Missoula MPO wins federal grant to study safety on Reserve Street; study due within a year
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Summary
Missoula Metropolitan Planning Organization officials say a federally funded safety study of the Reserve Street corridor (Brooks to I‑90) will begin this summer, produce a prioritized action plan in 9–12 months and identify short‑term pedestrian improvements and longer-term projects.
Missoula County commissioners and Aaron Wilson, transportation planning manager for the Missoula Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO), said the MPO has secured a Safe Streets for All grant to fund a comprehensive safety study of Reserve Street, the Highway 93 corridor that runs through the city’s commercial north side.
The study will cover the Reserve Street corridor from Brooks Street to Interstate 90 and is expected to begin in summer after federal grant agreements are completed, Wilson said. He estimated the study period at roughly nine months to a year and said it will produce a safety action plan listing short‑term “quick fixes” and longer‑term projects that would require additional funding for construction.
"We have funding to do a comprehensive safety study for Reserve Street from Brooks all the way up to I‑90," Wilson said. He described the MPO’s role as coordinating planning across jurisdictions so city, county and the Montana Department of Transportation (MDT) can align goals and federal dollars.
Wilson told commissioners the corridor records the highest total number of crashes in Missoula but urged using rate-based comparisons (for example, crashes per vehicle mile traveled) and separating incidents by severity when assessing overall risk. "When you start to average things that way, so then you can actually compare it to a Broadway or a Brooks," he said, adding that the study will examine crash severity and context as part of its analysis.
Panelists and Wilson traced Reserve Street’s evolution from a bypass to a commercial corridor: the highway designation, mid‑20th century bridge work and later expansions encouraged big‑box development and large surface parking, which changed travel patterns and made walking and local access more difficult. Wilson said those land‑use shifts are key to understanding safety and mobility tradeoffs on the corridor.
As an immediate example of issues the study will assess, Wilson pointed to a marked crosswalk north of the Expressway near Rowdy’s Cabin that currently offers only pavement markings and signs. He described pedestrian‑activated hybrid signals — three‑light flashing treatments used in other cities to halt traffic for crossing pedestrians — as an intermediate option that can improve safety without installing full traffic signals, but noted installation would require funding and state approval on this federally owned highway.
Reserve Street is owned and operated by the Montana Department of Transportation as part of U.S. Highway 93, Wilson said, so any changes will involve MDT coordination. He emphasized the MPO’s federally designated role in approving programming of federal infrastructure funds within the urban area and in convening the different agencies.
Following the study, Wilson said the MPO will prioritize safety projects and seek funds — including additional federal grants and programming of MPO-allocated federal funds — to implement them. He warned that building new bypasses often spurs adjacent development that can convert a bypass into a congested commercial corridor over time, a dynamic the study will consider when recommending long‑term solutions.
The commissioners closed the discussion by thanking Wilson and inviting listeners to follow county communications for updates on the study’s timeline and opportunities for public engagement. The MPO did not announce specific construction timetables; the study’s recommendations will inform future funding and project decisions.
