Council to hear courthouse traffic options

The Kalispell City Council work session tonight will cover a two-year study on traffic alignment around the Flathead County Courthouse.

The Montana Department of Transportation began reviewing the courthouse couplet in 2014, including a public comment period on the potential impacts a traffic change would have on downtown traffic.

The department’s contract engineering firm, RPA, has been working on traffic counts since 2014, taking into account the amount of traffic that is expected to be redirected with the completion of the U.S. 93 bypass project.

At tonight’s work session, RPA staff will present seven alternatives developed through the study:

n No change to the courthouse couple traffic alignment.

n Reducing Main Street to two lanes from Center Street to 13th Street to reduce vehicle collisions merging into courthouse couplet.

n Increasing the courthouse couplet to two lanes on each side of the couplet.

n Turning First Avenue East into a one-way northbound street and First Avenue West into a one-way southbound street in an effort to direct traffic away from the couplet and Main Street.

n Turning only First Avenue East into a one-way northbound street and changing Main Street into a three-lane, one-way, southbound street from Center Street to 13th Street.

n Turning only First Avenue West into a one-way southbound street, and changing Main Street into a three-lane, one-way, northbound street from Center Street to 12th Street.

n Upgrading Willow Glen Drive to become a more often-used route from U.S. 93 to Montana 35, directing traffic away from Main Street.

The next step is to receive feedback on the analysis to narrow down the alternatives. RPA and the Transportation Department will perform public outreach through an informational meeting, a new website and a newsletter. Firms will develop a draft report for a public comment period and then finalize the report. No timeline has been given on these next steps.

Today’s work session will simply begin the long-term planning discussion regarding the traffic needs of downtown Kalispell.

In other business, the council will discuss joining the city of Whitefish in requesting the Montana League of Cities and Towns submit support in a lawsuit barring Flathead County from instituting a commercial zoning designation.

The county first adopted the B-2HG zone in 2011, allowing for retail, hotel and other commercial development. The zoning classification included increased setbacks from the highway, but allowed for parking lots to take up half of that setback.

In 2013, Citizens for a Better Flathead filed a lawsuit against the county to stop the adoption of the zone and bar development along U.S. 93 between Kalispell and Whitefish. The citizen group won the suit at the district level and the county has appealed to the Montana Supreme Court.

The Kalispell council will discuss whether or not to contribute to the amicus brief that the city of Whitefish and the Montana League of Cities and Towns will submit in supporting Citizens for a Better Flathead.

The work session begins at 7 p.m. in City Hall, 201 First Ave. E.

Reporter Seaborn Larson may be reached at 758-4441 or by email at slarson@dailyinterlake.com.