93 Bypass a finalist for national award
The U.S. 93 bypass around Kalispell is in line for another award.
The bypass recently won a regional award through the America’s Transportation Awards program sponsored by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) and AAA. Now the bypass has been recognized by the American Transportation Awards as one of 12 national project finalists. The bypass will compete for the national grand prize and the people’s choice award.
A panel of experts will select the grand prize winner, and the people’s choice award will be decided through online voting. Individuals can vote for the Kalispell bypass project once every 24 hours through Sept. 21 on the awards website: https://americastransportationawards.org.
The winners each will receive $10,000 from AASHTO to be given on behalf of the winning state to a charity or scholarship fund of the state’s choosing. According to Montana Department of Transportation Director Mike Tooley, if the U.S. 93 bypass wins the prize money will go to the Montana Hope Project, a nonprofit funded by charitable contributions and sponsored by the Association of Montana Troopers.
“The fruition of the Kalispell Bypass Project was a historical event for Montana and the community it serves,” Tooley said in a press release. “It stands as a shining example of the skillful coordination between all project partners to deliver a successful construction project for the public.”
At a total cost of $135 million, the Kalispell bypass project was the largest project ever bid by the state of Montana.
The state started securing property in the late 1990s to preserve the bypass corridor, and in the early 2000s passively acquired more property. By 2007 the first segment of the project — Reserve Loop — was built, providing access to the new Glacier High School. The south half of the bypass was completed in 2009, and the north half opened Oct. 28, 2016.
An economic analysis of the bypass recently completed by Montana Department of Transportation Missoula District Administrator Ed Toavs revealed that over the life of the project — from 2001 through 2016 — the total economic impact of the bypass was $1.21 billion. Toavs completed the analysis for his master’s degree in business administration.