As MDT pursues public comment on its Optimization Plan, officials explore alternatives to the congested traffic light near ‘the Conoco’
By Jack Reaney ASSOCIATE EDITOR
With hundreds of millions of dollars in recommended highway upgrades between Big Sky and Bozeman, one piece of “low hanging fruit” could help reduce traffic congestion: rethinking the intersection between U.S. Highway 191 and Montana Highway 64 (Lone Mountain Trail).
The fruit analogy came from Daniel Bierschwale, executive director of Big Sky Resort Area District, as he introduced the topic of improving Big Sky’s “one way in, one way out” intersection, at BSRAD’s Jan. 10 board meeting. Heeding calls from Big Sky stakeholders including a BSRAD subcommittee led by board member Kevin Germain, the Montana Department of Transportation is now focused on that intersection and considering a roundabout that could potentially reduce intersection delays by up to 50%.
Simulation models are in production and will provide more details specific to the 191/64 intersection, according to MDT. Officials are confident, and Germain summarized a roundabout as “a great tool and a great solution to the problem that we have.”
Crucial to this topic are the physical limitations: the Gallatin River constrains the intersection to the east; private land pinches Highway 64 to the west. Complicated alternatives including clover-leaf bypass renderings likely aren’t feasible or desirable. Even for a relatively simple design like a roundabout, cooperation with adjacent landowners might make or break any potential project.
“In order for us to really make a meaningful change down there, we’re going to need to acquire—or at least get access to—some additional land,” Bierschwale told the BSRAD board. He added that BSRAD has engaged the property owner on the northwest parcel to discuss providing or selling some land for community benefit. An appraisal is being conducted.
Bierschwale sees the 191/64 intersection as “the life blood and our Achilles heel as a community.”
MDT’s 191 corridor study from 2020 was “really well done,” he said, but did not offer prioritized direction to fund the more than $300 million in recommended improvements between Four Corners and Big Sky. It also did not include Montana Highway 64.
To determine the best course of action on that corridor study, MDT and engineering firm HDR began forming an “Optimization Plan” in 2023, drawing heavily on a “context sensitive solutions” process informed by community feedback. With CSS in mind, a team of Big Sky leaders—assembled for the optimization plan—is asking MDT to prioritize solutions to that highway intersection.
“It’s important to note that a roundabout is being discussed, but that’s just one of several alternatives,” Spencer Dodge, HDR strategic project manager, told EBS. “There’s no final decision made yet, or construction dates set, or anything like that. We’re still going through the stakeholder engagement process and taking comments.”
Dave Gates, MDT district preconstruction engineer, told EBS this is a good concept. “It appears to work… And one of the key opportunities with this alternative is it minimizes and avoids impacts to the adjacent landscape. Specifically, our focus is to not make any impacts to the Gallatin River.”
Regardless of the exact outcome, the intersection is on a fast track thanks to relationships developed in the CSS process between MDT and HDR, and Big Sky community leaders.
‘Light years’ faster
With priority on the 191/64 intersection, other improvements between Four Corners and Big Sky are in sight.
“This Optimization Plan, the way we’ve rolled it out is a completely different approach than what we’ve done at the department,” Gates said. To get this far took diplomacy, he added.
Bierschwale told EBS the working group of Big Sky stakeholders is “a tactical measure” to streamline communication with MDT. Hearing strong feedback, MDT Director Malcom “Mack” Long came to Big Sky in 2023 and witnessed the reality of local traffic after COVID.
“We had their C-suite of executives and people on the ground here trying to listen to us… I’ve seen some really good response out of this group,” Germain said. Bierschwale and Germain both credit MDT leadership including Director Long.
The 2020 corridor study did not account for Highway 64—technically an MDT auxiliary route that has funding limitations—but MDT recently adjusted the Optimization Plan to include Big Sky’s main road. Germain said MDT acknowledged that Highway 64 is “much more important” than just an auxiliary road.
Dodge said the community engagement process is going well. MDT is fielding an increasing amount of public comment but more public engagement won’t hurt, he said.
“MDT has been a really good partner in this,” Germain said. “But it really does take locals working with MDT to get results… I think this recipe is going to result in improvements to 191 and 64, long term. The reality of where we live, 191 and 64 is our lifeline.”
“Phase one [of the CSS process] has gone really well,” Dodge said. “… As we move into phase two towards the end of 2024, that’s when we’ll start evaluating those alternatives, establishing cost estimates and funding opportunities—the more engineering-focused [work].”
He recognizes the 191/64 corridor has a variety of different users and associated concerns, including wildlife, recreation and safety. HDR has set up issue-based task forces to consider the Optimization Plan through “a really good range of perspectives,” Dodge said.
Accounting for diverse interests can complicate even an easy project, he added, but “we should all take encouragement by the really positive progress that we’ve made in a short amount of time.”
MDT isn’t starting from scratch; with the 191 corridor study already complete, fewer hurdles to action remain. Gates said this allows MDT to focus more on solutions.
“All those projects that were outlined in that corridor study were vetted through a process of public involvement,” Gates said. Now, the Optimization Plan can enact the study, being flexible to changes since 2020—including the surge of drivers using the 191/64 intersection. Since the COVID growth spurt, Bierschwale said traffic and transportation have become a top-five community challenge for Big Sky.
“To have the freedom to think big, think outside of the box and vulnerably say… This is something that could work with the partnership of MDT, Big Sky and adjacent landowners,” Gates said. “Here’s the picture. Now let’s come together and find a way to fund it. Let’s find a way to make it happen. And that’s what’s super exciting about this Optimization Plan.”
Gates said under normal circumstances for MDT, it would take significantly longer to release any conceptual rendering for a new project like the 191/64 intersection. MDT is “light years ahead” of its typical messaging, he said.
“The stars are aligning for us to be able to pull these things together to demonstrate innovation.”
Who pays? Who benefits?
Gates and Dodge can’t provide a reasonable cost estimate for a roundabout, being an early and incomplete concept. To pay for any potential project, Dodge noted the billions of dollars of federal infrastructure funding available—it’s too early for MDT to zero in on any specific funding process.
“This community is really important to the state of Montana,” Dodge said. “… We’re going to explore all the opportunities that are out there.”
By coincidence, the Gallatin Canyon County Water and Sewer District may need to construct septic-pipe infrastructure through the same intersection. Bierschwale suggested that resort tax mechanisms—like the “1% for infrastructure” tax supporting Big Sky’s new wastewater treatment facility—might help fund the transportation side of Big Sky’s “critical” intersection.
With any reconstruction of Big Sky’s main entrance lies an opportunity to improve its sense of place. When Big Sky Chamber of Commerce CEO Brad Niva began his role in 2021, he encountered a file of proposed entryways, he said at the BSRAD board meeting. Others had noticed a lacking sense of arrival to Big Sky.
“We have some of the most expensive real estate in the state of Montana,” Niva said, but turning into Big Sky, that intersection doesn’t show it. He imagines a welcoming and promising installment that matches Lone Mountain’s distant reveal.
If current progress toward a roundabout—or some traffic decongestion project—fails, drivers might be stuck with the current situation. Alternatives include doing nothing, or doing something small like adding a turn lane, and Gates said neither option translates to a meaningful improvement.
Bierschwale is not confident that Big Sky will get another chance.
“There’s a pivotal moment for us to determine whether we’re going to be able to make something happen down at that intersection,” he told the BSRAD board. “Or nothing will happen, ever.”
