Residents hear state plan to widen Rouse Avenue

By AMANDA RICKER Chronicle Staff Writer

North Rouse Avenue resident Mike Schafer found out during an informational meeting Wednesday night that his house would be one of two destroyed under a Montana Department of Transportation plan to widen the road.

“Sorry,” another audience member interjected when Shafer asked if his residence in the 500 block of North Rouse Avenue would be affected.

“It sounds like I don’t have a whole lot of choice in it,” Shafer said after the meeting, adding that he’s OK, just a bit shocked.

MDT plans to reconstruct North Rouse Avenue to improve traffic flow and ensure the safety of bike and pedestrian traffic.

The proposed project stretches 1.94 miles. It begins at the intersection of Rouse Avenue, or Montana Highway 86, and Main Street and extends north about 1.37 miles to the intersection of Griffin Drive, where Rouse becomes Bridger Drive. The project then continues east about .57 miles to the intersection of Bridger Drive and Story Mill Road.

Rouse Avenue’s sidewalks are deteriorating. There are no bicycle lanes and the paved width is inconsistent throughout the corridor.

Rouse Avenue fails to meet a “level of service” grade of “C” on an “A” through “F” scale, according to an MDT report. Without improvements, the road will be a grade of “F” by 2030.

MDT’s preference is to build a three-lane section, widening symmetrically from the center of the existing road n except between Lamme Street and the Bozeman Creek crossing, where the road would be widened to the east to ease impacts on the waterway.

The plan includes new 5-foot sidewalks on both sides of the road from Main Street to the East Gallatin River, bike lanes on both sides from Mendenhall to Story Mill Road, a 5-foot boulevard from Mendenhall Street to Griffin Drive, except between Lamme Street and the Bozeman Creek crossing and eliminating most on-street parking.

The project is scheduled for construction in 2012 and will cost about $18 million, according to an MDT report. However, plans have yet to be finalized and it’s likely to be delayed.

“Most of the department’s projects have been pushed out several years,” said Darryl James, a consultant with HKM Engineering fielding questions from the roughly 50- person audience at the Bozeman Senior Center. “We’re probably going to push it out even further than that.”

Nineteen buildings would be affected under MDT’s plan, 10 from Lamme Street to the Bozeman Creek crossing, the MDT report states. The plan would require right-of-way acquisitions, which MDT purchases from property owners at “fair market value,” of between 15 and 30 feet on either side of the existing road.

Susie Burgett, who lives in the 800 block of North Rouse Avenue, said MDT’s right-of-way acquisition would mean the roadway would encroach to about 11 feet from her front porch. And, she’ll lose the on-street parking she’s been using to park one of her cars.

“Can I negotiate to basically sell my house because I don’t have any parking?” Burgett asked.

It’s estimated that more than 100 on-street parking spaces currently available between Lamme and Tamarack would be eliminated, according to the MDT report. MDT plans to make up for the loss during right-of-way negotiations with property owners or by designating another right-of-way parcel it acquires as a residential parking lot.

On-street parking would be provided on the east side between Main Street and Mendenhall Street, and on both sides from Mendenhall Street to Lamme Street, the MDT report states.

It’s estimated that more than 125 trees could also be removed, though the department plans work with the City of Bozeman to replant them.

In a letter Wednesday to the MDT, City Commissioner Jeff Krauss said he didn’t like the state’s plan. He suggested another alternative emphasizing better bike lanes and sidewalks, pedestrian crossings and lighting, among other things.

MDT’s plan calls for a shared-use, pedestrian and bicycle, path north of Griffin Drive, but no sidewalks.

“The entire highway is a principle arterial which serves the city shops and the new City Hall, as well as the Boys and Girls Club at the north end and the Hawthorne Elementary School at the south end,” Krauss wrote. “I do not accept moving bicycles to ‘other streets’ like Church, any more than I support moving big trucks to Wallace.”

Information on the project is available online at www.mdt.mt.gov/pubinvolve/eis_ea.shtml or at several local government offices including the Bozeman Public Library.

Public comments on the project are due by Sept. 18. For more information, call (406)444-9415.

Reader Comments