Missoula Could Use A New Way To Avoid Dangerous Reserve

Missoula's North Reserve Street has had traffic issues for as long as I can remember. It doesn't matter if you are a local or just visiting Missoula, Reserve Street can be, not just difficult, but in some cases deadly to navigate.

The road has been the punchline for jokes among the "locals" for decades. For those that have to navigate the road regularly, the jokes get old pretty quickly.

Read More: Open Letter To Missoula Drivers: You're Right Driving Sucks Here

One of the issues that makes the road a struggle, is that it is a connecting route from Interstate 90 with Highway 93 South and for commuters that means more drivers on the road. The traffic on North Reserve isn't just workers and people who want to shop at the stores there, it is people that use it as a route to get home.

Missoula Will Study North Reserve Again

There is going to be another study done about Reserve Street corridor. The city of Missoula landed a $308K federal grant to study North Reserve. According to the Missoula Current, "Reserve had been steady over the years with around 35,000 daily trips." There is also going to be the possible addition of 6,000 new housing units west of Reserve Street. The businesses also continues to grow with on North Reserve.

Read More: Missoula's North Reserve Is Getting a New Business Soon

Recently we spent some time in Kalispell, Montana, and it was convenient, simple and quick to use the Highway 93 bypass that has been opened for a few years now. If you want to drive through the town of Kalispell you can. If you want to avoid it, you can do that too. Will Missoula ever see a bypass that will give commuters an option to avoid Reserve Street entirely? This, of course, is just one idea to try to resolve some of the Reserve Street issues.

The Studies Will Look At Improving Reserve Street

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I don't think a bypass will ever happen during my lifetime. With the speed of growth in Missoula, there may not be a place to for a bypass anymore. There is also the cost of an undertaking this big. The studies will continue on how to "improve Reserve Street". Not how to avoid it. In the meantime I will continue to drive defensively and cautiously and only use North Reserve Street when I need to.