Main Street/SS4A Grant Pursuit from Mike BrodieJudi Funk
From:
Mike Brodie <mbrodie@wgmgroup.com>
Sent:
Monday, May 19, 2025 12:13 PM
To:
Kalispell Meetings Public Comment
Cc:
Jarod Nygren
Subject:
EXTERNAL Main Street/SS4A Grant pursuit
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Mayor and Council,
I wanted to be at the meeting tonight to provide a comment in person, but I may not be able to attend so let me
apologize in advance for giving you one more thing to read before tonight's meeting.
I fully support the proposal to pursue grant funding for the upgrades of the Main Street/downtown corridor. As
someone who lives and works in the downtown area, I view this as one more step in the right direction along
with the countless others that have occurred to get to this point. You all have held fast to a vision to better this
community and promote its growth, and I encourage you to stay the course and proceed with this grant
application. The City built the Glacier Rail Park, we removed the tracks out of downtown, built the backbone of
an amazing linear park system, and improving Main Street not only adds to the livability of this community, but
it also adds to the safety. It may not be the perfect solution, but it is one more step in the right direction and if
we win the grant, it creates optionality for how we can proceed.
A couple other items I'd like to point out from some of the comment I have heard during the previous meetings:
• At some point soon the city will need to rebuild main street regardless of the configuration. During any
construction project, impacts to businesses and residents, while not ideal, are a given and shouldn't be
a determining factor as to whether we proceed.
• People do want to be in downtown Kalispell, but it is currently unpleasant and dangerous from a
pedestrian experience. Cars move fast, its loud, and the existing corridor favors vehicular thru-traffic
over use of the downtown area. The proposal will promote walkability and slower vehicle speeds which
will improve safety and use of the corridor.
• Downtown Kalispell does not have a parking problem, our community has a preference to park at the
front door of their destination, which is something that can be adapted. Increasing the downtown safety
and walkability has the potential to encourage people to walk that extra block to their destination.
To augment these proposed improvements and looking ahead, I would like to voice my support for adding
striping along the southern sections of 1st Avenue West and 1st Avenue East knowing the project will be
pushing some of the Main Street traffic to these corridors. I fully support the long-term goals included in the
plan which includes curb extensions (bulb outs) at intersections and simultaneously understand there is only so
much project we can get done at once. The areas south of 5t" are noted in the plan to remain with 13-foot
lanes through the primarily residential areas; wider lines = higher speeds. Adding striping to these residential
corridors will help inform drivers to reduce speeds and the cost would be negligible in the $25MM scheme of
things. It's a short-term solution, but worthy of consideration. WGM did this on a project up in Columbia Falls
on Martha Road and it resulted in an approximate 10% reduction in speeds. The lane widths could be left out
of the grant to allow for some flexibility, but I think the widths I included below would be better suited to the
nature of the corridor over what is currently included in the attached materials. This interim striped condition
could also be funded using Tax Increment Financing if the grant application cannot accommodate it.
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Thank you all for your consideration of my comments, your continued dedication, and foresight in the difficult
decisions you make for this community.
Mike Brodie
120 Woodland ave Kalispell, MT
Mike Brodie, PE
Senior Project Engineer
M: 360-689-7535 0: 406-756-4848
431 1st Avenue W
Kalispell, Montana 59901
www.wgmgroup.com
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