After hectic year, road crews take a breath, airport work forges on

Following a busy year for transportation infrastructure improvements, fewer changes are coming for Montana’s ground and air travel in 2022.

“We won’t have a lot of transportation [projects] coming up for next year,” Kalispell Public Works Director Susie Turner said.

One the biggest recent changes for Kalispell’s transportation has been the Parkline Trail, a multi-use pedestrian and bike path that stretches for 1.6 miles east to west through downtown Kalispell.

After a decade of preparation, crews from Sandry Construction broke ground on the Parkline Trail last spring, and the project is expected to finally wrap up in spring 2022.

Turner said crews are “just fine-tuning” the final touches on the trail at this point.

With the Parkline Trail project coming to an end, the Public Works Department has its sights set on a few development-related transportation improvements this year.

Although Turner said these plans haven’t been finalized, she expects to see two intersection improvement projects take place next year at the intersection of Stillwater Road and Four Mile Drive, as well as the intersection of Three Mile Drive and Spring Creek Road. Both are spurred by new developments cropping up near those busy junctions.

Turn lane improvements are going to go in at the Stillwater Road and Four Mile Drive crossroads, and the triangle intersection that connects Three Mile Drive heading westbound to Spring Creek Road will disappear.

“It’s so confusing,” Turner said of the triangle interchange between Three Mile and Spring Creek. “It’ll be a huge improvement.”

Eighth Avenue West could also see some improvements while city crews are working to replace a water line there, although Turner said that project might end up getting pushed to 2023.

As with every construction season, some Kalispell roads will undergo pavement preservation projects. Turner said the city does approximately 4 miles of mill and overlay work, plus 3 to 4 miles of chip-sealing, on roads that need preservation efforts every summer.

The coming year’s selection of pavement preservation projects hasn’t been decided yet, but the projects are chosen based on road conditions and usage, according to Turner.

“I will always make sure we hit residential [roads],” Turner stressed. “We take a holistic view so there’s a benefit every year with pavement preservation projects.”

ALSO IN Kalispell, the Montana Department of Transportation is wrapping up two major roundabout projects on the U.S. 93 Alternate Route and at the intersection of Dern Road and Spring Creek Road west of town.

MDT District Administrator Bob Vosen said crews will put the finishing touches on those two roundabouts next construction season, as well as the extensive project that stretched from Hungry Horse to Stanton Creek on U.S. 2 east of Columbia Falls.

In the wake of those huge undertakings, Vosen said, “It’s a little bit of a down year in the Kalispell area.”

The most significant improvement coming down the pike for MDT will be an effort to flatten the side slopes on Montana 206. State crews will widen the shoulders to 4 feet on that narrow roadway and do an overlay over the top of the road.

Vosen predicted that project will wrap up in a single construction season.

On the other side of town, the state will complete a “mill and fill” project, which involves tearing up the asphalt and replacing it on U.S. 93 from Grandview Drive north to Reserve Drive. That’s an early-season project that Vosen anticipates completing before July 4.

Farther west of town, MDT plans to replace seven culverts on U.S. 2 near Marion by early August.

The last major project on the docket for MDT is an expansion of U.S. 93 in Ronan, starting at the Dairy Queen north to where the road currently consists of five lanes.

“It’s a big project,” Vosen noted.

Vosen added the state will complete a few smaller projects around Kalispell next year, including a statewide initiative to replace all lightbulbs with LED lights — a total of about 1,000 lights in the Kalispell area alone.

Two other minor projects include a rut fill on Montana 40 between the junction with U.S. 93 and Dillon Road, plus a mill and fill and a few Americans With Disabilities sidewalk ramp improvements on Spokane Avenue south of downtown Whitefish.

AT GLACIER Park International Airport, Director Rob Ratkowski expects a “transition year” after breaking ground on a $100 million terminal expansion in 2021.

Ratkowski previously called the expansion, “the biggest project in the history of the airport.”

He said that project is close to the point of finishing the new basement, and this spring the first indoor improvements in the current terminal will start to develop. Those will eventually lead to tripling the airport’s footprint, adding two more gates and putting in the Flathead’s only escalator.

“The inside of the airport is going to start to look different in the next year,” Ratkwoski said.

These changes are not expected to affect security checkpoint operations or travel times, he added.

At this point, he said, the airport looks like it will run on a similar flight schedule to last summer.

“We’re not anticipating any large reductions or additions,” said Ratkwoski. He stressed, however, most airlines won’t announce new flights until at least the first of the new year.

One notable change at the airport in 2022 will be the formalization of overflow parking near the Country Inn & Suites by Radisson. Paving the parking lot expansion will add about 400 new parking spaces at the airport.

“That’s an indication of all our new residents that we have,” Ratkowski said.

Reporter Bret Anne Serbin may be reached at 406-758-4459 or bserbin@dailyinterlake.com.