GALLATIN COUNTY — Driving in Gallatin County, you’ve probably hit the intersections at East Cameron Bridge Road and Alaska South Road, East Valley Center Road and Alaska South Road, or Love Lane and Durston Road. These intersections could soon be seeing new roundabouts, as part of a county proposal.
“I typically will wait and leave an hour later so I don’t have to deal with the traffic coming in and out of here,” said Michael Meier, who works at Hatch Adventures, a vehicle rental business right alongside Alaska South Road.
He and other nearby businesses said that commuting on that road is difficult and dangerous… often taking an additional 30 minutes just to get out to East Valley Center Road.
WATCH: Dangerous Intersections Prompt Gallatin County to Consider Roundabouts
“I think it’s a little scary sometimes, there’s a lot going on, lots of, you know, people pulling out and going every direction, and there are seemingly a lot of wrecks out here,” said Sheena Hopstad, an employee at Wildflower Coffee, which is along Alaska South Road.
Residents near Love Lane and Durston Road have the same feeling. I spoke with Haylee Harrison, who uses that intersection every day to get to work in Black Bull.
“I know the stop signs have helped with that intersection immensely already, but I think a roundabout would just be awesome to help the flow move a little better and to keep accidents down,” said Harrison.
Safety concerns like these are why the county is considering roundabouts.
Robert Peccia & Associates, the engineering firm helping develop this project, generated a report for Gallatin County, which shows that more than 9,000 vehicles pass through the intersections at Love Lane and Durston Road and Alaska South Road and Cameron Bridge Road every day, while 12,000 vehicles pass through Alaska South Road and East Valley Center daily.
“That’s why the intersections were selected, because they had, within the county, within the area, they had higher rates and severity of crashes that occurred in the area, and so they were high priority based on that safety analysis,” said Scott Randall, the project manager for this proposal.
Randall said that it’s not just roundabouts that are important, but also reconstructing the road, especially on Alaska South Road. “It’s really just seen a lot of volume that exceeds what its intended function was originally, and so that need for the full Alaska corridor to be reconstructed to something that can accommodate, you know, those volumes is true,” said Randall.
The county does not yet have funding for this project, Randall says.
They’re taking public comment until August 13th – and have already received 35 written comments.
To provide comment, visit this link.
