Study: Blue Moon intersection sees about 9 million vehicle trips annually

Columbia Falls may be a small town, but being on the doorstep of Glacier National Park means it also has traffic and lots of it.

From the railroad tracks east through town, about 18,000 cars a day travel down Highway 2. From the tracks back to the west, that number is even higher — 23,000 a day.

Those were just some of the figures presented by Wade Kline of KLJ Engineering during a public listening session as the city embarks on devising a 20-year transportation plan.

Folks had a host of concerns, most of which dealt with safety, particularly when trying to cross a road or make a left-hand turn.

One big topic was turning lights — right now folks traveling east and west on Highway 2 at Meadow Lake Boulevard have a turning lane, but the light just blinks yellow.

As a result, there have been many accidents.

At the Blue Moon, the situation is even worse. Drivers traveling south from Half Moon Road making an eastbound turn onto Highway 2 don’t have a light at all. Meanwhile, people traveling toward them oftentimes swerve around people making westbound turns and the result is many close calls and more than a few accidents.

Over the course of the past five years, the intersection has seen about 46 million vehicle trips. Not surprisingly, the Blue Moon intersection has the most traffic accidents of all the intersections in the Columbia Falls area.

The plan doesn’t look at just the traffic in the city limits. It extends out to the Blue Moon and south past North Valley Ag, including Walsh Road. To the east, it extends into the Heights and the House of Mystery. It also looks at traffic north of the city as well up into Meadow Lake and a bit beyond.

Traffic will also likely get worse. The projected growth rate of the city is about 2.5 percent annually. By 2030 the city will have about 7,300 residents and the rural areas surrounding it about 4,700. By 2040, combined it should be more than 14,000 people.

Columbia Falls is not alone. Kalispell and Whitefish have similar projected growth rates, Kline noted.

And that all adds up to more cars. But the plan doesn’t just look at car traffic.

Public transportation, bike and pedestrian paths, are all in the mix.

The city has 46 miles of streets that have no sidewalks.

The old red bridge, and what, or what not, to do with it could also be a topic of discussion. Freight and rail traffic will also be included and the possibility of “quiet zones” where the trains don’t blow their whistle as they travel through crossings, are also on tap.

The plan will also look the streets themselves; which ones need some simple maintenance and which ones need overhauls.

Funding also comes into the mix, as there’s only so much money available to fix and maintain streets. Having said that, the city is expected to grow enough so that it could get federal funds for some larger projects.

For example, it’s currently hoping to get a federal grant to rebuild Fourth Avenue and another grant to rebuild 12th Avenue.

Nothing has come through, however.

In the meantime, people are still encouraged to weigh in at the project website at: https://

klj.mysocialpinpoint. com/columbia-fallshome/ An interactive map allows people to comment on specific streets. A final plan is expected late next spring/early summer.