Thank you everyone who participated and helped support our community at our BrewFest event! A lot of effort went into this, and it paid off. We set up in about an hour, had 4 new tents that provided ample shade on the hot day. We had a great turnout from our community, the band helped attract people from other shows, and we look forward to changing a few things next year! Let us know if you have any recommendations or concerns from BrewFest that you would like to share.
BrewFest Numbers: we don’t have all the credit card totals, but the cash we received was $4100, and we handed out 252 beer cups. There were at least that amount drinking beer and more people just enjoying the event. We think around another $2,000 in credit card sales.
Raffle Ticket Numbers: Rotarians sold 800, last year we sold 1000. Total sales were 1037, last year over 1500. Total amount for 2023 $21,740 last year, in 2022 it was $31,300. Most tickets sold goes to Hu Beaver, second to Sharon Fulton and third Larry Ashcraft. The 3 of them sold just around 300 tickets. Thank you awesome members!
John Schmidt District Construction Engineer for the west side of the Continental Divide.
Ronan project update, it’s going well and generally through the hardest part of it. It’s hard to convert a 2 lane road to 4 lane road, so it takes a lot of work. Generally, traffic is on the northbound lane and they are finishing gravel on the southbound lane. They will be paving towards the end of August into September. The bike path will be finishing around then as well, and in November they will shut down all construction. The signal will hopefully be put in at Old Hwy 93 and 3rd St. There have been some material delays with lighting and its parts. They will chip seal next year, you can’t chip seal past the end of August. There is a path that runs towards Westland Seed down Round Butte Rd, patchwork will happen next year. They did do a mill and were able to repave part of Round Butte Rd, not the most perfect timing, but had to make it happen when the sun shines. The long term goal in Ronan is to make a couplet, and eventually, will run down 1st St, calling it Ronan urban, and will redevelop Hwy 93 and 1st St. The southbound lane will run on 2nd St and northbound lane on Hwy 93, Similar to Arlee. It Is a long way out, they need money to build through town. Timeline is undetermined due to funding.
MDT is funded almost entirely by federal funds, 85/15 with federal funds. They are tied to that, the federal government gives them a specific amount based on a formula, and with that, they have to do capital preservation safety, etc. The bill that passed last year didn’t have a lot of money for MDT, the bulk of money in the bill is discretionary, and MDT would rather give grants to communities. They partner with communities, to get the grant, and administer the contract for the project. If the community would get a grand it would change the timeline, otherwise would ha etc wait.
MDT and the Hwy 93 Polson traffic lights. The demand is too high in the summertime for the lighting to work efficiently.
MDT inspects every bridge every 2 years, there have been no reports that show a cause for concern for the stacked weight on the Polson Bridge and its structural integrity and the traffic on it.
Regarding the land that was just annexed into the city, MDT is not in the business of development or controlling it, that’s the county and city's responsibility. They are responsible for safe entry and exit onto the highway. Any change of use will require an engineering study and solution and will have to be vetted by MDT engineers.
What are the ongoing plans around Hwy 93 and Ninepipes? Same corridor as Ronan, there has been a big study there, one for Post Creek Hill and one through Ninepipes. The CSKT was awarded a grant for Post Creek Hill, and will start the wheel moving on that project. CSKT is going to apply for grants regarding Ninepipes as well. MDT doesn’t have it in its funding right now for these projects. Right now it’s estimated over $ 30 million for 4 miles of road. Generally, it will be a bigger version of what’s there 2 lanes, wildlife crossings, bridges, and flatter slopes. A lot better highway, safer for travel. Not a lot of additional lanes.
Polson Bridge, and rusted railing - it doesn’t look the best, but functionally there is no issue. It’s an expense that MDT doesn’t have in the budget.
MDT doesn’t set speed limits, they are set legislatively, or by the transportation committee.
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