Whitefish City Council selected a construction option for State Park Road that will have traffic detouring through the adjacent neighborhood.

Council earlier this month approved a bid for the first phase of construction for Sandry Construction Company in the amount of $1.3 million.

The roadway is being reconstructed from Lion Mountain Loop Road to the BNSF railway crossing. Phase 1 of the project is set to begin this summer and includes the section of the road from Lion Mountain Loop Road to Haugen Heights Road.

The city will hold an information meeting on what to expect during construction of State Park Road on Thursday, June 27 from 6:30 to 8 p.m. at City Hall.

The city advertised for bidding the project with two options — one that would implement a detour route to remove public traffic from the construction site and one that would have put traffic control efforts in place including the use of flaggers to keep the road up to public traffic.

The low bid for work with no detour came in from LHC, Inc. at $1.49 million.

Public Works Director Craig Workman said that although the detour will be an inconvenience during construction, the city could not justify the additional $180,000 in cost to keep the road open to traffic.

“Many motorists will utilize the adjacent public roadways in order to avoid the delay, regardless of whether or not there is a posted detour,” he said. “If we were to try to build the road under traffic there could be a considerable number of dust complaints form the residents directly adjacent to the project if motorists are permitted to travel the roadway during construction.”

Under the detour option, a vehicle traveling from the south end of State Park Road to the north would be required to take Lion Mountain Loop Road to Meadow Lark Lane turn onto Stumptown Loop, then Haugen Heights Road and then following Patton Lane to State Park Road.

One-lane local traffic only access will be maintained to Forest Ridge Drive and Eagle Ridge Circle.

The design for State Park Road calls for a road with curb and gutters at a width of 32 feet, along with a 6-foot boulevard on the west side and 8-foot path also on the west side.

Phase II construction is scheduled for spring and fall of 2020 to run from Haugen Heights Road north to just before the railroad crossing.

The State Park Road project is being paid for with resort tax funds. The total project budget is $5.3 million.