The Montana Department of Transportation (MDT) will begin a long-anticipated pavement preservation project, so named “Boulder-Urban”, on June 10, and will complete the effort over 50 working days by summer’s end.
The project, a “mill and overlay” effort meant to rejuvenate existing pavement without fully reconstructing the road, will replace the top layer of existing asphalt of the roadway passing through Boulder with fresh material, and a chip seal covering, a pavement surface treatment meant to increase the road’s friction and skid resistance. MDT will also repaint existing road markings, and upgrade sidewalks at intersections from Cattle Drive Road to I-15, making them more explicitly ramped, friendlier to wheel-chair bound pedestrians, and more closely compliant to the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.
MDT crews will begin the project’s preliminary environmental compliance work on April 1, by removing trees and vegetation from Main Street’s raised planter beds. This is to preempt migratory birds nesting in the soon to be removed planter beds, and allow MDT to replace them with a smaller concrete median. The City of Boulder has been publicly concerned with the planter beds since at least 2020, which pose a visibility hazard to young children and also create large snow piles in winter.
“The plan is to remove anything that obstructs visibility, then to fill the median with concrete,” said Jefferson County Road & Bridge Supervisor Bear Taylor. “This will improve the visibility to vehicles looking to cross or turn on to Main Street from the side roads. This is important to the safety of the traveling public” Taylor’s office is not in any way involved with “Boulder-Urban,” but will help ensure public safety during summer construction.
“Removing the planter beds will greatly improve visibility for local and commercial traffic passing through Boulder, and make Main Street generally safer,” said Rebecca Barbula, the MDT project design manager responsible for the project. According to Barbula, removing the planter beds will also increase available space for snow storage, and ease the City’s seasonal snow removal effort.
“And as a cost-benefit counter measure, the project will add years of life to the road without the need for full reconstruction,” said Barbula. “We try to preempt full reconstruction with lighter interventions. Compared to California, or Rhode Island, Montana state tax is a relatively low contributor to road work. Prioritizing rejuvenation over reconstruction allows us to deploy state dollars more strategically, and helps us when thinking about which projects to nominate for federal support.”
The City of Boulder is not responsible for any cost associated with the $3 million project, which is nearly 90% federally funded by the US Department of Transportation. MDT, and Departments of Transportation in other rural states, rely heavily on federal funding in order to actualize state highway maintenance. This is due to the large distances of road required to maintain with a relatively light tax base.
