A recent speed study for U.S. Highway 2 through Columbia Falls to Columbia Heights actually calls for increasing the speed limit in some sections, rather than lowering it as city leaders had hoped.

Back in December 2023 the Columbia Falls City Council and Flathead County asked the Montana Department of Transportation to complete a speed study for Highway 2 into Columbia Heights and for the North Fork Road from the city limits just past Aluminum Drive.

Rebecca Anderson, an engineer with MDT shared the results of both surveys with councilmembers at their April 6 meeting.

The U.S. Highway 2 study looked at the road from Twelfth Avenue West to Columbia Heights. While the study was complex in its analysis, taking into account the average speed of vehicles, crash reports and tickets issued, the bottom line was that based on the driving characteristics and patterns of most motorists, the speed limit from Twelfth Avenue West to Second Avenue West, should be 30 mph the study found.

“...there are excessive speeds for the 25-mph and 35-mph speed zones. The average 85th percentile for the 25-mph speed zone is 33-mph (8-mph above) and the average 50th percentile is 29.5-mph. This indicates that the appropriate speed limit for this location should be 30 mph, the closet 50th percentile and rounded down 85th percentile both indicate the same recommendation of 30 mph.” 

Higher speeds for both the 85th and 50th percentile might be attributed to multiple factors. 

“First, the roadway environment and design do not align with driver expectations for the posted limit. For example, on a four/five lane roadway that meet design standards, the typical speed posted speed limit on those sections is either 30-mph or 35-mph. Example of this can be 10th Avenue South in Great Falls (30-mph), Lyndale or Euclid in Helena (30-mph/35-mph) and Broadway in Missoula (30-mph/35-mph),” the study noted.

 It did not recommend any changes to speeds east of the city, though it did note that there were numerous crashes at River Road. 

The 85th percentile is the speed at which 85 percent of the people drove at or below during ideal conditions.. The 50th percentile the speed at which 50  percent of the people drove at or below during ideal conditions.

In other words, in the urban section of Highway 2, almost everyone is traveling faster than the speed limit, thus the rationale for increasing it.

But city council leaders strongly opposed raising the speed limit in the urban zone of the highway. Police Chief Chad Stephens noted the crash rates cited by the study did not include Columbia Falls City Police reports for the same time period, as there were 157 accidents reported in the urban area from 2022-2024 and police annually give out 900 to 1,000 tickets to motorists in that section alone.

Councilmembers were also worried that the urban section had a lot of pedestrian traffic and increasing the speed limit, in their view, would only make it more dangerous.

The fact that MDT advocates increasing speed did not come as a surprise to everyone.

“Be careful what you ask for,” Mayor Don Barnhart noted wryly.

When it came to crash data, the study only looked at Montana Highway Patrol data, which noted 50 crashes in the entire study section of 3 miles and 230 citations.

It did note, however, that of the injury crashes, a full third were at River Road and Highway 2, yet it did not recommend lowering the speed there. And conceded that sight distance was playing a role in crashes at River Road.

As far as the North Fork Road was concerned, the study on that road did suggest lowering the speed limit there, but not close to the city limits.

Instead, a 55 mph transitional zone was suggested from the North Fork Loop Road to Aluminum Drive. It did not suggest lowering the speed limits along Railroad Street heading into the city, as city leaders had hoped.

While a large subdivision is planned for the former Columbia Falls Aluminum Plant property councilmembers suggested that the speed limit should be lowered. But MDT noted it does not do studies and make corrections based on future growth. Instead, it would do another study when it was warranted.

The city has 60 days to respond to the studies and it plans to do so.

The complete studies are in the April 6 city council packet.