DOT gives deluge of information at meeting

By ALEX STRICKLAND/Bigfork Eagle

Jim Lynch, director of the Montana Department of Transportation, repeated again and again at last week's meetings about Highway 35 that his office had only two weeks to gather information.

He could have fooled anyone.

The DOT was armed with almost two dozen maps, charts and graphs chronicling everything from roadway distance to the lake, travel time and crash statistics for Highway 35 and 93 along the East and West Shores of Flathead Lake.

"In order to make this road safer and function better for the community, we need to start on the same base," he said of the myriad statistics presented on back-to-back nights in Somers and Polson.

The meetings came in response to requests from East Shore residents to investigate a ban on some, or all, truck traffic along Highway 35 after an April 2 tanker spill forced five homes to be evacuated after almost 6,000 gallons of gasoline were spilled near the lake.

Among the facts presented by Lynch were:

? The West Shore between Polson and Somers has 498 total access points onto Highway 93 (roads/streets, driveways and farm/ranch accesses). The East Shore between Polson and Bigfork has 648. That comes out to 11 per mile on Highway 93 and 19.1 per mile on Highway 35.

? Between 1999 and 2008, the Average Annual Daily Traffic Count — the number of vehicles on the road — has slightly decreased on Highway 35 since a peak in 2004-2005 and has stayed fairly constant along Highway 93.

?The truck crash rate is almost identical on both highways, at just over one crash per million vehicle miles of travel. But Highway 93's rate is slightly higher than the state average for non-interstate highways routes and Highway 35's is slightly below the state average for the Montana primary routes system.

? The crash rate for all vehicles is higher on the East Shore, at about 1.5 per million vehicle miles traveled to the West Shore's 1.3 per million.

? Two-trailer unit trucks had more accidents on Highway 35, whereas single trailer trucks were more often involved on Highway 93.

? The vast majority of car and truck crashes occur on both highways in dry conditions. "Winter is actually the safest time to drive because people are paying attention," Lynch said.

Marie Kohler, who's parents-in-law Ron and Barbara Kohler were among the families forced from their homes by the fuel spill, said Highway 35 was a "Secret Highway" that people must feel they can pass illegal on and not get caught.

"I don't understand why people do that on Highway 35," she said. Kohler commutes each day from near Finley Point to her job at the University of Montana Biological Station at Yellow Bay.

Area residents who regularly drive or cycle on Highway 35 spoke out for limiting truck traffic along the East Shore. Harry Hyatt said that while trucking companies may pay high taxes for the transportation infrastructure, ultimately "truckers have to understand that they don't pay for the roads, consumers do."

House District 9 representative Bill Jones, who's district encompasses almost all of Highway 35, said that in the legislature, it is the trucking lobby that often requests tighter safety standards and the general public that opposes them.

"It's the trucking industry constantly poking me on the shoulder and asking about safety," he said.

Montana Motor Carriers Association President Barry "Spook" Stang attended the Somers meeting and said that the trucking industry doesn't condone careless drivers, but is doing everything it can to conserve fuel and energy.

"We have to be able to operate effectively and efficiently and Highway 35 fits that," he said.

One of the DOT studies Lynch presented was results from a test run up both highways from Polson in a department tractor trailer to determine distance, time and fuel consumption.

From Polson to the intersection with Highway 82 along the West Shore took 53 minutes in the truck with a 60,000 lbs. load. That route was 46 miles. From Polson to the 82 intersection along Highway 35 took 45 minutes at a distance of 35 miles.

DOT had their driver follow both highways all the way to the Plum Creek yard in Columbia Falls. On Highway 93 via Highway 40, the total trip from Polson took one hour and 40 minutes, and used 16.2 gallons of diesel to cover the 74 miles.

The route from Polson to the yard via Highway 35 and 206 took one hour and 15 minutes and used 9.9 gallons of diesel over 59 miles.

Rose Schwennesen, an East Shore resident who has been organizing the community along 35, said that Flathead Lake's economic impact should be considered and could be more valuable to the overall economy than a marginal fuel savings for the trucking industry.

But Paul Maurer of Big Arm said beauty was in the eye of the beholder, and that highway 93 was also a beautiful stretch of road that needs to be protected.

"Highway 35 doesn't have a monopoly on bad drivers," he said.

Multiple residents brought up the possibility of just banning hazardous materials from traveling along the East Shore, but Lynch pointed out that propane is classified as a hazardous material, and five distributors service customers around the lake.

Lynch also noted the increase of truck and car traffic that accompanies the cherry harvest on the East Shore and the fertilizer and pesticide deliveries that occur in the off-season.

No decisions were made at the meetings, and Lynch said a second round of gatherings would be scheduled sometime in the future to meet with the community again to discuss possible ideas that had sprung from the original meetings.

Not that any of it might matter, as one statistic from the DOT showed the "Level of Service" on both highways getting drastically worse over the next 20 years.

The "Level of Service" is graded from A through F, with A representing unimpeded maneuverability and a lack of traffic and F representing a breakdown in vehicle flow. Level E, which most of the East Shore is already at, dictates that the roadway is at capacity and operating is "volatile."

The DOT predictions show that in 2026, almost all of both Highways will be Levels D-F."

"So," one Woods Bay resident said. "It will all be hell anyway."