City to take look at one-way avenues
Seaborn Larson | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 9 years, 5 months AGO
The Kalispell City Council on Monday heard a city engineering presentation on switching Third and Fourth avenues east to two-way streets.
Public Works Director Susie Turner and City Engineer Keith Haskins presented data to the council on Third and Fourth avenues and the effects of changing the streets from one-way to two-way traffic.
The council endorsed continued study by the Public Works Department.
Although it has been a concern for Third and Fourth Avenue residents for years, the issue came to the city in a small wave of public support at the Ward 3 town-hall meeting earlier this month where east-side residents agreed to circulate a petition on the one-way roadways.
The petition essentially will put the support in one document rather than bringing a number of people in front of the council to repeat the same request.
Initiating the change to two-ways first would require more specific traffic counts at several points along each roadway. These studies would likely take place in the spring, once snowplows have completed work for the season.
By May, the Public Works Department hopes to complete a school and traffic route with another assessment done by July.
If the streets are switched to two-way traffic, sign changes would begin sometime in the fall to be completed in the summer of 2017 before the school year starts.
Traffic counts done by the Montana Department of Transportation in 2014 showed 3,960 drivers using Third Avenue on a daily basis. Fourth Avenue had 2,140 drivers in the department’s study.
Haskins said his research found that while two-ways typically generate fewer traffic collisions and higher property values, they also translate to increased traffic.
But these results are often measured in areas of both commercial and residential use. Several council members thought this might not affect Third and Fourth the same way, since both are strictly residential avenues.
Despite a loose plan to move forward, council members still asked residents to collaborate for a show of public support.
Bill Nelson, a Fourth Avenue East resident who took charge of circulating the petition to support the traffic change, said he has met some opposition.
“It’s been interesting,” Nelson said. “We’re being met with interesting conversations. A dozen or more of us have said they felt the same way, while now we’re finding there are other opinions. We feel like they need to be brought along to see how much better it can be. It’s just an educational thing.”
Concerns arose over the width of the one-ways, with open parking on either side of the roadways. Haskins and Turner confirmed the streets are the same as other city streets: 28 feet wide. Turner said her concern lies where the traffic will flow after the one-ways are no longer the faster option through town.
“It’s important to do a larger traffic analysis on how that’s going to change Kalispell,” Turner said. “Second and Woodland is one of the most dangerous intersections. In my mind, that’s important to look at.”
Residents with questions or comments on the issue can contact the Public Works Department at 758-7720 or by email at publicworks@kalispell.com.
IN OTHER business, he council agreed to form a task force to begin reviewing the city growth policy in January.
Mayor Mark Johnson and council members Sandy Carlson, Tim Kluesner, Chad Graham and Phil Guiffrida all volunteered to take on the weekly task. City Manager Doug Russell noted that after an early announcement of the chapters to be reviewed, other council members and city residents are welcome to join the conversation at these task force meetings.
The city growth policy is a guiding document for the council as Kalispell continues to grow and expand.
The information in the 141-page document outlines five key development projects, (The Core Area Plan, Downtown Plan, South Kalispell Urban Renewal Plan, Kalispell Pedestrian and Bicycle Master Plan and the Kalispell Transportation Plan Update) and 16 chapters ranging from city annexation to historic and cultural conservation to the economy.
The plan returned to the council after the Kalispell Planning Department spent months tightening up the language of the document.
Upon looking at the text-heavy document, the council decided it would be best served to review the plan chapter by chapter to have a comprehensive approach after the plan review is complete.
“Things have changed a lot for us in the last month, because of the core area,” said Kluesner said. “I don’t know what’s going to happen in the next three or four months either, that may change some of our focus.”
The growth policy subcommittee will meet on the first Tuesday of January at 5 p.m. in City Hall.
Reporter Seaborn Larson may be reached at 758-4441 or by email at slarson@dailyinterlake.com.
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