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Grass Range roundabout canceled

State may have to return money to feds

A project to build a roundabout just north of Grass Range intended to reduce vehicle crashes in Fergus County is canceled, which may require the state return federal government money it has already received for the project.

Montana Department of Transportation Information Officer Lori Ryan said the decision was made to pull the project because of the negative public response.

She said other measures are being looked at to increase safety at the intersection.

An MDT report said the intersection had 19 crashes between 2002 and 2016, including four fatalities in three fatal crashes, four incapacitating injuries, and 12 nonincapacitating injuries.

An Oct. 4 release from MDT said that an 88-hour study of the intersection was held in June, which indicated only a third of traffic came to a complete stop at the stop signs, with two-thirds making rolling stops or running the stop signs at full speed. Tendency for rolling stops was also observed by left-turning traffic and groups of vehicles traveling together. Approximately half of right-turning traffic traveled on the shoulder outside of the painted lane lines. Approximately one vehicle per hour ran the stop sign at full speed.

Some elected officials applauded the decision to not move forward with the roundabout and said less costly more effective steps could be taken to improve safety at the intersection.

State Sen. Mike Lang, R-Malta, said roundabouts are typically meant for areas where traffic is already slow and congested.

“That is not that intersection. That intersection is not congested,” he said.

He added that he was also concerned that signs would not be posted far back enough to let people know about the roundabout as they approached the intersection because people who have traveled the road for years would not be prepared for a roundabout.

Opponents complained about the cost of the proposed roundabout, as well.

“We believe that with less expensive mitigations that you can bring it into the level of a safe intersection,” Fergus County Commissioner Ross Butcher said.

Butcher said rumble strips and a four-way stop already are in place at the intersection.

Lang, Rep. Dan Bartel, R-Lewistown, and former Rep. Bob Sivertsen of Havre spearheaded a petition drive last fall to kill the roundabout, which had been delayed last winter from its planned start this year after MDT heard opposition to the project.

Sivertsen said he believes the project is not dead but on life support until MDT can revive it.

He said he has come up with a proposal that would involve reducing speed limits north to south, rumble strips and additional signage.

He added that he has requested a public meeting with Tooley about the proposal, but Tooley has not replied.

Tooley said he has looked at the plan and it would not increase safety.

“What Mr. Sivertsen proposes (north/south speed reduction with flashing signs) is about one third as effective as what is in place right now, Tooley said in an email. “Nobody should be willing to accept the added risk of death or injury by implementing his suggestion. Licensed professional engineers have already studied the intersection and made their recommendations. A north/south speed reduction was not one of them for good reason.”

Greg Jergeson, a member of the Montana Transportation Commission and former state senator, said he believed the project was killed in an extralegal way.

A highway project cannot start or move forward without a vote of approval from the five-member Transportation Commission, and therefore, in his opinion, cannot be stopped without such a vote, Jergeson said.

In an email Wednesday, Ryan said Jergeson might be correct and that the legal staff and department are looking into the issue.

Jergeson said he was told by Tooley 10 days after the decision was made that the roundabout was pulled. He added that he was told by Tooley that the project was canceled under political pressure raised during November’s special legislative session.

He added that some legislators had threatened to withhold votes on bills in the special session if the roundabout project was not pulled.

Tooley said the project had become a sticking point during an already-difficult legislative session, so he sent a memo calling for an end to the project.

He said he did not know what legislators were putting pressure on the issue and declined to comment on that.

Jergeson said the state might have to return the federal share of the $700,000 already spent on pre-engineering and right of way acquisition, adding that the federal government put up 90 percent of the money for the roundabout

He said the state will talk with the Federal Highway Administration to see if it can use the money to make needed safety modifications at the intersection.

Though the state could afford to pay back the federal share of the $700,000 that was already spent, he said it could set a bad precedent by starting projects, spending federal money and then having to end them and return funds.

A May report says construction of the roundabout was estimated to have cost $3.5 to $4 million.

 

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