HELENA — The City of Helena, the Montana Department of Transportation, and BNSF recently took a set toward making an underpass at the intersection of N. Montana Avenue and the train tracks a reality.
The city applied for a $4 million grant from the US Department of Transportation’s Railroad Crossing Elimination Grant Program.
“It was a good time for the three of us to at least get the planning portion done and see where we fall out,” City of Helena transportation systems director David Knoepke said.
Along with the grant money, there is a required $800,000 local funding match, which will be split between the city, MDT, and BNSF.
The money will be used to develop design ideas and do preplanning work, Knoepke said.
Creating an underpass under the train tracks will be a large project, taking into account businesses with access to N. Montana Avenue.
It will also likely require a reworking of the intersection of Montana Avenue, E. Lyndale Avenue. and Helena Avenue - sometimes referred to as "malfunction junction."
“It’s going to be a big dollar project,” Knoepke said. “We want to get it right and make sure that we minimize the impacts as much as possible.”
Right now, there is no cost estimate for the project, but when it was discussed about a decade ago, there was an estimate floated that put the project cost at $50 million.
If the city is awarded a Railroad Crossing Elimination grant, the design and planning work it funds will determine a better cost estimate for the project.
For now, the city, MDT and BNSF are waiting to hear if they are awarded a grant.
For the last round of funding through the program, 209 applications were submitted and 63 were selected.
