Eagle Transit makes route changes in Kalispell

Flathead Council Agency on Aging is adjusting the Eagle Transit bus service with the goal of improving service. Representatives from the agency presented the changes to the Kalispell City Council on Monday.

Eagle Transit will drop service to Evergreen and reconfigure the Kalispell service into a figure-eight route, with two loops meeting a new transfer station at the Gateway Community Center. The station will be at the north end of the building, which also holds Second Helpings Thrift Store and the United Way. The changes took effect on Monday.

“Now you can do half-hour legs, if you will, and you can shorten your trip by using the Kalispell Gateway,“ said Flathead County Agency on Aging Director Lisa Sheppard.

She said the changes were geared toward accommodating people who use the transit service to make it to and from work on a typical 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. shift.

The agency is shortening the hours, so it will now operate from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m.

To make up for dropping the regular Evergreen service, Eagle Transit has begun an Evergreen commuter service that will accommodate a smaller number of people.

Sherry Stevens, executive director of the local United Way branch, said having the transfer station on their property was also giving them a chance to change the way traffic flows around their building.

“Our insurance carrier has been after us for the last two years because when you walk out any door of the gateway community center you walk into a road,” Stevens said. “No matter where you are coming out, the traffic is running around the building and you are walking through it to get to the parking area.”

Stevens said they had been working on a solution to the issue for a while, and this presented a perfect opportunity to change the flow of traffic.

A new road with a one-way entrance and one-way exit will be installed at the north end of the property to accommodate bus traffic. They will also install signs informing people the street is not a through-street.

This week they will be closing off the access to the property from Financial Drive, which runs along the west side of the building from Two Mile Drive south to U.S. 2. Buses will enter and exit through one-way streets coming off of Glenwood Avenue. A covered bus shelter will also be installed next to their building.

Stevens said an engineering firm was working on plans for the changes. She said they were also not sure how much it would cost or where the funds would come from, but noted they hoped to work with the Agency on Aging to obtain a grant. Sheppard said she did not expect to spend any public money on the project.

They will also be installing a new small park with a playground outside entrance B of the Gateway Community Center Building, which leads to the food court.

More questions about the bus service changes can be directed toward Eagle Transit at 758-5728. Updates to service, schedules and maps can be found at https://flathead.mt.gov/eagle/.

Also on Monday, council voted to authorize the city to receive a loan of $14.4 million from the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation State Revolving Fund Loan Program. The loan will help pay for the Westside Interceptor Project, a new sewer line running along the west end of town that will allow for increased future annexation and development of county land.

City Manager Doug Russell told council members that the loans would be repaid through impact fees generated from new development. If an economic downturn slows development, loan payments will likely be made by increasing service fees, City Councilor Phil Guiffrida said. Russell said repaying the loan will require annual payment of roughly $670,000. Impact fees from the last two years have both been enough to make the payment, Russell said.

- The council also held a public hearing on the proposed 2019 fiscal year budget. They received no comment.

- The council and Russell worked on scheduling a trip to Coeur d’Alene, Idaho to get a tour of the city’s solid waste infrastructure to glean insight on how to address future infrastructure planning in Kalispell. No final date for the trip has yet been determined.

Reporter Peregrine Frissell can be reached at (406) 758-4438 or pfrissell@dailyinterlake.com.