Residents get say in Kalispell's Main Street safety plan effort

Kalispell officials solicited public input for the forthcoming Main Street safety plan at an open house Tuesday, which also gave residents an opportunity to speak with representatives from the city, Kalispell Downtown Association and Kalispell Business Improvement District.

“We were happy to see extensive public engagement at the open house,” said Kalispell Development Services Director Jarod Nygren. He said he hoped that residents will remain involved, contributing to an interactive map on the project website and attending a second open house in the spring. 

Aimed at preventing fatalities and serious injury along the U.S. 93/Main Street corridor, the Main Street Kalispell Safety Plan is funded through a U.S. Department of Transportation Safe Streets and Roads for All Planning Grant totalling $520,000. It is seen by city officials as the culmination of the municipality’s Core Area Plan, the 2017 Downtown Plan and the monumental U.S. 93 Bypass project. 

“We’ve posted flyers, covered social media, visited both Bias Brewery for happy hour and the Kalispell Public Library — which is crucial because most people walk there,” said Rachel Grosso, deputy project manager with Kittelson, the contractor employed by the city for the undertaking.

She said residents could expect to see the changes catalyzed by the safety plan take effect in as soon as five years. 

“We just want to make sure we’re representing Kalispell residents today and projecting their ideas into the future,” she said. 

Tuesday’s open house provided a city map for participants to mark with color codes for various hazards: “Drivers don’t yield,” “excessive speed” and so on. It also saw the introduction of an online interactive map that allows users to pinpoint problem spots and apply comments for city workers to review.

Citizens on hand expressed a broad range of feelings about the effort. 

Kyle Voigtlander of Kalispell appreciated the ideas in the safety plan, but thought it was the wrong approach. 

“I’m not saying don’t improve, but solutions for Bozeman won’t work here,” Voigtlander said. 

He argued that most traffic accidents in Kalispell occur in wintertime and as a result of how the city clears the roads of snow and ice, which leads to motorists driving at unsafe speeds.

He also wondered why the project wasn’t spearheaded by the Montana Department of Transportation as Main Street doubles as a federal highway. 

Tom Jentz of Kalispell said a total overhaul of downtown, rather than piecemeal fixes, is “timely and needed.” 

“It’s been on people’s minds for 20 years,” he said. 

Jentz suggested an arterial for Willow Glen Drive up to the intersection of U.S. 2 and Montana 35 in Evergreen as a way of creating a beltway of through roads around Kalispell. 

“Downtown needs to be protected,” he said. “Once you lose the heart of the city, it becomes just another strip.” 

 Jaden Woeppel of Kalispell has been following the city’s planning efforts “from the outskirts” of town where he lives, saying that the state has “perhaps not been receptive to some of Kalispell’s downtown ideas.” 

He said he looked forward to “seeing the 2017 Downtown Plan come into action” — a plan that he followed while in high school. 

Jack Harte, who lives downtown, said he came because he received a letter about it. 

“Downtown is a big part of my life,” he said. “There are businesses I haven’t been to because they are across the highway.” 

He approved of the safety plan effort. 

“It’s good to see someone is paying attention to this, and with the Bypass we can move through-traffic out of downtown,” Hart said. 

Once the plan is shaped up, Council will weigh in, which is expected to occur in the summer.

Big Sky Public Relations will provide project updates to keep the public informed. Those interested in receiving this information are encouraged to contact Kristine Fife at kristine@bigskypublicrelations.com.

For more information, go to: www.mainstreetkalispellsafetyplan.com/

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