Billings residents will soon enjoy a few more bike lanes, multiuse trail segments, and facilities along the paths. Here is what’s in store this summer:
Lanes and sharrows:
- 13th St. West Grand to Poly .75 miles- new bike lanes with sharrow where narrow
- Governor’s Blvd -.5 miles from Babcock to Bazaar exchange- new bike lanes with sharrow where narrow
- Calhoun Ln.- 1 mile King east to Underpass- curb, gutter, sidewalk and bike lanes
Trails:
- Shiloh Conservation Area- 1 mile loop. The project has been bid, and is waiting to be constructed this summer
- Alkali Creek Trail extension east of Aronson Bridge, called the Aronson Bypass Trail at Swords Park. This connects to the trail coming out of the tunnel under Alkali Creek Road, goes under the Aronson Bridge and heads east and south to Swords Lane and finally connects to the sidewalk on the north side of Airport Road. This project is ready to go out for bid the end of this week with a bid opening the first of July and projected construction in August.
- Ponderosa School Path- This project is to design and construct a path form Kings Green Subdivision west to the Ponderosa School and then to the existing trail at the intersection of Orchard Lane and King Avenue East, next to the Sam’s Club. The contract with the design consultant should be signed soon and Parks Dept. anticipates their work to begin by June 15.
- Have you been to Swords Rimrock Park? The restrooms were installed in May!
There will be an open house for the public on Wednesday, 25 June 2014 from 5-7pm at the Billings Public Library, first floor meeting room for the Highway 3 Corridor Study that is being funded by the City. You can visit this link for more information and to sign up for email notifications.
The 25th Street Bridge project is dead for now due to bids coming in much higher than estimated.
If you are curious about what projects the City has planned for the next 5 years and when they are estimated to occur, you can read the Capital Improvements Plan here. Pay particular attention to when streets will be widened and/or repaved and utility work completed as opportunities for re-striping of streets to accommodate cyclists. The CIP has every city project, so it is a large document.