By Michael Howell
Victor area residents, business owners, local legislators, Chamber of Commerce representatives, and local economic development officials met with Montana Department of Transportation officials at the Hamilton House Pub in Victor on Wednesday, July13, to discuss the negative impacts of the Highway 93 reconstruction project on local businesses and form solutions to address the problems. The meeting is the second in a series hosted by the Ravalli County Economic Development Agency which has stepped in, along with the Job Service, to help Victor businesses deal with their plight.
The questions and concerns regarding the construction project were addressed by the Montana Department of Transportation officials Shane Stack, Dean Jones, Ed Tate and Project Manager Bill Mart.
According to notes of the meeting posted on the RCEDA website, one concern was the fear that the closure of Meridian Road and the Highway simultaneously, which recently created havoc for drivers in the area, would happen again. MDOT officials assured those at the meeting that the situation would not occur again.
Another complaint from local businesses which emerged at the first meeting, where no MDOT officials were invited, concerned signage indicating business access and detours that was inconsistent and unreliable and signs being located in places where traffic from Hwy 93 couldn’t see them. It was felt that they don’t adequately describe the route necessary to access the businesses.
MDOT had already made some changes to address the signage problem by the time of Wednesday’s meeting and Shane Stack from MDOT said that a better job with signage could be done. Project Manager Bill Mart stated that it was the contractor’s responsibility and it was agreed that they were not doing a good job with the signage. He said agency officials will remind the contractor of these responsibilities.
When business owners and citizens claimed that dust mitigation was not adequate and that there was no water truck at all on Friday, Saturday or Sunday, MDOT officials said that dust mitigation is supposed to be ongoing and should be occurring on Friday and the weekend. Mart said he would speak to the contractor about this as well. The paving in Victor, he said, is scheduled to be completed in the next 7 to 8 working days depending upon weather and repair of broken down equipment. He said this will resolve the situation in town.
In response to concerns expressed by owners of the Hamilton House and Urban Montana Salon about possible structural damage to their buildings from construction vibration, Dean Jones from MDOT said that the agency will talk with Geo Tech about taking a look at those buildings. Mart said that they could lower the vibration during the paving of Meridian Road. He said there are compaction requirements and those would be adhered to but that it could be done by completing another pass or two with a lower vibration setting. He said anyone with concerns regarding building integrity can e-mail Shane Stack at sstack@mt.gov.
MDOT officials expressed a willingness to communicate and arrangements for the best way of communicating with the group were made. Project Manager Bill Mart provided his cell phone number, 240-2274 and Dean Jones provided his telephone number, 523-5823, as a back-up number. When someone does contact Mart with a question or concern he will provide the information to Julie at RCEDA – julie@rceda.org and RCEDA will post the Q&A on the web at www.rceda.org.
MDOT provided a project schedule contingent upon weather, equipment breakdowns and other projects that may influence the timetable:
• July 22nd – projected date for completion of paving in town which includes Meridian. They are hoping to get the paving done to Sweathouse Creek also.
• Begin paving 2nd Week of August – Bear Creek Rd. South 2 miles
• Begin paving mid-September – Bear Creek North 2 miles
• June or July of 2012 – chip sealing, will take approximately 3 days.
MDOT said that project schedules change daily. They will try to communicate those changes when significant and will work more closely with the businesses when affecting their access.
Plans were discussed about placing some signage along the highway to the north and south alerting drivers when the highway construction was completed so they wouldn’t continue to avoid using the highway.
MDOT said that they could place electronic signs just north of Hamilton and in the Florence area to advise motorists that they should return to Victor and use Hwy 93. The signs can contain four words and three flashes for a total of 12 words. They confirmed that there will be signs for the museum and the park.
The speed limit on Hwy 93 through Victor will be 45 mph. There may be an opportunity to amend that limit by contacting the County Commissioners.
MDOT will be working with individual businesses to arrive at the best paving schedule possible in front of each business.