Whitefish City Council last week approved awarding an engineering contract for designing the Baker Avenue pedestrian underpass project.

The underpass is planned to span under Baker near the O’Shaughnessy Center west connecting to the city’s path off of Railway Street to Depot Park.

City Council approved entering into a contract with WGM Group for engineering and design of the project. The estimated cost for the underpass project is $1.3 million.

Public Works Director Craig Workman, based upon the recommendation of a selection committee, recommended WGM for the design work, noting that the firm was involved with previous conceptual designs on the project.

The underpass is one of the major projects called for in the downtown master plan as part of the Whitefish Promenade, which is designed to encircle and connect the downtown to the Whitefish River and downtown parks and provide connections to commercial areas and residential neighborhoods north of the viaduct.

Parks and Recreation Director Maria Butts in presenting the project to Council last week noted that a number of projects including widening sidewalks and creating curb bump-outs have already been created in the downtown to achieve a more pedestrian friendly environment and this project fits with that.

“The Baker Avenue underpass is one of the important elements that has not been built yet, although it has been a priority in several city planning documents for more than a decade,” she said.

The city’s bike and pedestrian plan also established the desire to improve connectivity and safety in the community’s shared-use path network.

The city has set aside $1.4 million in tax increment finance funds to pay for the underpass. The city must be under contract for the project before its TIF district sunsets on July 15.

The city had previously submitted an application for the project to the Montana Department of Transportation’s Transportation Alternatives grant program, but was unsuccessful in obtaining the grant.

By securing the grant, the city had hoped to only provide $400,000 in matching funds for the project, but since it was unable to do so and another grant cycle won’t occur before TIF sunsets, Council chose to commit TIF funds to cover the entire project.

A portion of the project will be covered by paved trail impact fees for work that includes the paved trail portion west of the underpass, according to the city.

BNSF Railway in the fall gave its OK for a license agreement that would permit the city to construct the underpass.