Highway 93 expansion finalization near
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RONAN – Final details of the proposed expansion of Highway 93 appeared to be falling into place last week as the Ronan City Council prepared to sign off on a letter of de minimis that is essentially the city’s last bargaining chip in influencing the roadway’s new direction.
A notice of Monday’s public hearing was posted four days prior on the doors of town hall Thursday, May 8. Mayor Kim Aipperspach was unsure of whether or not it would be the last chance for the public to have their say in the project, which Aipperspach has said will impact the town for the next half-century. There was no notice of the hearing published in local newspapers.
“I don’t know (if it will be the last hearing),” Aipperspach said in a telephone interview last week. “This thing’s been going on for 30 years.”
The Ronan City Council has clung to the letter of de minimis in order to negotiate key parts of the project which will expand Highway 93 into four lanes. A northbound couplet will follow the path of the current roadway, while a southbound couplet will occupy space that rests along First Avenue. The letter of de minimis would okay the part of the project that goes through the city and is required by the federal government for the project to move forward.
In November, Montana Transportation Commission Chairman Kevin Howlett told the city the $40 million project was in jeopardy of not meeting its 2018 start date if the city couldn’t hammer out an agreement soon.
Ronan Public Works Director Dan Miller told Howlett at that time that Ronan wasn’t trying to delay the project, but it did want an agreement that was fair.
“The city does not want to hold anything up, we just don’t want to be brushed over,” Miller said.
At issue for the past six months has been the new highway’s impact to Bockman Park. The proposed trajectory will push the new road up against the park’s eastern border. The city’s park board has argued that the roadway will change the park’s overall use. The city asked that the federal government provide parking and restrooms as mitigation for the impact to the park.
The federal government countered by saying that restrooms were outside of the scope of what was permissible per federal regulations. Plans for downtown parking were discussed, but the city council complained that the proposed spots were downtown and too far away from the park to be practical for usage by patrons.
The impasse lasted until a meeting last month.
“We walked away from the meeting and I felt like it was more of a win-win,” Councilmember Cal Hardy said. “They realized that the demands we wanted weren’t just frivolous.”
In the new agreement is more centralized parking along Buchanan Street, Hardy said. More details were supposed to be discussed at Monday’s meeting.
“It would really centralize the parking,” Miller said.
The outcome of Monday’s meeting was pending as of press time.
