City selects firm for transportation plan study
HEIDI DESCH | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 6 years, 6 months AGO
Cars cross East Second Street on Baker Avenue in downtown Whitefish. (Heidi Desch/Whitefish Pilot file)
DEPUTY EDITOR, FEATURES Heidi Desch is the Deputy Editor at the Daily Inter Lake, overseeing coverage of arts, culture, lifestyle, community, and business. Desch leads reporters in developing stories that highlight the people, traditions, and events shaping Northwest Montana, guiding content across print and digital platforms. With more than 20 years of journalism experience, including serving as managing editor of the Whitefish Pilot, Desch is a graduate of the University of Montana School of Journalism. She has received multiple Montana Newspaper Association awards, including part of the team leading the Daily Inter Lake to Best Daily Newspaper in Montana Award and the General Excellence Award in 2024 and 2025. IMPACT: Heidi’s work connects readers with stories that deepen the understanding of the community beyond daily news. | April 22, 2020 1:00 AM
The City of Whitefish has selected the engineering firm of KLJ to update its transportation plan.
The city is updating its transportation plan to project future improvements out to the year 2030. The current plan was created in 2009.
City Council on April 6 approved authorizing the City Manager to negotiate a contract with the engineering firm, which has an office in Kalispell, for the update. The city’s fiscal year 2020 budget includes $50,000 for the update.
Public Works Director Craig Workman said the firm is currently working with Kalispell to update its transportation plan.
“While they have not worked for the City of Whitefish on past project, we were extremely impressed with the research they completed to familiarize themselves with the city,” Workman said. “KLJ brings a diverse team with a deep background in transportation planning and we feel they will have a fresh perspective on the city’s transportation needs.”
The planning process will engage the public to identify and evaluate transportation conditions and alternate modes like biking, walking and public transit. Work on the plan will also evaluate the existing transportation conditions.
The plan is expected to also evaluate projects to complete the network and fill the needs of users.
The ultimate outcome of the plan will be to set goals and objectives to improve transportation into the future and provide a practical set of policies and ranked tasks to achieve those objectives, according to the public works department.
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