If you thought one construction site on Durston Road was bad, there’s about to be another big one. And it’s going to be another roundabout.
City officials say it is a $3.5 million plan to transform Durston Road and Ferguson Avenue into a roundabout.
The equipment already sits in preparation for Monday when the construction starts. That will also include making the street between Fowler and Flander’s Mill wider.
While they aren’t blocking the road yet, big, orange “CLOSED” signs are poised to do so. Same with the big equipment seen nearby, something easy to see while you wait to drive through.
“There’s so much construction down on this end of town, also, for new residential [areas],” says Charles Steele, who lives and jogs near the intersection. “I think that this is going to be needed very, very soon.”
Steele has lived on and off near Durston since the ’70s. He remembers when this was just a field of hay.
Steele says a roundabout could free up the clog.
“It works okay as a four-way stop, but apparently the stats are you get a lot fewer accidents with a roundabout,” Steele says.
According to the city, though, it could take until next spring. When asked what he thinks about that, Steele’s response: “Hurry up.”
“The level of service at that intersection has been very poor for the last number of years,” says Bob Murray, project manager for the City of Bozeman. “We tried to get the construction done last year. We only got one bidder and it was a high bid so we added to the project and rebid it this year.”
Murray says it’s a project that has waited too long.
“There were sections of Durston that don’t have a sidewalk, curb and gutters missing out of sections, so this is going to complete the roadway,” Murray says. “All of the work that’s going out in the northwest will certainly benefit all of the added school traffic.”
Murray says with three schools in the area that frequently use this intersection, they want to do it right, but it’s not going to be done anytime soon.
“The closure that’s going to be in Monday is scheduled to last for two and a half months, so until mid-October and the project will go through a winter shutdown and then completed next spring,” Murray says. “There are trails and new subdivisions all in this area and I believe a lot of the kids walked to school. Now we’ll have sidewalks for them. There will be dedicated bike lanes.”
You can see the detour on the city’s streets report, and it’s not short. But to Steele, it’s a necessary evil. The work will be long but the outcome, he hopes, should be good.
“It’s definitely safer for the kids,” Steele says. “That’s probably a very good idea in this neighborhood, especially.”
Again, this project is set to start Monday next week.
Murray says the detour is there, but you might also want to consider avoiding the area altogether if you can.
