic yards of fill were used to build the elevated road bed. Fill material was dug from sites where stormwater detention ponds are needed for the new road. The bypass roadbed is elevated to minimize “throwaway costs,” said Bob Vosen, a construction engineer with the Montana Department of Transportation.

Rather than just build an at-grade roundabout for the bypass at Reserve Loop, the bypass configuration south of Reserve Loop when it is built will mirror the elevated roadbed configuration being used north of Reserve Loop. 

That’s because bypass plans call for the eventual construction of a bridge over Reserve Loop. The more immediate push is to build all of the phases needed for a functioning bypass, so the bridge over Reserve Loop will be “way down the priority list” for years to come, Vosen said. But when it is time to build the bridge, the roadbed will be elevated on both sides of Reserve Loop with all of the needed entrance and exit ramps in place so crews can simply plug in the new bridge.

“We’re really trying to avoid throwaway costs. We want to build things and be done, not have to come back and tear stuff out,” Vosen said.

Cost savings are important for a Kalispell bypass that has already eaten up more than $102 million in design, land acquisition and construction work. The project is estimated to need another $33 million to complete.

Future projects would extend the Kalispell bypass from Reserve Loop to Three Mile Drive and from Three Mile Drive to U.S. 2, where it would join the southern half of the bypass that is already built and open to traffic.

Similar bypass oddities will be seen at Three Mile Drive and Four Mile Drive as the road slowly takes shape.

Construction to rebuild Three Mile Drive for the bypass should start next April, Vosen said. That estimated $5.2 million project will rebuild Three Mile Drive with a bridge over the planned path of the Kalispell bypass. 

Until the bypass is built through the area, it will be a bridge over an empty field.

“You’ve heard of the bridge to nowhere. Well, this is going to be the bridge over nowhere,” Vosen said about the Three Mile Drive project. “We’re going to get that done to help with throwaway costs. It’s way easier to build [the bridge] now when you’re not going over live traffic. Then when the bypass comes through, we’ll just build the road underneath and it won’t affect all the traffic coming in from the West Valley area.”

A similar scenario will materialize at Four Mile Drive when the city of Kalispell extends that road west to Stillwater Road for its next federal urban highway project. Four Mile Drive will be built with a bridge over the planned path of the bypass.

With Three Mile Drive and Four Mile Drive built, only two phases of construction will be needed for a functioning bypass: A segment from Reserve Loop to Three Mile Drive estimated to cost $13.2 million and a segment from Three Mile Drive to U.S. 2 estimated to cost $14.5 million. It’s not yet clear if the Montana Department of Transportation will be able to plug either of those projects into its five-year construction plans that are being finalized this month.

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