Missoula Residents Discuss Widening Russell Street

By Kyle Lehman, 4-17-08

Missoulians filled the bleachers of Franklin Elementary School Wednesday night to hear the latest proposal for widening Russell Street and redeveloping South 3rd Street to accommodate projected traffic increases.

The proposal—still in early stages—drew criticism from some who say it will only make room for more traffic, not solve the underlying issue.

The proposal to widen the street and install more traffic signals was prepared by HKM engineering after working with the city, the Missoula Department of Transportation and the Federal Highway Administration. The aim of the project is to solve the congestion and bike and pedestrian issues that have plagued Russell Street for years.

Darryl James, the project manager from HKM engineering, said that the widening of Russell Street is inevitable given Missoula’s projected growth and increasing traffic. He said for the city to receive federal funds for the project, it must show that it is increasing the capacity of Russell to meet the projected need of the community.

“The indication we’re getting from the Federal highway Administration is that if we don’t meet purpose and need their walking away,” he said.

For this need to be reduced, James said a substantial growth would have to occur in alternative transportation, something that he thinks is unrealistic given data he has seen.

“We’re not seeing large enough numbers that say this need is going to go away in a few years,” he said, “You’re going to have to see a 30 percent shift in modes of transportation… that’s a huge job for a community of this size.”

Bob Giordano of the Missoula Institute for Sustainable Transportation disagreed with the notion that increasing the size of Russell Street will solve its congestion problems, and said that a movement toward alternative transportation is more feasible than the engineers and planners admit.

“If you don’t build bigger, traffic adjusts, people adjust, and behaviors adjust,” he said.

Alex Taft of Missoula echoed Giordano’s sentiment, saying that the traditional ways of combating congestion with larger roads only lead to problems later on. He said that the narrow focus of planners fails to see other options for improvement that do not include more road construction.

“They’re engineers, they look at (Russell Street) like a pipe, they’re making it bigger when it gets filled up, that’s all they know how to do.”

James said the comments from Wednesday’s meeting would be factored into the Draft Environmental Impact Statement, which will be released this fall.

“Don’t think that this is gospel and it’s all final,” James said of the current plan, “You’re hanging with use through what seems like an intensely lengthy process.”

James attributed the length of the planning process to several factors. Historic structures along Russell Street prevented installing roundabouts in some areas despite heavy public support for them, and the limited space restricted the options available for Russell Street. From what he has heard from the public, James said that people want a future Russell Street to resemble something like Stephens Avenue rather than another Reserve Street. Doing this would mean constructing good bike and pedestrian facilities as well as landscaped medians along the street’s length.

“We’re trying to fit in some of those same amenities within a much smaller footprint,” James said.

Missoula resident Ralph Holmes said he is against the proposal because of the impact it would have on a small park in front of his home.

“If they widen (Russell Street) they’ll take out half of the park and I’ll get to look at traffic,” he said, “All of the people that I’ve talked to are in favor of a minimal, low impact design.”