Kalispell reviews Main Street safety concept design; staff to consider SS4A implementation grant

City of Kalispell staff and consultants presented concept designs for the Main Street Safety Action Plan and outlined next steps for a potential implementation grant under the federal Safe Streets and Roads for All (SS4A) program during the April 28, 2025 work session.

Development Director Jared Nygren and consultant Rachel Grosso (Kittleson) described a two‑phase effort that began with a downtown safety action plan adopted by council in 2024 and continued into a phase‑2 concept design focusing on the downtown core (Main Street, First Avenue East/West). The consultants said the concept balances vehicle lane widths, on‑street parking, access to properties, winter maintenance and pedestrian amenities. Proposed treatments include a three‑lane road diet (one travel lane each direction with a center left‑turn lane), widened sidewalks and boulevards, curb extensions (bulb-outs), rectangular rapid flashing beacons (RRFBs) at several unsignalized crossings, leading pedestrian intervals at signals, high‑visibility crosswalks, a hardened median near the courthouse couplet and two roundabouts at the southern end of the project extents.

Rachel Grosso said technical analysis of 2018–2022 crash data found 258 crashes on Main Street in the analysis period, including eight serious‑injury crashes; Main Street accounted for 21% of…