For city streets, it’s haves and have nots

The City of Columbia Falls has a dozen sections of streets that are in need of critical repairs and not nearly enough cash to fix them all.

It costs about $1.5 to $2.5 million per mile to rebuild a city street, city manager Eric Hanks said in a report to council last week.

But the city’s street maintenance budget for 2026 is just $603,000, which includes special street assessment revenue of about $363,825 and gas tax revenue of about $230,000. The remainder is supplemented by the city’s general fund.

All told the city has about 1.75 miles of streets or sections of streets it considers in critical need of repair and another 1.25 miles of deficient road.

Some roads, like Fifth Avenue West near the high school are down to gravel. In fact, councilwoman Kathy Price said she thought the road was gravel and asked if it would get repaired this year since 13th Street and Fourth Avenue West would see overhauls as a result of a larger federally-funded project.

The answer, however, was no, because the city doesn’t have the money to completely fix Fifth Avenue West.

“I didn’t even know it was asphalt,” she said.

The city does have several street projects on tap for 2026, including the above-mentioned Gateway to Glacier Safety and mobility project, which will overhaul 13th Street West, Fourth Avenue West and 7th Street West. That utilizes a $10 million RAISE grant.

In 2026, the city will also enter into Phase 2 of a project to improve several streets that serve Nucleus Avenue with curbs and gutters. That bid came in at $700,000 and is paid for with tax increment financing district monies.

In addition Railroad Street will see a new bike/pedestrian path through a grant with the state and a city match. That’s a $1.6 million project that will also start in 2026.

As far as the gas tax goes this year, the city will use the $235,500 it gets from the state to chip seal several streets in the city.

One of the problem with city street repairs is that monies are often attached to specific projects or specific parts of the city. For example, TIF funds can’t be used on a street outside the TIF district, which encompasses streets near Nucleus Avenue and Highway 2.

With the federal monies, they can only be used for streets covered the grant. Fourth Avenue West is in much better shape than Fifth Avenue West, but it isn’t part of the RAISE grant, so Fifth won’t see repairs until the city has enough cash to fix it and it’s expected to cost more than $1 million to fix about three blocks.

The city continues to bump up its street maintenance tax each year, but that doesn’t come close to paying for most projects.