Main Street Renovation Public Comment from Max Schroeckenstein Aimee Brunckhorst
From: Max Schroeckenstein <schroeckenstein@hotmail.com>
Sent: Thursday, May 1, 2025 6:16 PM
To: Kalispell Meetings Public Comment
Subject: EXTERNAL Main Street Renovation
Good day,
I am writing today, as I am sure thousands of others have, regarding the planned overhaul of out Main
Street in Kalispell.
I truly fail to see any advantages to this poorly thought out plan, and I make my statement based on my
past 45 years of experience as a life long Flathead resident.
It seems that your goal is to make the Main Street area more tourist friendly although this is being pitched
under the guise of pedestrian safety. There are some significant problems with both of these
"advantages."
Regarding tourism and overall pedestrian use it boils down to one undeniable fact; downtown Kalispell
simply does not have enough popular businesses on it to attract large droves of people. It is a long street,
people do not want to walk six blocks in one direction to get to a desired store, they will drive. We do not
have the same layout of businesses that Whitefish does. Our"downtown" is one very long street with
sparse local shops.
Regarding the need for pedestrian safety; wider sidewalks will not afford increased safety. Can you tell
me a single time a pedestrian was hit while on a sidewalk? Instead anyone unfortunate enough to have to
cross Main Street on foot will be facing disgruntled drivers with little patience from being forced into a
bottleneck of traffic.What WILL happen is that many drivers will start using the avenues such as 3rd and
4th Ave East as through ways. This will have the unintended consequence of causing neighborhood
children, residents, and pets to be struck frequently by increased, speeding traffic.
Our city has had far more traffic growth than pedestrian growth. It's hard for anyone who uses Main
Street to envision a smoother flow of traffic with two through lanes removed.A turn lane will not alleviate
traffic significantly.What will happen to traffic when people struggle to park multiple times each day?
Traffic will grind to a halt and road rage will set in.
Our roads in Kalispell are in overall poor shape,yet your plan will spend money needed for road repairs
on an unnecessary and detrimental vision to, in your view, enhance Main Street. I can't imagine a
firetruck trying to navigate through our Main Street if it only had two lanes and one turn lane during five
o'clock traffic.
Please don't be stubborn and push through a plan that our city does not want nor need. Once this is done
and the abhorrent repercussions are realized, there will be no going back.
Max Schroeckenstein
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