A downtown Missoula transportation project reached 30% design completion this month but still faces hurdles as engineering and design work continue. The Downtown Safety, Access and Mobility (SAM) project has been in development for nearly a decade, beginning as a plan to convert Front and Main streets back to two-way travel.
The city secured a $24 million federal grant that was finalized last year to advance the project. While restoring two-way traffic on Front and Main streets between Orange and Madison streets remains the primary goal, officials have expanded the scope over the years.
The current plan is split into four main categories:
- Downtown signal optimization
- Riverfront trail connections
- Front and main two-way restoration
- Higgins Avenue multimodal improvements
The project includes significant upgrades to eight downtown traffic signals to improve safety and ease congestion. Another 22 downtown signals are slated for timing improvements and other enhancements. Officials also plan to reconfigure the intersection of Orange, Front and Main and install a new traffic signal at Front and Madison.
Riverfront trail improvements focus on widening Ron’s River Trail on both the east and west sides of Caras and Kiwanis parks to handle increased pedestrian and bicycle traffic. The widened trail will double as a riverfront promenade for year-round events. An ADA-compliant ramp using a switchback design will be installed at the northeast section of Beartracks Bridge at Caras Park to improve accessibility.
The plan also includes a redesign of Ryman Street to create a gateway where it enters Caras Park and adds new protected bike lanes connecting the central business district to the riverfront trail system. Bidirectional bike lanes will be installed on Front Street but not Main Street to preserve parking and avoid tree removal.
Photo by ITB495, CC BY 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0, from Wikimedia Commons
