Highway bill crucial to Kalispell
Gov. Steve Bullock made a welcome visit to the Flathead last week, in part to show his support for the Kalispell U.S. 93 bypass project that is largely in limbo while Congress tinkers with a transportation spending bill.
As everyone knows, this bypass has been envisioned for decades and finally reached the construction phase in 2009, with the southern half opening a year later.
The first section of the north half opened in 2013, but now federal money is being bottlenecked at a crucial time for building the remaining bypass segment between Old Reserve Drive and U.S. 2.
The Montana Department of Transportation argues that as much as $6 million in savings can be realized by completing the project immediately, but for that to happen, Congress has to make progress on passing a long-term transportation bill. Instead, we have been getting short-term stop-gap funding while infrastructure projects like the bypass languish or proceed in dribs and drabs.
“We can’t get this done if politics and short-term thinking holds up the federal dollar,” said Gov. Bullock when he visited the proposed bypass site on Tuesday.
Bullock is not alone in his campaign to urge Congress to act. In addition to local partners such as the Kalispell Chamber of Commerce, Montana’s congressional delegation has been united in looking for a way to shake the money loose.
On Tuesday, Sen. Jon Tester released a statement after the House passed a two-month extension of the highway bill.
“Congress has known for 10 months that this deadline was coming, yet we are missing another opportunity to make meaningful investments in our nation’s aging infrastructure,” he lamented.
“A two-month extension will run dry in the middle of construction season and gives almost zero certainty to folks working construction this summer. I’ll support this extension because we can’t let highway projects come to a screeching halt. But it is past time for a long-term bill that will create jobs and make our roads safer.”
The remainder of the bypass — an estimated $40 million project — was supposed to go to bid this month. That’s out of the question, thanks to dithering in Congress, and now August is a long shot for the bidding.
The longer Congress delays, the longer we have to wait for completion of a west-side highway that already has cost $100 million. Unfortunately that money has given us a very incomplete road.