Kalispell council declines to seek $25 million federal Safe Streets grant for Main Street reconfiguration

The Kalispell City Council on June 2 voted 5-4 against a resolution to authorize city staff to apply for a $25,000,000 U.S. Department of Transportation Safe Streets and Roads for All implementation grant to fund concept designs and construction for a Main Street safety project.

The grant application would have funded a package of changes the city’s consultants proposed to reduce crashes and improve pedestrian access on Main Street — including a three‑lane configuration with a center turn lane, upgraded crossings, and median and refuge islands. Jared Nygren, the city’s director of development services, told the council the application would be for $25,000,000 and that “this is federally designated monies specifically for safety projects.”

Council members who voted against the resolution said timing and overlapping projects — particularly the unfinished southern half of the Kalispell bypass — make pursuing the grant now risky. Councilor Graham, Councilor Dowd, Councilor Fisher, Councilor Nunnally and Mayor Johnson voted no; Councilors Carlson, Gabrielle, Dahlmann and Hunter voted aye.

The plan’s proponents and many downtown business owners and residents argued the redesign would reduce crashes and improve walkability. City presentations cited the Kalispell safety action plan and collision data showing Main Street accounted for roughly 21% of the area’s serious‑injury crashes from 2018–2023. Public speaker Jaden Wepel said the studies showed increasing crash risk if nothing changed and urged council to apply, saying the plan would make Main Street “a place to go to, not through.”

Opponents told the council the redesign could damage downtown businesses during construction, reduce convenience for patrons, and worsen winter maintenance challenges. Several speakers described concerns about deliveries, parade routing, and parallel parking in the proposed configuration. Business owner Gabe Merriman said the bypass completion — rather than a Main Street reconfiguration alone — is the most important step to remove heavy through traffic from downtown.

City staff and consultants told the council the concept design grew from the 2017 downtown plan and a 2022 Safe Streets planning grant; staff said engineering analyses estimate the three‑lane configuration would raise north‑to‑south travel time along Main Street by about 30–60 seconds during peak periods under 2024 conditions. The consultants also presented crash‑reduction estimates drawn from studies: up to a 47% reduction for lane reconfiguration and substantial reductions for treatments such as median refuge islands and rapid‑flashing beacons.

Council debate centered on tradeoffs between safety benefits and construction impacts, whether the bypass must be completed first, and whether the city should pursue $25 million of federal funds now or wait. Councilor Dowd, who spoke against making the application, said he had polled constituents and found opposition in his ward. Councilor Hunter, who moved the resolution, argued the decision should be based on data and studies showing road diets reduce crashes and improve pedestrian safety.

Because the city does not own all of the highway corridor involved, staff said any implementation would require coordination with the Montana Department of Transportation and, if funded, would likely be staged across multiple construction seasons. Staff also said matching funds would be expected to come primarily from the downtown tax increment financing (TIF) district; federal grant rules generally prohibit using other federal funds as the local match.

The council’s vote means staff will not submit the Safe Streets implementation application under this resolution. The adopted safety action plan and concept designs remain available to guide future work, and staff said portions of the plan — such as targeted pedestrian crossings near schools — could still be pursued separately.

Speakers on the Main Street item included city staff, council members and more than a dozen residents and business owners who spoke both for and against the proposal. Public commenters raised concerns about sidewalk condition, snow plowing, parade routes and the potential for lost customers during construction; supporters emphasized crash data and long‑term benefits for downtown vitality.

The council’s rejection of the resolution does not change the earlier adoption of the Kalispell safety action plan; it only stops the city from authorizing staff to submit the federal implementation grant application at this time.