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State wraps up downtown Kalispell road work

by Daily Inter Lake
| July 7, 2021 12:00 AM

The Montana Department of Transportation has completed a six-month concrete rehabilitation project in downtown Kalispell.

No additional major travel impacts are expected on Main Street from Sixth Street to Washington Street, or on Idaho Street from Meridian Road to Seventh Avenue East North, through the end of the year.

"It's equally as important to keep good roads good as it is to change and update our infrastructure," John Schmidt, an MDT construction engineer, said in a statement. "Just like maintaining your car by changing the oil, MDT does preventative maintenance projects like this one so that roads last even longer. If we never did this work, the road would have fallen into serious disrepair and would have cost much more time and money to fix."

The Kalispell concrete rehab project involved repairing over a mile and a half of concrete on the aforementioned roads.

"That is roughly 23 Legends Stadiums of hard work," the department said.

Crews ground down the existing pavement, sealed roadway joints and cracks, repaired the concrete when needed, upgraded signage and added pavement markings.

Work began last July and was mostly completed by October. In April, crews returned to perform the finishing touches on the project, including installing signage, painting roadway markings and conducting minor utility work.

"This project was essential to preserving and maintaining our downtown Kalispell roads," Schmidt said. "Residents and visitors can now enjoy many smooth rides on repaired concrete roads for many years to come."