For the full letter of support, including the 551 name of business, organization, elected officials, and individuals who signed-on, click on the attached PDF.
June 8, 2018
Mike Tooley, Director
Montana Department of Transportation
P.O. Box 201001
Helena, MT 59620-1001
Subject: Letter of Support for Montana Department of Transportation BUILD Application for the Kalispell Bypass
Dear Director Tooley:
On behalf of the 551 undersigned businesses, organizations, elected officials, and individuals, we would like to offer our strongest possible support for the Montana Department of Transportation’s application to the U.S. Department of Transportation for BUILD grant funding to complete the southern half of the Kalispell Bypass.
For the 25-year period of 1990 to 2015, Kalispell and Flathead County was in the top 10% of fastest population growth areas of the country. Over time, traffic counts have grown dramatically with visitation at Glacier National Park increasing 45% over the last three years and totaling 3.3 million visitors in 2017. This growth has resulted in undue congestion and traffic impediments in and around the county.
As Kalispell is the quickly-growing regional trade center for Northwest Montana, this project will have beneficial impacts on the local and regional transportation system. Furthermore, this proposed project will improve the current traffic congestion points along the southern end of the bypass, provide additional safety and quality of life improvements on the U.S. 93 corridor by alleviating through traffic from local streets and further the intent to establish downtown initiatives focused on localized traffic.
Most importantly, a four lane alternate bypass route for U.S. 93 around the west side of the County was considered and approved in a 1994 Final Environmental Impact Study as part of the regional improvements to the highway. For these reasons, the Kalispell Chamber and the undersigned urge you to give your most serious consideration and approval for the selection of the Kalispell Bypass for BUILD grant support.