Skyline Drive on fast track

POLSON — Lake County commissioners counted their lucky stars when they were awarded one of 26 federal grants concerning roads.

And now the time has come to start planning.

In April, Lake County was awarded the Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) grant as part of the U.S. Department of Transportation’s appropriation of $1.5 billion for capital investments in surface transportation infrastructure.

“My philosophy is you don’t get anything unless you ask for it,” Lake County Commissioner Paddy Trusler said during last week’s public informational meeting. “This was a very difficult feat and now we are going to figure out how to use it.”

The marquee project of the TIGER grant will be the rebuilding of Skyline drive. Currently in the first phase of environmental and pre-design engineering, the final product is proposed to have two lanes with curb and gutter from 17th Ave. to Mission View Dr. From there to Caffrey Road, there will be two lanes, possibly with curb and gutter. There will be retaining walls from Demers to Mission View Drive and the whole 2.4 miles will have a new asphalt surface with intersection improvements. One of those safety measures will include a 25 mph speed limit. Another proposed part of the project will include a new bridge over the Pablo Feeder Canal.

Other proposed projects include a pedestrian trail along Caffrey Road to U.S. Highway 93 where users can then travel north into Polson, or south to Pablo and/or  Ronan.

 “A major part of this grant is connectivity and connecting streets with walkways,” Trusler said.

Another idea is to improve the streets in Ronan with a 12-block streetscape project to repave, rebuild or resurface streets in the downtown area of Ronan to be completed in coordination with the planned reconstruction of Hwy. 93 design of a couplet, which will further divide the city’s down-town and west side from the residential area on the east.

A pathway project is also on the drawing board. This would be a two mile pathway construction project that would extend a path adjacent to Round Butte Road west from Ronan from its current endpoint at Leighton Road being paved by MDOT. At that point, cyclists could use paved road SS354 to travel north all the way to Polson, or loop back to U.S. Highway 93 via either Carbine or Pablo West Roads.

The last project would be either Carbine Road or Pablo West chip/seal/rebuild. This would be a four-mile road construction project, paving an existing county, gravel road which serves as a main arterial connecting SSR354 with Hwy. 93, and carrying traffic from western Lake County to the communities of Pablo and Polson for school and work. Once paved, the road can be used by both motorized and non-motorized vehicles to access points of both road and path connectivity.

In early October, Trusler expects to have all of the final decisions relating to the Skyline Drive design complete.

“By this time next year we will be rebuilding Skyline Drive,” he said.

The project is on a tight time frame, as funds have to be obligated by September 2011. Construction is slated to start between March and July 2011 and finish between July and November of that year. This means the design logistics have to get in gear now, including hearing public comment.

Along with being briefed on the progress of the project, residents were introduced to Mitch Stelling, the preliminary design engineer on the project. Stelling, of Stelling Engineers, Inc., has offices in Great Falls, Helena and Kalispell. He is familiar with Lake County, as his firm did the intersection between Highways 93 and 35 and the intersection of Hwy 93 and Minesinger Trail.

For a project this size, Stelling said it would typically take three years from start to end, whereas this one is shortened to about six months. He has eight weeks to pull together a preliminary design and has already been busy at work sending out right of entry forms to residents along the proposed construction area along Skyline Drive. These forms allow the crew to go beyond the 20-foot allowance onto private property in order to work.

“We want to be able to go beyond that 20 feet,” he said.

On Skyline Drive, there is no intention to flatten the curves, meaning a 25 mph speed limit is necessary. The concern over the speed limit along the street was raised during the meeting.

“It’s not just kids,” Dick Scott, who lives along Skyline Drive, said. “It’s contractors with trucks with cell phone in one ear and a lead foot on the pedal. Do you want a city street or a truck bypass? Right now, we have a truck bypass.”

There will be another public hearing meeting in September.

“We are really going to hit it hard for the next four to six weeks,” Stelling said. “We’ve got a lot of work to do.”

More information and updates on the project are located at http://www.lakecounty-mt.org/tiger/index.htm.