Major Flathead Valley transportation upgrades will be underway in 2024

State and local officials expect to make inroads on several major transportation infrastructure projects in the Flathead Valley in 2024, including the widening of West Reserve Drive in Kalispell.

Among the slated forthcoming improvements, the Montana Department of Transportation is also expected to resurface a portion of Big Mountain Road as part of a multiyear pavement preservation project. Officials in Whitefish, meanwhile, plan to overhaul Karrow Avenue for pedestrian safety, road quality, and to improve both utilities and drainage. 

In Kalispell, West Reserve Drive’s expansion plan remains in the planning stages. A request for proposal — issued in the fall — asked for design-build teams to submit proposals based on the West Reserve Drive Corridor Planning Study.

The study calls for expanding the stretch of Reserve Drive from Hutton Ranch Road to Whitefish Stage Road from three to five lanes, adding a center turn lane, replacing the Stillwater River Bridge deck to include sidewalks and adding a shared-use path. Intersection improvements to Hutton Ranch Road and Whitefish Stage Road will include dedicated turn lanes, signals and concrete surfacing. 

“Our highways require regular maintenance,” said Bob Vosen, Missoula District administrator of the Montana Department of Transportation. “These projects are just a couple of many in Montana with the purpose of roadway upkeep and enhancing safety features for drivers.”

Daily use of West Reserve Drive has increased steadily since 2000, leading to bottlenecks in traffic, increased noise and pollution, according to statistics compiled by the state transportation agency.  

Kalispell secured a $25 million federal Rural Surface Transportation Grant to address traffic volume on the thoroughfare in 2022. U.S. Department of Transportation Multimodal Project Discretionary Grant (MPDG) funding in the amount of $25 million followed in 2023. Passage of the SAFER Act in early 2023 — also known as the Securing Access to Federal Expenditures to Repair Montana Roads and Bridges Account Act  — created a statutory appropriation that allows states to match federal grant amounts without passing a bill for the investment. 

Kalispell Rep. Courtenay Sprunger, who carried the SAFER Act, told the Inter Lake during the legislative session that the West Reserve Drive project was a good example of the type of efforts the bill is meant to aid. 

According to Joel Boucher, a preconstruction engineer with the state Department of Transportation, the federal grant proposal specified the need for a revitalization of the whole stretch of Reserve from U.S. 93 to U.S. 2. 

“That would be a very, very heavy lift,” Boucher said. “So this portion we can do right now as its own project.”

Proposals will remain under review until February with construction work expected to begin later in 2024 or in 2025.

IN WHITEFISH, the resurfacing of Big Mountain Road from just north of Glade Drive down to Smith Drive is expected to occur in 2024. 

The project will see drainages repaired, driving conditions improved and the service life of the road extended, officials said.

Drivers can expect delays and single lane work-zones as the contractor, Robert Peccia and Associates, works to perform pavement overlay, as well as replacing signs and updating the guardrails. 

These repairs are funded by state secondary funds, according to state Transportation Department officials.

Work on the undertaking began in August and paused as the weather cooled in the late summer. 

“Big Mountain Road sees many recreationists,” Vosen said in a statement over the summer. “We recognize the need to keep traffic flowing and expect this project to enhance roadway safety features once completed.”

On the local level, the Whitefish Public Works Department plans to use $3.7 million in resort tax funds to improve Karrow Avenue from Second Street to Seventh Street West, outfitting a 28-foot-wide road with dark-sky compliant lighting, drainage improvements, streetside trees, and a bicycle and pedestrian path that will connect to other paths on both ends of the work area, as laid out in the Connect Whitefish Master Plan adopted in 2017. 

“One of the highest priorities of the job is enhancing bike and pedestrian accommodations,” said Whitefish Public Works Director Craig Workman. 

Connecting with two previous public undertakings — a maintenance project on Seventh Street West in 2016 and work performed on West Second Street in 2015 — Workman added that “Karrow plays a vital role in the city network.”  

Public comment from Whitefish residents was mostly supportive of the project, with some residents reporting too much traffic on the roadway and others alleging that many motorists drive at high speeds to cross town. Some commenters in opposition to the project called for building a Whitefish bypass road. 

Senior project engineer Karin Hilding pointed to public meetings held Sept. 28 and subsequent public comment taken by the contractor, Robert Peccia and Associates, as the preliminary moves guiding the work in 2024. She anticipated further community engagement on the project in the spring before breaking ground. The work is set to wrap up in the fall of 2024.

AT GLACIER Park International Airport, traffic changes have already been enacted as the airport’s front entryway is set to undergo work into 2025, but travelers will soon notice other improvements. Starting early 2024, “It is going to be way less cramped,” said Rob Ratkowski, airport executive director. 

The facility’s security checkpoint is expanding to give travelers more space. The concessions area is moving behind the security checkpoint. Three new gates with jet bridges will speed up boarding and provide even more space during hectic summer months.

Ratkowski also reported that the airport’s escalator, possibly the first moving staircase in the Flathead Valley, will also be ready in early 2024. 

“We just got it inspected, so now we’re working on the space around it,” he said.

The terminal apron is also expanding to permit more parking for planes, facilitating takeoff rotations. 

Reporter Carl Foster can be reached at 758-4407 or cfoster@dailyinterlake.com.

    A staircase and a pair of escalators under construction in the central core area of Glacier Park International Airport's Expansion Project on Thursday, Dec. 21. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake
  

    Traffic on West Reserve Drive in Kalispell on Wednesday, Dec. 13. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
  

    A staircase and a pair of escalators under construction in the central core area of Glacier Park International Airport's Expansion Project on Thursday, Dec. 21. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)