The U.S. 93 Bypass around Kalispell is getting closer to reality.

The state highway department is negotiating right-of-way purchases with landowners along the south half of the proposed bypass route and has made good progress in the past seven weeks.

In early July, Montana Department of Transportation Director Jim Lynch said the prospect of $16 million in federal stimulus money helped step up the sluggish land-acquisition process.

More than 130 property owners are affected by plans for the south half of the bypass, but negotiations and simple notifications had resulted in closed deals with half of them by this spring.

By July 9, Department of Transportation officials were closing in on nine make-or-break properties among the 28 total pending at that time.

"We're down to two parcels," Lynch said on Wednesday. "I don't see anything in there that is going to stop it now We're in the discussion stages at different levels with both

"We don't feel there's any deal-breakers on these parcels. It's just a matter of working through the inertia."

If and when purchase agreements are closed for those last two tracts, the final design work on the bypass route can be done and the highway department can apply for stormwater permits from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

The department then could seek bids on the south half of the bypass this winter.

"We anticipate bidding this in three different projects," he said. "Depending on the project and the work to be done, I would expect to see construction begin no later than the spring."

The three projects would build the bypass route from U.S. 93 in south Kalispell to Airport Road, from Airport Road to Foy's Lake Road, and from Foy's Lake Road to U.S. 2 in west Kalispell near the Rodeway Inn.

An early estimate pegs the total cost of these three segments at between $34 million and $38 million. When the three projects are designed and put out for bid, the department can get closer on the actual numbers.

"It's a great economic boost for the Flathead," Lynch said.

"The beauty of breaking it into three projects is they're smaller dollar-amount projects and [that] allows more opportunity for more contractors to bid the work," including local contractors who do not have the resources to do the massive job of building the entire bypass, he said.

Reporter Nancy Kimball can be reached at 758-4483 or by e-mail at [email protected]