Chinook residents voice support for 4-lane Highway 2

CHINOOK - All but one of the 20 or so people who spoke at a meeting Wednesday on the draft environmental impact statement on improving a section of U.S. Highway 2 said they support widening the highway to four lanes through most of the project.

That person, Jim Warburton, said he doesn't want a four-lane highway bringing growth to the area and turning Chinook into a Billings-like "metropolis."

"I'd just as soon (Chinook) stays as it is," said Warburton, who lives east of the town.

He said an improved two-lane road with passing lanes would make the road safer and handle the traffic volume.

Pam Harada of Havre said the plan supported by Warburton would kill Hi-Line towns.

"If we don't grow, we die," Harada said.

Some people said they support four-lanes for the project with the exception of where Highway 2 passes through Chinook.

More than 50 people attended the meeting, a second seeking public comment on the draft EIS for improving the 45-mile stretch of Highway 2 between Havre and Fort Belknap. Meetings are set for today at 11:30 a.m. in Fort Belknap and at 6 p.m. at Harlem City Hall.

The project was the first selected after the 2001 Legislature directed the Montana Department of Transportation to widen the highway to four lanes across the state using only federal money earmarked for that purpose.

Highway 2 doesn't meet MDT safety requirements in most of the 45-mile section, having no shoulders or shoulders that are too narrow, next to steep slopes into a ditch by the highway.

MDT's preferred alternative in the draft EIS is for a four-lane highway, a choice the department said it was required to make by the Legislature. The Federal Highway Administration, which will make the final decision on the configuration, has selected a two-lane configuration with passing and turning lanes in the draft EIS. The agency has not selected a preferred alternative for the highway through Chinook.

A focus of Wednesday's meeting was what the highway should look like as it passes through Chinook. The crowd's opinion was mixed.

Gary Anderson, who works for the ambulance service in Blaine County, said he supports widening the highway to four lanes in rural sections, but doesn't see the need to widen it in Chinook.

The highway in rural areas is dangerous in its current form, especially when emergency vehicles are trying to pass vehicles, he said.

Anderson asked how much the estimated cost of a four-lane highway would be reduced if Highway 2 remained two lanes in Chinook.

Steve Long of David Evans and Associates, the firm preparing the EIS, said the exact savings are impossible to predict without knowing the cost of buying right of way in Chinook for a four-lane highway. The estimated savings are $5 million, he said.

The estimated costs for the 45-mile project are $69.7 million for an improved two-lane, $73.4 million for a two-lane with passing lanes, $94.5 million for an undivided four-lane, and $106.8 million for a four-lane divided highway.

Robert West, the National Park Service ranger at Bear Paw Battlefield south of Chinook, said the Park Service is not endorsing any alternative. He said, however, that people should note that the Park Service is planning to build a visitor center at the battlefield that could increase traffic through Chinook.

The draft EIS said improving the highway could cost jobs in Chinook.

If the highway is widened to a two-lane urban highway with a turning lane to let traffic onto Indiana Avenue, the main north-south thoroughfare in Chinook, or a turning lane through the entire town, three businesses near town would be impacted and 10 jobs would be lost if they did not relocate in the area, the EIS said.

If the highway is widened to an undivided four-lane through town, eight businesses in or near Chinook would need to relocate, impacting 17 jobs, the EIS said. Three of those businesses could not relocate on their current property because of the construction area and need for right of way.

If the highway is widened to a four-lane with a turning lane through Chinook, 14 businesses and 97 jobs would be impacted. Of those, 12 could not relocate on their current property, the EIS said.

Bob Doughten, owner of B&L Mechanics Shop on Highway 2 East in Chinook, said he supports a four-lane through Chinook even if it impacts businesses.

He said that if the narrowest alternative is selected, it would eliminate on-street parking he relies on. Even though it might not impact his property, it would impact his business, he said.

Since any improvement to the highway in Chinook could hurt businesses, Doughten said, the project might was well be a four-lane.

"Why go to a two-lane and neck it down (through Chinook) when it will impact just as much as a four-lane?" he asked.

Bob Sivertsen, president of the Highway 2 Association, said a decision about Chinook doesn't have to be made immediately.

The widening of the highway across Montana will probably take 25 years or more, Sivertsen said. He said there is no reason improving the highway in Chinook couldn't wait until the end, giving the community time to find the best alternative and work out any problems.

Among those speaking on behalf of a four-lane highway between Havre and Fort Belknap was state Sen. Ken "Kim" Hansen, D-Harlem.

When he drives along Highway 2, he looks at the white crosses that mark where people were killed in car crashes, he said. Hansen lost his first wife, his daughter and his mother-in-law in a car crash on Highway 2.

"I own three of those crosses," he said.

"If we had four lanes, my wife, my mother-in-law and my daughter might be here today," he added.