Sidewalks at last for Three Mile Drive

When construction workers across the “T” intersection from her home on Garland Street told her they were finally putting in a sidewalk along Three Mile Drive, Donetta Antonovich was ecstatic.

“Everyone drives really fast out there, there’s so many houses and kids out there now that it’s been so dangerous for them,” Antonovich said. “The little kids on their bicycles get behind my fence on the hill, and they stay at the top and watch all three directions so they know when they can go through the intersection.”

She has lived at the increasingly busy intersection of Garland Street and Three Mile Drive for over 40 years, and has watched the north side of Kalispell swell with new subdivisions and families sending their children to the nearby middle school.

The 0.6-mile stretch of sidewalk is one of three pedestrian trail sections being installed north of downtown Kalispell. About 1,300 feet will run along Northwest Lane to the middle school by the end of the year and more than half a mile of sidewalk alongside U.S. 93 will increase connectivity between downtown and Kalispell Regional Medical Center.

Chad Fincher, director of the city’s parks and recreation department, said the three projects will cost more than $400,000 — $24,000 from the city and the rest covered by a Map-21 grant from the Montana Department of Transportation.

“We’re trying to connect our community together,” he said. “As Three Mile Drive developed, it’s been something that our department has wanted to do, to make all those connections so kids can get from Spring Prairie Estates and Mountain Vista Estates, and get them to the junior high school and possibly to downtown safely.”

Fincher said Knife River Corporation has been contracted to complete all three construction projects. The company broke ground on the projects about three weeks ago.

Northwest Lane and Three Mile Drive portions are scheduled to wrap up by the start of the school year, while the U.S. 93 sidewalk will likely stretch into 2017.

Fincher explained that the city still has to finalize easements with property owners south of Buffalo Hills Golf Club, and only plans to construct about 800 feet of sidewalk this year.

“The other two will be wider, bike-pedestrian paths and on Three Mile Drive, about where the Veterans Affairs are, there’s a sidewalk that will continue out to Northwest Lane, then widen to a bike-pedestrian path,” Fincher said.

They will include a raised curb and gutter to define the paths. Antonovich said she hopes the curbs will also deter motorists from flying around the corner at the intersection.

“I’m just really happy they are finally doing something to prevent a serious injury to a child that’s trying to walk, or to a lot of the old people that walk around here,” she said.

Reporter Sam Wilson can be reached at 758-4407 or by email at swilson@dailyinterlake.com.