When it comes to managing traffic congestion in Polson, City Manager Ed Meece has a plan – but it’s a plan with lots of moving pieces.

First up is a public meeting from 6-8 p.m. next Thursday at City Hall to discuss a recent study conducted by DJ&A Engineering in Missoula. The firm was commissioned by the city July 1 to look at the viability of creating a local 93 bypass that would connect Ridgewater Drive to Hillcrest Drive/Seventh Ave. The preferred route would link the two streets along or adjacent to Daniah Lane, a narrow thoroughfare that heads south near the top of Hillcrest.  

The study also evaluates the somewhat perilous intersection at the junction of Hillcrest and Hwy. 93.

Next on the city manager’s to-do list, and pending the outcome of next week’s public meeting, is to ask the city commission to authorize a traffic study that looks at the number of vehicles on Ridgewater Drive, and those traveling from the intersection of Main Street and Seventh Ave. E. up Hillcrest. The study would also provide an estimate of how much traffic would increase if the route becomes a bypass.

Meece has also applied to the Montana Department of Transportation to designate the city as an Urban Service Area, due to its population, which makes annual funds available from the Federal Highway Administration for certain thoroughfares. Meece hopes, with plans for a bypass finalized, the State Traffic Commission would allow the city to add Seventh Ave. E. to that designation, making additional funding available for the project, which will cost an estimated $8.2 million.

It’s a lot of moving parts. But if they all converge, he believes the result would ease traffic congestion for locals, who struggle to get onto and off of Highway 93 all summer long.

An important piece of the puzzle rests with Ridgewater developer Mike Maddy, who made a commitment to add a secondary access to his development once traffic there reaches 7,500 vehicles a day. It’s currently at around 4,500, and could jump quickly once a proposed 43-unit housing complex gains final approval. An ice arena, storage units, a Dollar Store and more residential housing have also been proposed for the area.

“We have a willing property owner in Mr. Maddy, and we have to figure out how we're going to do this thing, at least the first phase,” says Meece.

On the other side of the equation, 48 residential housing units are being built along Hillcrest Drive, across from the Lakeview Cemetery, which is part of the reason the city asked for an evaluation of the Hillcrest intersection with Hwy. 93. The study concludes that the intersection would be safer if only right turns in and right turns out were allowed, or if the Department of Transportation agreed to add a traffic light there.

If the Seventh Ave./Hillcrest project eventually gets a greenlight from the City Commission, Meece predicts it could be completed in sections that would include resurfacing, curbs, gutters and a sidewalk on one side of the street.

He said the notion of a residential bypass “has been thrown out there a couple of times, never to a great level of detail. But this sort of pushes it front and center.”

“My logic was until I have something like this from engineers, it's going to just be the fanciful thoughts of a city manager as to what we might do on that road,” he added. “This gives real teeth to the idea of doing a project.”

The meeting on Nov. 16 will be held in the commission chambers at City Hall; a Zoom link is also available. For more information, visit www.cityofpolson.com/meetings.