MISSOULA — The Missoula City Council on Wednesday approved a preliminary engineering agreement tied to a sweeping transportation project planned for the downtown district.
The city in 2023 received a $24 million federal grant to complete the Downtown Safety, Access and Mobility (SAM) project, and it's now aligning the pieces needed to begin work.
The $248,000 agreement approved Wednesday with DJ&A includes project scoping and a complete survey, among other things. Future tasks are still pending and Wednesday's contract will likely be amended down the road.
Project leaders said the final design and project cost must be in place by late 2027 to obligate the federal construction funds.
“We'll be able to achieve safer streets for all users,” said project manager Megan McMeekin. “We'll achieve improved access and circulation for downtown businesses, workers, residents and visitors.”
The Downtown SAM project has been planned for more than a decade, starting with a push to convert Front and Main streets back to two-way traffic. More recently, other components were added to the project, including the reduction of Higgins Avenue from four lanes to three.
Other project elements now include improvements to the Riverfront Trail system and optimizing as many as 22 downtown traffic signals.
“It essentially focuses on how you get to downtown and how you navigate it safely and efficiently, and not necessarily how quickly you can get through the downtown corridor,” said McMeekin.
Front and Main were initially built as two-way streets but converted to one-way traffic in the 1950s. The practice was popular in American cities at the time, when Cold War fears sought to move cars faster out of the city.
But one-way traffic has lost its value and the first Downtown Master Plan in 2009 recommended converting the streets back to their original pattern. The work will also include a new traffic signal at Madison and Front Street, and enhanced intersections within the project.
A feasibility study funded by MRA in 2015 found that converting Front and Main back to two-way traffic would create more parking, improve the flow of non-motorized travel and boost traffic to downtown businesses by as much as 13%.
But not everyone supports the conversion.
“This is a perfect example of government being too heavy-handed,” said council member Bob Campbell. “In this case, we're giving the business community downtown precisely what it is they don't want.”
The downtown SAM project will also convert Higgins Avenue from four lanes to three between Sixth Street and Broadway, including the newly opened Beartracks Bridge. Doing so will result in dedicated left-turn lanes and bicycle paths, both of which are lacking in that stretch of the corridor.
Other work within the project area includes improved trail access to Caras Park and the downtown waterfront.
“The project allows for investment to the overall infrastructure downtown,” said McKeekin. “It's an opportunity to improve our infrastructure and catch up on a lot of deferred maintenance downtown.”
Work on Higgins Avenue may also set the stage for future plans for the Brooks Street corridor and a bus rapid transit system. But for now, the project is viewed as a needed safety improvement.
The current four-lane configuration leaves little room to navigate a vehicle or ride a bike. Left-hand turns are prohibited at certain times of the day given the lack of a center turn lane.
Advocates believe the project will address the corridor's transportation issues and provide opportunities for all users.
“Access to downtown needs to be safer,” said council member Gwen Jones. “I understand there are some business owners who are not happy about this, but there are other business owners who are. This has been a long time coming.”
