Frustration over Basin Avenue’s steep drop to the curb has reached a tipping point, and Jefferson County and the state of Montana plan to fix it.
County Commissioner Cory Kirsch said that the county has been working with the state Department of Transportation to reduce the harsh slope on Basin Avenue, which currently does not comply with standards of the Americans with Disabilities Act. The 800-foot-long stretch in question has a steep cross-slope from the center of the road, across the eastbound lane and down to the curb along the south side of the road, which creates problems for parking and snow removal, according to Department of Transportation District Administrator Bill Fogarty.
Fogarty said that Kirsch contacted the department about the issue in March 2020, and the department submitted a set of plans and designs with cost estimates to Kirsch in November 2020. Kirsch said the county needs almost $100,000 in funding to fix the road.
The state’s design shows a consistent downward slope, varying from 2 percent to 4 percent in gradient, from the north edge of the road to the south curb and sidewalk, Fogarty said.
“There will be a little variability but it will be easily [navigable], and it will be much easier for parking and to remove snow,” Fogarty said.
Kirsch said the project would entail removing the asphalt road surface, scraping down the roadbed and then repaving it. He said it would take about three weeks, and the street would not have to close entirely because the construction could be done in small sections. Kirsch and Fogarty said the construction would likely occur next year, at the earliest.
Basin Avenue is not part of the Federal-Aid Highway Program, which provides federal funding for road projects, therefore all work that is done on it has to be funded by the state or county—and state funding is limited, Fogarty said. The state of Montana has a “very small” funding program to aid counties, he said, adding that funding one of the state’s biggest constraints in aiding the county.
“The ball’s in the county’s court, but we stand ready when needed to help out in any way we can,” Fogarty said. He said that if the county decided to do the construction themselves instead of contracting it out, the department would be open to offering their resources.
Basin Avenue’s steep slope down to the south curb has been an issue for Basin residents for about 15 years. In the early 2000s, the county received a grant and collaborated with the state to make the Basin Avenue sidewalk ADA compliant, Kirsch said. There was always a slope from the centerline of the road to the curb, but widening the sidewalk made the slope steeper, Kirsch said.
“Now we have nice ADA sidewalks, but we have a slope down to that sidewalk that is way too steep,” Kirsch said. He added that when engineers designed the sidewalk, they didn’t realize how it would affect the slope of the road and only realized the issue after the project was finished.
“Everybody’s been pointing fingers. You know, it’s the state’s fault, it’s the county’s fault,” Kirsch said. Eventually, he said, he didn’t care whose fault it was—he just wanted to get it fixed.
Basin resident Rhandi Rachlis, who owns a building on the affected section of Basin Avenue, has raised concerns about the road for more than a decade, according to minutes from an October 2004 commission meeting.
“It’s certainly a safety hazard,” Rachlis said in a recent interview. She added that one of her tenants who parks on the road drives a large mail truck, and people complain to her about how it “tilt[s] at a dangerous angle.”
“Wouldn’t take much to push it over,” Rachlis said about the truck.
Rachlis said that residents and visitors often park their vehicles with passenger-side wheels up on the curb so the vehicle is level. Recently, however, she parked with both wheels on the street, and while exiting her car, the door slammed closed onto her leg, bruising it badly.
“It would be great if they could make it more level so that I could get in and out of the car without having to struggle,” she said.
Basin resident Joy Lewis, who also lives on Basin Avenue, said that the road has caused issues with snow removal and flooding. She said that when snowplows drive down Basin Avenue, a large berm accumulates along the curb, falls onto the sidewalk, melts and then “comes really close” to flooding her apartment.
“For some reason, it’s my house that it’s the worst on,” Lewis said about the flooding. She said that when Basin got a lot of snow two winters ago, she had to place sandbags in front of her door to prevent her house from flooding.
People shouldn’t have to park on the sidewalk, she said, but that’s the only way some older people can get out of their cars. She said she is happy that the county is addressing the problem.
“Anything they do will be helpful at this point,” she said.
Because the Basin Water and Sewer District board has discussed replacing water pipes under Basin Avenue, Kirsch said, the county is looking into whether American Rescue Plan Act funds, some of which are earmarked for water and sewer projects, could fund the project. However, he said, the county wouldn’t be able to fix the road and the pipes using only the ARPA funding.
Kirsch said he needs to coordinate with the Water and Sewer board and wait until the they replace infrastructure before fixing the road. Fogarty said that waiting for the district to replace the pipes will likely delay the street scraping.
“If we get that road fixed and then they fix the pipe underneath it, then that nice new street we put in would get torn up,” Kirsch said.
Basin Water and Sewer District Board President Jason Norman said at a June 29 board meeting that the board currently does not have a timeline on when they would replace the lines under Basin Avenue, if they choose to do so.
