KALISPELL — Downtown Kalispell is a hub for the community with lots of pedestrian, bicycle and vehicle activity. With a lot of activity comes the risk of accidents and because of that, the City of Kalispell is looking to improve the safety of downtown.
The Main Street Safety Action Plan is an initiative aimed at enhancing safety along Highway 93 — or Main Street corridor — in downtown Kalispell.
The project is being funded through the Safe Streets for All grant from the US Department of Transportation. While there is no plan for what this project may look like yet, there are many options on how to increase safety.
“Lighting at particular intersections or pedestrian lighting or, you know, raise sidewalks, ADA accessibility, you know, there's a whole gamut of options that could be out there for measures. They'll take the data, they'll analyze it, they'll put forward some potential options for the public to weigh in on in May,” said City of Kalispell Development Services Director Jarod Nygren.
Data collected by a consultant shows an increased likelihood of serious injury or fatal crashes in the planning area. The City of Kalispell released that from 2018 to 2022 2,234 crashes occurred in the planning area. Of these, 258 crashes occurred on Main Street including 7 fatal crashes within the planning area.
“Really just trying to find solutions that everybody can be comfortable with moving forward. Because you know, there is the data does show that there is issues in Kalispell. So how do we solve that? We realize we still need to move traffic but how can we do it safely? How can we move pedestrians safely? How can we promote commerce in the downtown?” said Nygren.
City officials hope to have a plan to increase safety by the end of this summer. Sometime in May, there will be an open house for people to view and comment on potential solutions to increase safety. A date has not been set for the open house yet.
Visit https://www.mainstreetkalispellsafetyplan.com/ for more information on the plan.
