New Roundabout Project Aims To Boost Safety In Missoula

Missoula, MT (KGVO-AM News) - Missoula’s Public Works and Mobility Department will begin a major traffic safety project on July 7 at the intersection of Scott and Phillips Streets.

I spoke with Brandt Dahlen, City of Missoula Surface Project Coordinator, on Monday about the project that will be completed at the time school starts in the fall.

The Scott Street Roundabout will Begin Construction on July 7

“Starting about July 7, we're going to be installing a roundabout at the Scott and Phillips intersection, and include some widened sidewalks for bicycles to get around that roundabout if they're not comfortable with using the roundabout,” began Dahlen. “Otherwise, there will be ‘sharrows’ for bikes to go through the roundabout if they choose. We are also restriping with buffered bike lanes north from the Phillips intersection up to Turner Street.”

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Dahlen said shutting down the intersection will help save money as well as speed the project along and reduce the inconvenience to commuters.

City Officials Said the Scott Street Bridge will be Closed During the Project

“We chose to shut down the intersection, which would limit the time of construction to 45 days, rather than being twice as long by trying to keep the intersection open with one way traffic and flaggers or some kind of temporary traffic signal, which would also increase the cost of the project drastically,” he said.

The main inconvenience to commuters will be that the project will close the Scott Street Bridge during the construction of the roundabout.

“We will have to close down the Scott Street Bridge and the intersection for the majority of that work,” he said. “We're working with the contractor to see if we could leave some pedestrian access open throughout this project. That is uncertain at this point, just because of all the demolition, which pretty much goes right to the property lines of the right of way. So the truck routes will have to use either Orange Street or Reserve Street to get across the railroad tracks, and for pedestrians, the closest route would be the pedestrian bridge there downtown.”

The Project will Continue All Summer Until School Starts

Dahlen provided the timeline for construction.

“We anticipate the start date as being on July 7, and with 45 calendar days to finish the project, we should be finishing up before school starts around August 22,” he said.

The city of Missoula stated that ‘detours for through traffic have been established for the major north-south route over the railroad tracks.”

Click here to see a detour map from the City of Missoula.