Larry Kline
Havre Daily News
lkline@havredailynews.com
The Highway 2 Association will drum
up public support this week with a convoy
that will stop in Havre on Thursday
on its way from East Glacier to
Culbertson.
A consulting firm hired by the state
has begun to study the feasibility of
building four lanes from Culbertson to
the North Dakota state line. If will consider
economic conditions all along U.S.
Highway 2, state officials have said.
Association president Bob Sivertsen
today said now is the time for Hi-Line
residents to voice their support for the
expansion of Highway 2, a project advocates
say would boost the region’s economy
and improve safety along the twolane
stretch.
“It’s really vital that the people in
the corridor show support for the project,”
he said. “Our elected officials ...
have many issues to deal with. If we the
people aren’t concerned about the project,
they’ll move on to other things.”
A ceremony is planned for 6:30 p.m.
Thursday at Town Square and Montana
Department of Transportation director
Jim Lynch will join local officials in support
of the effort.
Havre Mayor Bob Rice will speak at
the event. He said he supports the association’s
efforts because a four-lane
roadway would increase traffic through
Havre and improve safety all along the
highway.
“There’s been a lot of rhetoric about
economic development and the Hi-Line
needing a boost,” Rice said today. “This
is probably one of the big measures that
could help us. It’s an expensive project,
but it’s one that needs to be done.
“Safety has always been a major,
major concern,” he added. “If you’ve
traveled that road, you know it’s tough.”
Hi-Line residents are encouraged to
join the convoy for any distance to show
their support, Sivertsen said.
HDR Consulting, an Omaha, Neb.,
company with offices in Billings and
Missoula, has interviewed about 60 people,
Sivertsen said, in its study of
Highway 2 from Culbertson east to
North Dakota. Public meetings will be
held July 11 in Plentywood and
Culbertson, he said.
MDT and the firm have been emphasizing
the importance of public participation
in the study, Sivertsen said.
The study will use a 30-year traffic
and freight model, focus on the possibility
of building four lanes and compare it
with a modern two-lane option. It will
account for existing, expanding and
planned business operations, along with
land use and development. That’s in
addition to traffic and safety information.
It will also consider the impacts associated
with the Theodore Roosevelt
Expressway, a part of the Great Plains
International Trade Corridor stretching
from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada
to Monterrey, Mexico. The section of
Highway 2 east of Culbertson and
Montana Highway 16 north to the
Canadian border have been designated a
part of the expressway.
The differences in speeds between
freight and personal vehicles will be
considered, along with agricultural traffic
and increased volume due to gas and
oil exploration.
A 2004 environmental impact statement
written for the 44-mile section of
roadway stretching from Havre to Fort
Belknap did not consider economic
impacts along the corridor.
