Council making progress on 'malfunction junction' redesign

The Kalispell City Council worked on the nuts and bolts of a proposed redesign of Airport Road, First Avenue West and 16th Street — Kalispell’s own ‘malfunction junction’ — at its Oct. 14 work session.

The council, with assistance from the Kalispell Planning Department, is developing the “16th Street Offset” design option. Since the project to rebuild the difficult intersection began in 2018, the city and consulting firm WGM Group have decided on the 16th Street Offset option and estimated the project’s total cost at $2.03 million, which will be covered by the Westside Tax Increment Finance District.

“It’s not the most easily navigated intersection in town,” City Manager Doug Russell noted. He said the purpose of the discussion was “to see if this is really where we want to go with the project.”

In his overview of the project, Kalispell Planning Director Tom Jentz called the intersection “malfunction junction.”

He explained how the Planning Department and the city’s Urban Renewal Agency have been meeting continually over a period of about two years to develop the current plan.

“Basically our focus was to provide as much pedestrian accessibility as we could in that area,” he said. The current plan includes a new parking lot and sidewalk design, as well as bike lanes along Airport Road.

With the new configuration, the city plans to have a new street connection at 16th Street West and First Avenue West, and a portion of 18th Street “is literally disappearing,” according to Jentz.

In addition to increasing walkability, another main goal for the project is to help with traffic flow. Jentz gave a thorough description of the proposed traffic flow with the new design, and detailed drawings of the plan are available in the work session agenda, available at https://www.kalispell.com/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_10142019-334

Jentz also discussed the future of the area, including the addition of 80 to 90 homes and the potential for an eventual junior high school proposal to accompany Rankin Elementary School. He said they plan to do mailings throughout the neighborhood to notify residents of the upcoming changes, but he said so far, “we really have had no pushback.”

Council members asked Jentz about the current stormwater infrastructure, funding the project and decisions about the sidewalk extensions. Council member Phil Giuffrida emphasized the need to plan out the entire project carefully.

Jentz concluded, “ultimately, the council will act” on the proposed redesign.

The work session also included a discussion of the downtown bike rack project involving the Planning Department, Flathead Valley Community College and the Kalispell Downtown Association. The discussion provided the council with an update on the project and opened an opportunity to clarify the specifications of the planned bike racks.

Jentz called it “something to really enhance our downtown.”

Finally, the council revisited its interlocal agreement with the Flathead County City-County Board of Health based on questions that arose when the budget was approved in September. There was a lengthy discussion about many components of the agreement, focusing on potential future alternatives to the current agreement and the way other municipalities — namely Whitefish and Columbia Falls — figure into the County Health Board decision-making process.

During the public comment period, Sid Daoud stated his interest in more input from Whitefish and Columbia Falls.

Reporter Bret Anne Serbin may be reached at bserbin@dailyinterlake.com or 758-4459.