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MDOT presents five‑year project schedule; commissioners and staff press on I‑90 slide and frontage‑road options
Summary
Montana Department of Transportation staff outlined a tentative multi‑year project list for Granite County, including wildlife fencing along I‑90, a bridge deck rehabilitation, and long-term slide remediation; commissioners discussed emergency frontage‑road access and potential use of millings from future overlays.
Montana Department of Transportation representatives briefed the Granite County Board of Commissioners on a tentative five‑plus‑year schedule of projects in the county and fielded local questions about a recurring slide on the interstate, wildlife fencing, bridge deck rehabilitation and potential emergency access via a frontage road.
Joe Boucher, representing MDOT, and Joel, the district preconstruction engineer, described safety upgrades, a planned bridge deck rehab and a wildlife‑fencing project that has a federal grant for study and planning. Joel said large slide remediation would be costly and that a full fix ‘‘would be a massive project’’ because it extends to the top of the hillside and involves environmental and space constraints.
Commissioners and MDOT staff discussed options if the interstate slide forces a detour. MDOT noted the old frontage road under the interstate could serve as an emergency access but is not built to highway standards and would require state funds to upgrade. Joel told the board that in the near term the agency expects to keep a single‑lane frontage connection and to pursue state funding for more durable remediation. He also said that millings produced during a planned mill-and‑overlay on a secondary route could be available for county use, and encouraged close coordination so the county could obtain materials for nearby gravel needs.
MDOT also noted constraints from the Federal Highway Administration on building partial interchanges at the site of a planned interchange; FHWA officials were not willing to fund a half interchange because of operational concerns, Joel said. No formal county decisions or funding commitments were made at the meeting; MDOT staff said they would follow up on several items and that scheduling and funding remain subject to state and federal allocations.
Speakers included Joe Boucher and Joel (MDOT), and county commissioners, who asked about local maintenance, emergency access and sign/speed interventions.
