Corridor study down to 12 alternate routes

POLSON — The Polson community had a chance to ask questions and voice concerns about some possible changes to the city’s roadways last Thursday night.

Jeff Key, a transportation engineering consultant from Helena led the discussion, which included updates on both the Polson Area Transportation Plan and the U.S. Highway 93 Corridor Study. Key, who was hired by the technical oversight committee, consisting of the City of Polson, Lake County, Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes and the Montana Department of Transportation, said the study is considered “pre-NEPA,” meaning it is a very “broad look” at developing an alternate route.

While the information collected may set the stage for future action, there is still a long way to go before the partners make any decisions.

“It’s the city, county and tribes that will decide what stays and what goes,” Key said of the 12 initial alignments. “Eventually, we will end up with two or three to focus on, and we will be back to talk about them in a few months.”

The alignments were marked with thick brush strokes on a map, often shown crisscrossing over homes, farm and ranch lands in a virtual fly-over Google Earth video Key presented to the audience. Eight of the routes were the result of an original 1995 Evaro to Polson Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) and included options through town, including widening the current highway, using 7th Ave. and traversing an area north of Skyline Drive. While these routes are still under consideration and will be screened objectively with the rest, Key said the current highway is problematic for a number of reasons and realignments of it would still involve building a new bridge.

“There is just not enough room in some of those [in town] areas,” he said.

Also, Key does not envision 7th Avenue as a true alternate route.

“I can see it being a very nice city street and it needs to be an improved route,” he said. “I don’t envision it as carrying semi-trucks.”

The remaining four alternate routes, generated by the Quantm route-optimization software, followed Caffrey Road to the south of town and crossed the Lower Flathead River at three different westward sites. The most southerly crossing would result in a bridge structure much higher in elevation than the existing U.S. 93 bridge and tie into the existing highway north of the Rocky Point intersection. The estimated cost of construction only on this project (not including engineering, land acquisition, etc.) would be in the range of $37 million to $47.2 million, Key said.

The central and northern bridge crossings would also follow Caffrey Road, but veer north utilizing the existing Kerr Dam Road before heading northwest. The northern-most crossing would split the current Fairgrounds property and have the least expensive cost of construction, between $33 and $39.1 million.

This second of several public meetings saw roughly one-third of the attendance as the first, but the land and business owners who were present were passionate about being part of the conversation. Polson’s Christie Buffington was curious why Reservoir Road wasn’t on the table as an alternate route.

“The termini (area limits) have to be the same as the original EIS,” Key said. “If the community demanded that we expand the boundary, we would go back to the partners and consider it.”

Additional factors mentioned by audience members included the transfer station, which will continue to bring significant truck traffic to the area, and the possibility that Montana Highway 35 become a scenic byway, forbidding trucks to circumnavigate the lake’s eastern shore.

“We did not consider that, but we will,” Key said. “Please continue to voice your concerns in an e-mail or in writing. You need to let us know about your transportation needs.”

Whether an alternate route filters to the surface, or not, will largely depend on the public’s involvement. Information, maps and lists of the screening criteria are available online. Opinions, comments and concerns may be submitted online at www.mdt.mt.gov/pubinvolve/polsoncorridorstudy or by mail to Sheila Ludlow, MDT Statewide and Urban Planning, PO Box 201001, Helena, MT 59620.

“What is the purpose of this roadway?” Key asked. “Well, it depends on who you ask. Is there a route that will have the support of the community? If the answer is no, then we need to quit talking about it.”