Flathead County is poised to spend between $258,000 and $295,000 to install heated sidewalks at two high-traffic county buildings in an effort to improve public safety.

The heated sidewalks will be installed in the coming months at the county’s new South Campus Building that will house the Agency on Aging and at the courtyard area between the main Courthouse and expanded old jail facility.

“Flathead County deals with dozens of slips and falls in the winter,” county Maintenance Manager Jed Fisher said. “We can’t keep up with the traffic and a limited crew. We’re trying to keep employees and the public safe.”

It takes manpower to apply salt to icy county sidewalks, Fisher pointed out. The maintenance crew starts work at midnight to 3 a.m. on snow days. Heated sidewalks are self-maintaining.

Another factor in the decision to switch to heated sidewalks in those areas is the damage salt and sand do when they are tracked into buildings.

“Sand and salt eats our carpet away and we have to replace carpet more frequently because of that,” Fisher said.

County Administrator Mike Pence said the commissioners have approved the installation of the heated sidewalks at both the Courthouse and South Campus Building. He acknowledged the project will mean change orders to the budget.

“We are changing the sidewalk specifications for South Campus to include heated sidewalks. It’s an extra cost, but with the amount of traffic the commissioners have agreed it’s a good idea,” Pence said. “They’ve given the green light to move forward with the design and bid.”

Traffic will be greatly increased in the courtyard between the Courthouse and old jail complex once the old jail expansion is completed in early May, Pence said. The County Attorney’s Office will relocate to the expanded facility.

Most pedestrians enter the Courthouse through the south courtyard entrance, he noted.

Some of the concrete courtyard area that was installed when the Courthouse was renovated several years ago will have to be removed, including some ornamental concrete that doesn’t take well to salt, Fisher said.

“We went with colored concrete and can’t apply salt to it, so we want to redo it as regular concrete,” he said.

Another aspect of the project is sidewalk extensions to both sides of U.S. 93. The idea, Pence said, is to funnel people walking through parking lots to new sidewalks that will abut the highway.

The county hopes to work with the Montana Department of Transportation on blinking lights at crosswalks on both sides of the Courthouse, Pence added. Handicap-accessible ramps between the sidewalks and highway also are planned.

The additional money for the heated sidewalks will be taken from the county’s general fund or payment-in-lieu-of-taxes allocation from the federal government. The federal government reimburses counties to compensate for nontaxable federal land. The federal government reimburses counties to compensate for nontaxable federal land.

There also may be a little bit of money left in the construction contingency fund for sidewalk improvements.

“It will be a forever thing, a real benefit for a long period of time,” Pence said.

Features editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or by email at lhintze@dailyinterlake.com.