Kalispell Council seeks $25M grant for roundabouts, crosswalk upgrades along Main Street

Kalispell City Council on Monday voted unanimously to pursue a federal grant to improve pedestrian safety on Main Street.

If awarded, the funding would be used to install two roundabouts south of the Flathead County Justice Center and upgrade crosswalks in front of St. Matthew’s Catholic School. Additional improvements include retiming traffic signals so pedestrians can cross before vehicles turn and installing high-visibility crosswalks along the entire corridor.   

Councilors during a work session last month opted not to seek funds for a controversial portion of the plan that called for reducing Main Street from four lanes to three. The body cited public backlash to what is known as a road diet and the lack of a completed U.S. 93 Bypass to reroute traffic. The grant also would have fallen short of covering the cost of slimming the road. 

Mayor Ryan Hunter said that the idea has only been tabled, not abandoned, and he hopes the conversation will resume in the future.  

“It would be the most important and significant change to our Main Street to make it a more inviting space, a more livable, lively place,” Hunter said.  

He added that including the road diet in this year’s request could have hurt the city’s chances of securing the federal grant. The Trump administration said last year it would view applications with lane reductions less favorably. 

Nearly $690 million is available this year for the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Safe Streets and Roads for All Implementation grant program. The city plans to pursue the maximum request of $25 million.  

The grant requires a 20% local match, which the city would cover using tax increment financing funds.  

City Manager Jarod Nygren said that the Montana Department of Transportation, which manages the highway, supports the upgrades as long as it doesn’t have to pay for them. 

Councilor Sid Daoud said improvements in front of the school were long overdue. The crosswalks at the intersection of Seventh Street East and Main Street would be fitted with rapid flashing beacons to alert motorists when pedestrians cross. 

Councilors agreed that a single-lane roundabout at the intersection of U.S. 93 with 13th Street East and Airport Road was desperately needed.  

“I just see that as such a safety issue,” Councilor Jed Fisher said. “Thirteenth is a nightmare for anybody coming out from Airport Road. It just seems to me to be a huge priority.” 

Councilor Sam Nunnally said he worries the planned roundabout at U.S. 93 and 11th Street East could act like a “slingshot,” giving reckless motorists on Friday night the ability to speed up and down Main Street with ease.  

But others argued the traffic circle would steer motorists away from First Avenues East and West, where residents have also complained about reckless, noisy driving.   

COUNCILOR LISA Blank called on Council to do more to address reckless driving on Friday nights after witnessing it herself.  

“What I saw was incredibly unsafe,” she said.  

Eight to 10 children were squeezed in the bed of a pickup truck looping up and down Main Street while other cars raced along the road, according to Blank.  

“Yes, the police are doing a great job right now, but I think as a Council we have a responsibility to do more,” Blank said.  

While extra patrols have been mounted downtown on Friday nights to punish unlawful behavior, Hunter said the solution will require more than increased law enforcement.   

“They’ll never be everywhere all the time. So it only does so much,” he said.  

Joseph Biby, a resident of Kalispell’s east side, criticized Councilors Nunnally, Daoud and Fisher for failing to represent residents by opposing legislation last year that supporters believe would have limited cruising.  

“You are not doing your job,” Biby said.  

Second Avenue East resident Teresa Narduzzi said that loud, disruptive driving happens every night and urged the city to better enforce existing laws, such as those against unmuffled engines.  

“The fact that some of you are saying that you’re not going to do anything about it is just appalling,” Narduzzi said. 

ADVOCATES FOR gun violence prevention asked Councilors to wear orange on June 5, the 12th annual National Gun Violence Awareness Day.  

"It is easy to look at national statistics and convince ourselves that gun violence is a big city problem,” said resident Tara Lee. “But Kalispell is not immune, our community has suffered deeply from local tragedies in just the past couple years.” 

Melissa Wood, a Kalispell small business owner and farmer, said some of her family members were killed and injured in a September 2025 shooting at a Michigan church she frequented as a child. 

“Unfortunately, this isn’t the only instance of gun violence our family’s had to endure,” Wood said.   

Her son attended Edgerton Elementary School with a child killed in 2025 in what authorities described as a murder-suicide that left a family of four dead. 

“He came home to ask me what happened to his schoolmate before I had the chance to explain that a kindergartner was killed by her father,” Wood said.  

PAUL RONALD Gerson was unanimously appointed to the Architectural Review Board. 

“I think that is one of the things that most attracts me to Kalispell is its diversity of architecture and it's really unique nature and I think it’s important that we maintain that,” Gerson told Councilors.  

Daoud, a former chair of the Montana Libertarian Party and past U.S. Senate candidate, said he has crossed paths several times with Gerson, the Western District Chair of the Montana Democratic Party.  

“I know him, I know he’s intelligent. I know he’s not going to leak in politics even though he’s a true believer in one of the two big corrupt parties,” Daoud said with a laugh. 

Reporter Jack Underhill can be reached at 406-758-4407 or junderhill@dailyinterlake.com. If you value local journalism, pledge your support at dailyinterlake.com/support.