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Residents urge four-way stops, patrols after crashes near Bryant Middle School
Summary
Multiple residents told the Helena City Commission on July 21 that speeding on Boulder Avenue near Bryant Middle School has produced repeated collisions and serious injury; they asked the city to install four-way stops and increase enforcement. City Manager Burton said he will coordinate with Lewis and Clark County to study the broader area.
Residents of the Boulder Avenue neighborhood urged the Helena City Commission on July 21 to take traffic-calming measures after a series of collisions near Bryant Middle School. Speakers described multiple crashes — including one that left a child with serious injuries — and asked for four-way stops at key intersections, additional patrols and other measures to slow speeding drivers.
Jeremiah Johnson, who said this was his first time speaking at a public forum, told the commission he had two collisions at his vehicle in the past eight months and described a recent crash in which a vehicle traveling at high speed struck a pickup. Johnson asked the commission to install four-way stops at Sanders and Boulder and at the segment near Bryant Middle School on Harrison Avenue to slow passing traffic.
Neighbors speaking in support said they regularly see drivers “blow through” crosswalks and that radar speed signs have not curbed the speeding. Mary Anne Sims, who lives directly across from Bryant School, described running outside when a crash occurred because she feared a child had been hit. Melissa Hibbard and Devaney Welsh also described multiple collisions in the neighborhood within recent months and urged physical traffic-calming measures.
City Manager Burton responded that he would coordinate with the county administrator and their staff to review the broader area, including under the bridge and toward the Walmart corridor, and that staff would work on setting up that review. Speakers noted an earlier traffic count in 2024 that found “over 3,000” vehicles at a nearby location and referenced an 800-vehicle threshold used in the city’s neighborhood traffic calming program; speakers said there have been at least three crashes in a 12-month period in the area.
No formal action was taken at the meeting; Burton’s commitment to coordinate with Lewis and Clark County staff was a direction to study the concerns and identify potential interventions. Residents asked the commission to consider stop signs as a cost-effective step and to weigh enforcement and engineering remedies.
