The name says it all: It's called the U.S. 93 bypass.

Don't 'bypass' community input

That's because this road project, proposed several generations ago, was intended to route truck traffic around Kalispell's downtown in order to make our community safer, quieter and more business-friendly.

Now, it looks like the project will finally come to fruitition, thanks to support from our congressional delegation and concerted local efforts.

Unfortunately, there is not enough money to complete the bypass all the way from its starting point several miles south of town to the Reserve and U.S. 93 intersection north of town. Thus, the state Department of Transportation will have to build the project in phases, and has been seeking input on which segment to build first.

But the fact of the matter is that only building the southern half first will create a bypass around downtown Kalispell. If the community's goal remains to get trucks out of downtown, then the southern half is the only choice.

That certainly seems like the consensus, too.

In several meetings, the public has voted for the south half with their comments. So have Kalispell Mayor Pam Kennedy and a number of downtown Kalispell business owners. Members of the Kalispell council are sending a letter to the state asking that the southern half be built first, and the county commissioners are meeting today to decide whether to add their voice to the growing list.

But the Technical Advisory Committee, which makes its own recommendation to the Department of Transportation, is sticking with its proposal to build the north half first. In a recent vote, the committee split 6-6 on an attempt to shift gears and do the south half first.

That's unfortunate. The north segment by itself would end at U.S. 2, and southbound traffic would still have to go through downtown. The southern segment, on the other hand, would actually create a bypass.

There is a second, perhaps, equally important reason to build the southern half of the bypass first, and that is because of the extensive growth that is occurring to the north of Kalispell. By the time the first half of the bypass is built in several years, we may have a much better understanding of traffic patterns and safety needs that have resulted from the huge increase in both residential and commercial development near Reserve Drive. It's entirely possible that the Glacier Mall will even be built north of Reserve by then.

Under those circumstances, the community might decide it is not so eager to complete the bypass by pointing it right at what could become the busiest intersection in Kalispell. Instead, there might be a new consensus that the bypass should keep moving truck traffic further north instead of delivering it to Reserve.

Admittedly, this discussion would be irrelevant if adequate funding were available now to build the entire project at once. But it isn't, so we encourage the state to give Kalispell the bypass it has wanted for decades and leave its options open for dealing with still evolving growth patterns north of town.