Tag Archives: dust abatement

Corridor study outlines North Fork Road options

Environmental Issues, News, , ,

For those of you not wishing to wade through multi-megabytes of material, today’s Daily Inter Lake has a good summary of the findings of the recently completed North Fork Flathead Road Corridor Study . . .

Only additional grading and stabilization treatments for the North Fork Road have broad public support, according to a recently completed study of the road corridor.

The North Fork Flathead Road Corridor Study does not recommend a specific project for the road, but instead focuses on improvement options.

Read the full article . . .

Final North Fork Road Corridor Study document available

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The final North Fork Flathead Road Corridor Study document is now available for download from the study’s web page. The study document does not include the three associated appendices, which can also be downloaded from the same place. For those of you who don’t wish to wade through the full 66-page document, the study group’s September newsletter contains a good summary of the findings and conclusions.

Here’s the ultra-condensed version: The corridor study was a $125K Montana Department of Transportation project looking at alternatives for improving the condition of the North Fork Road from Blankenship Road to Camas Junction. The final conclusion recommends improved road maintenance and some sort of dust abatement (several options are listed). Paving was not recommended.

North Fork Road draft study released, discussed

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Here’s the Flathead Beacon’s take on last Tuesday’s public open house to discuss the North Fork Road corridor study draft . . .

To pave or not to pave? The question of what to do with the North Fork Road was further debated Tuesday night in Columbia Falls. Residents, local business owners and Flathead County officials gathered at the Glacier Discovery Square to discuss the recently released draft of a $125,000 study on the corridor.

Read the full article . . .

Lack of money likely to deter North Fork Road paving plans — for now, at least

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Here’s the Daily Inter Lake’s write-up on last Tuesday’s public open house to discuss the North Fork Road corridor study draft. If for no other reason, it’s worth reading for Flathead County Commissioner Jim Dupont’s pragmatic comments . . .

To pave or not to pave may not be the question.

Due to lack of money, Flathead County Commissioner Jim Dupont said the long-talked-about paving of the North Fork Road will not likely happen anytime soon unless the federal government decides to pay for it.

Read the full article . . .

Public comments sought on North Fork Road corridor study draft

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This week’s Hungry Horse News has a good summary of last Tuesday’s public open house to discuss the North Fork Road corridor study draft.

Note that public comments are due by August 10. Send e-mail to mdtnffrteam@mt.gov or write to Lani Eggertsen-Goff, PB 488 E. Wincester Street, Suite 400, Murray, UT 84107. The draft corridor study can be viewed online at http://www.mdt.mt.gov/pubinvolve/northfork/. (Warning! Some big files.)

Here’s the lead-in from the HHN write-up . . .

The public was invited to give comment at the North Fork Flathead Road meeting Tuesday, July 27, which will be entered as part of the final Corridor Study Document.

At the meeting, representatives from Parsons Brinckerhoff — the group commissioned to conduct the study — answered questions.

Read the entire article . . .

Meeting scheduled to review draft North Fork Road corridor study

Environmental Issues, News, , ,

Here’s some more information on the upcoming public meeting on the North Fork Road corridor study from yesterday’s Daily Inter Lake . . .

An open-house-style meeting has been scheduled for the public to review and give comments on the corridor study of a portion of the North Fork Road.

The meeting will start at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, July 27, at the Discovery Center at 540 Nucleus Ave., Columbia Falls. As an open-house style meeting, no formal presentation will be given.

Read the entire article . . .

Draft North Fork Road corridor study document is now available; meeting on July 27th

Documents, Environmental Issues, News, , ,

According to an email sent out yesterday afternoon by Pam Murray of PB Americas, the draft North Fork Road corridor study document is now available online and, for those of you traveling down-valley, on paper. (If you came late to the party, the corridor study is a $125K project looking at alternatives for improving the condition of the North Fork Road from Blankenship Road to Camas Junction.)

Ms. Murray said,

The draft corridor study document is now available for your review, please visit the website: http://www.mdt.mt.gov/pubinvolve/northfork/documents.shtml and if the link does not work you can find the document by going to the study webpage at http://www.mdt.mt.gov/pubinvolve/northfork/ From the menu on the left go to “documents” and then clicking section by section on the draft document.

The whole document is available as one file, however it is a very large file (over 20 M) and will probably time out for most people before the download is complete.

Paper copies of the draft corridor study document are also available at these locations:

  • The Columbia Falls Library, 130 6th  Street West
  • Flathead County Offices, 800 South Main Street, Kalispell
  • MDT Office, 85 5th Ave East North, Kalispell

Please review the draft corridor study document.  We also invite you to attend the public meeting on July 27, 2010 at Discovery Square, Sperry Auditorium anytime between 6:30 pm and 8:30 pm…

The purpose of the public meeting is to receive your comments on the draft corridor study document.  If you are unable to attend the meeting next week you can provide us comments on the draft corridor study document using the “comment on this study” link from the study webpage (see above link).

Additional information…

The entire current set of documents discussing the corridor study includes:

The following poster includes more information about the meeting on July 27th. Note this little item near the bottom: “For reasonable accommodations to participate in the meeting, please contact Paul Grant at 406/444.9415 at least two days before the meeting.” In other words, if you want to get up and say something, call ahead.

Corridor Study Announcement

NFLA Road Committee issues year-end report

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As many of you know, the North Fork Landowners’ Association Road Committee has been doing an exceptional and balanced job collecting and presenting well-researched road maintenance and dust abatement information. They recently completed and posted their Final Road Report for 2008 – 2009, summarizing all their activities for the past two years. For more detail, including links to all their postings, check out the NFLA North Fork Road Page.

NFLA sponsoring North Fork Road dust control options presentation

News,

From a recent email sent out by the NFLA Road Committee . . .

The NFLA road committee has arranged to have Laura Fay, a research scientist from Western Transportation Institute out of MSU, come to talk about Dust Control Options. She will speak on September 8th at 10:00 a.m. at Sondreson Hall.

Her talk will include major dust control options, definitions, materials frequently used, location of informational resources and provide information on how WTI can help.

This should be an excellent and informative presentation for anyone concerned with dust mitigation on the North Fork Road.

Flathead County gets some takers for their dust program

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Flathead County got enough takers for their dust abatement program to use up about half the $100,000 budget allocation — none on the North Fork, though.

Today’s Daily Inter Lake has the story . . .

More than 24 miles of Flathead County roads will get dust abatement this summer through a new cost-sharing program.

It’s a pay-to-play endeavor in which the county and rural residents split the cost of applying magnesium chloride to curb a growing road-dust problem.

Magnesium chloride, which costs about $4,000 per mile, will be applied to 15 miles of road, county Public Works Director Dave Prunty told the county commissioners on Tuesday.

About 9.5 miles will get emulsified asphalt (black oil). Oil is twice as expensive as magnesium chloride, but the county’s match for oil will be the same — $2,000 per mile.

Read the entire article . . .