Residents respond to two-way street

New yellow two-way signs were bolted in place over the old white one-way signs on Third Avenue East in Kalispell early Thursday morning. One day after the city permanently converted the city street from a one-way to a two-way, Kalispell residents are speaking out about the change.

Both Third and Fourth avenues on the east side of Kalispell will be reconstructed and converted to two-way streets following a project this summer to replace a section of water main. A number of residents opposed to the traffic reconfiguration have expressed concerns about whether the road will be able to accommodate two lanes of traffic and two-way parking.

Kalispell City Manager Doug Russell in an interview with the Inter Lake on Friday said that is partially the point of the change.

According to Russell, the street was never designed to be a through street for the amount of traffic it now accommodates. The purpose for converting it to a two-way street, he said, is to return the road to its original design as a neighborhood street and to discourage high amounts of traffic driving through the area.

“It’s being converted to a residential street because it’s a residential area,” Russell said.

After driving down the newly converted street himself, Russell said his impression of the change is that the street now operates just like the other residential roads around the city.

Russell said Third Avenue East has been used as a thoroughfare for many reasons, but he advises drivers hoping to avoid the new traffic on Third to find alternate routes, though he did not specify where or which ones.

Some residents agree and have shown support for the change.

“The intention is to slow and reduce traffic, for the good of the neighborhood. People who want to drive quickly through town should find another route,” Bill Nelson said, responding online to a previous Inter Lake article. “All the other streets/avenues on the east side are the same width. All of them are two-way, except Third and Fourth avenues. The point is to discourage through traffic and return the historic east-side neighborhood to its original status.”

Other residents don’t believe that the old days were necessarily the best days with regards to the city’s traffic plan.

Sue Ellyn Anderson commented online asking, “Why go back to what didn’t work 50 years ago? The one-way direction was a great way for diverting traffic flow both north and south. I can only imagine that this change will create more vehicle incidents than it will alleviate. Please reconsider this change!”

Katie Mason called the plan “horrid.”

“I live on Third Avenue East, and it’s already a tight fit with one-way traffic,” she commented. “How are people supposed to pull out into traffic when they are going against the oncoming lane? It’s going to be a disaster!”

Christi Knowles compared the change to Kalispell’s west side neighborhood.

“Two cars parked on the block and no one can drive,” she said. “These streets are not wide enough to facilitate two-way traffic and parking.”

She suggested Kalispell follow Great Falls’ lead “where every street is a one-way and they alternate.”

One Third Avenue resident walked her 4- and 5-year-old girls down the sidewalk as cars lined up behind one another waiting to get down the congested road. Even with plans to send her two young children to the Hedges Elementary School down the road when they’re old enough, Fallon Dalrymple expressed more concern for the traffic on the two-way street than she felt for the one-way.

“People use these roads to bypass U.S. 93. At least with them being a one-way you don’t have all this congestion with people not being able to get by with the parking,” Dalrymple said.

“Last night I was kept up quite late with the honking because people don’t know what’s going on. It’ll be interesting. We’ll all have to get used to it,” she added.

The mail carrier for the area, Rob Funk, expressed his own doubts, saying he was not in favor of the change because it made crossing the street more difficult.

“I think people don’t like change and they’re just going to have to get used to it,” Funk said.

Since the road was converted Thursday morning, Russell said his office has taken around 15 calls from the public with questions and concerns.

“We understand it’s a change in traffic habits,” Russell said. “It will take adjustment, but it will get easier over time.”

Russell said he has heard several complaints about how much money the city is “wasting” by changing the street. He clarified that the $2.4 million going toward the project will be used to cover the cost of the construction of the new water main and street repairs that will take place mainly on Fourth Avenue East beginning June 6. The cost of converting Third Avenue East into a two-way is minimal, Russell said, with only minor changes to signage and traffic indicators.

According to the Public Works Director Suzy Turner, the city plans to conduct a traffic study in one year to determine whether any more changes need to be made such as additional signage or speed limit adjustments. Turner said the delay in the study accounted for the time she anticipated it would take for drivers to adjust to the new traffic changes and form new routines in driving through the area.

For now, motorists and pedestrians are asked to be alert, cautious and follow all traffic controls.

For questions or concerns, Russell encouraged residents to contact the Public Works Department at 758-7720.