Growth and Transportation

Transportation Meeting Spurs Talk of Western Bypass for Missoula

By Brenna Moore, 6-13-06

The main subject during Tuesday night's open house on transportation planning quickly turned to plans for Missoula's Western bypass.

The open house, put on by Amber Blake, Transportation Information Specialist for the Office of Planning and Grants, was designed to educate community members on the transportation planning process. She explained the various groups that take part in planning and making decisions within transportation, who comprises the groups and how and why they arrive at the end result.

But, it was the Western bypass, and the current proposal on the table to fund a feasibility study on the idea that got the most attention. The amendment to the Unified Planning Work Program that calls for $5,000 in federal funds to conduct the feasibility workshop will either be passed or vetoed on June 20 at the next Transportation Policy Coordinating Committee meeting.

"The reason they want to do this study is to see if the NEPA process will restrict the possibilities of a bypass or if it's a rational decision to conduct further studies for a Western bypass in Missoula. The study is designed to determine whether it's cost effective to do a more detailed feasibility study," said Steve Earle, the general manager of Mountain Line transit.

Eight people, including myself, attended the meeting.

One of the attendees, Helen Orendain, a private attorney in Missoula, wanted to know exactly where the bypass would be built. But, Blake said that even the transportation department won't know the proposed location until a feasibility study is done to see if the bypass proposal can pass section four of the National Environment Protection Act.

Bob Giordano with the Missoula Institution for Sustainable Transportation asked if the Office of Planning and Grants had anything else up their sleeve if the proposal did not meet NEPA's requirements. Blake said only time could tell. There is really no way to know what steps would be taken if the project doesn't pass NEPA, she said. The idea could stop altogether or new suggestions, like widening the lanes on Reserve Street, could begin to surface, she said.

The public meeting also stressed the importance of commenting on issues Missoula residents feel strongly about, and how to get their comments and suggestions across to the right people. Blake encouraged community members to come to meetings and/or open houses, sign up on an interested parties list to receive information, fill out comment forms which can be found on the transportation Web site, or by contacting Blake by l or at (406) 258-4989.

Missoula residents only have until June 20, the day of the next Transportation Policy Coordinating Committee meeting, to comment on the bypass issue before the amendment asking for a feasibility workshop is voted on by the committee. That meeting will take place at 1:30 p.m. in room 201 of the Missoula County Courthouse.

Blake said comments concerning any area of Missoula transportation, whether it be bikes or buses, are accepted at anytime and forwarded on to the correct people. Getting your opinion out there is one of the best ways to make a difference, Blake said.

"It seems like a lot of these things with transportation are coming pretty fast," said Michael Ackley, vice president of the Missoula Association of Railroad Passengers. "It would be nice to see this room filled with people," he said.

Like this story? Get more! Sign up for our free newsletters.