Swan River bike path moves forward

After six years, it looks as if two stretches of bike path along Swan River Road will finally be connected.

The bid process closed Tuesday for construction of bike path running parallel to Swan River Road, south from Lee Road to Riverbend Road.

The new construction will connect two existing sections of path, one that starts at the intersection of Swan River Road and Montana 83, and one that starts at Riverbend Road.

The project is part of a long-term goal to have a bike and pedestrian path from Swan River School to the west entrance of the Swan River nature trail.

Flathead County officials hope to begin construction on the path this summer.

“The goal is to begin construction around June, so that construction is happening after school is out and before it begins,” Flathead County planner Rachel Ezell said.

The Rotary Club of Bigfork has been instrumental in creating the Swan River bike path.

Former Bigfork Rotary Club president Ed Nolde helped get the ball rolling on the bike path project back in 2008, current Bigfork Rotarian Rick Trembath said.

In 2008 the Rotary Club raised $10,000 for the path, and with the help of volunteers built a quarter mile section of path, beginning at Riverbend Road.

That section of path was completed in 2009, and has stood alone since, not connected to any other pavement. Trembath said he suspects the choice to build a lone section was deliberate, to help motivate the completion of the project.

A few years later the Rotary Club learned about the Community Transportation Enhancement Program, and discovered through that program, they could get a $300,000 grant for the bike path.

CTEP funds are available to local governments for alternative forms of transportation, such as bike and pedestrian paths. 

The Rotary Club approached Flathead County about helping with the project through the CTEP grant, and the county agreed.

The local government or a local sponsor must contribute 13.4 percent of construction costs, however the county had no funds budgeted so the Rotary Club of Bigfork acted as the local sponsor and raised the required $41,000 through various fundraisers and community donations.

The club reached the fundraising goal in the summer of 2012. The county approved the project and the design and engineering for two miles of path were set to begin.

With the $300,000 the Rotary Club imagined the bulk of the path could be completed, Trembath said. The plan was to connect the two existing portions between Lee Road and Riverbend Road, and then continue the path south to Williams Lane.

The last section of the proposed trail from Williams Lane to the nature trail presents a challenge with the topography, and the club decided that section would come later. 

“We thought we could build the vast majority of the trail for that,” Trembath said.

Though the project was approved in 2012, it didn’t continue moving forward until members of the Rotary Club realized the CTEP money had to be spent before the end of 2015 or it would be gone.

They contacted the county, Rotarian Cheryl Richmond said, and learned that the environmental assessment needed to be done before anything else could move forward.

The assessment was completed quickly and the county moved forward on engineering and obtaining easements for the path.

As the project moved forward, between negotiating payments to landowners for easements, and budgeting for fill and retaining walls needed for the path, the length of the next phase of construction became shorter.

Though not as much of the path will be completed as Rotary members originally hoped, Richmond and Trembath are glad to see it moving forward.

“This is a great positive step that this is going to be completed this year,” Trembath said.

As for completing the rest of the proposed trail, Richmond and Trembath said there currently isn’t a plan.

“We need to regroup and look at what we have left,” Trembath said.

The CTEP program is ending, and no more funding will be available through that avenue after this year. Much of the engineering for future sections has already been completed, and would be available to anyone interested in continuing the project, Ezell said. “If we were to go forward with this we would want others to join us,” Richmond said.