Update on Lone Mountain Trail TIGER Grant Project in Big Sky

While major updates to Lone Mountain Trail/MT Highway 64 in Big Sky were delayed this year, the project is moving forward this fall with some important components of the project beginning construction this month while the rest of the project is re-bid.

In 2017, the community of Big Sky was awarded a TIGER grant from the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) in the amount of $10.2 million dollars for major infrastructure improvements along the Lone Mountain Trail/MT Highway 64 corridor. Once the agreement was signed in June 2019 between Gallatin County and FHWA, Sanderson Stewart was awarded the contract to oversee design and construction for the improvements in September 2019. In partnership with Stahly Engineering, the team has worked diligently with Gallatin County, the Montana Department of Transportation (MDT) and FHWA to work through the design, acquisition of land (right-of-way) for the expanded roadway, and the required permitting for the project. 

As indicated in the June 4, 2021 press release, the right-of-way acquisition process took longer than anticipated and as a result, we were not able to bid the project until May 2021. Only one bid was received, and it was significantly higher than our estimated construction cost and the budget available for the project. Gallatin County and FHWA therefore agreed to re-bid the project this fall and begin construction in the spring of 2022.

In the meantime, the TIGER agreement with FHWA has been amended to allow two components of the project to proceed this fall.  Those projects include the upgrades to the US 191 traffic signal and the turn lanes along Powder Light Subdivision. This fall, MDT will proceed with the US 191 traffic signal upgrades while Lone Mountain Land Company will proceed with construction of the Powder Light turn lanes. Both projects should be underway by mid-September. 

Moving forward with these project components will help to address the budget challenges with the overall TIGER project. We will also make other modifications prior to bidding the project again.  Community partners including the Big Sky Resort Area District (Resort Tax) are in constant collaboration to seek solutions for all remaining project components to be constructed as intended with the TIGER project. As an absolute last resort, we will reconsider the possibility of eliminating one or more additional project component(s) in order to allow the rest of the project to move forward in 2022.  If this happens, Gallatin County will use the community feedback from the survey conducted in June/July to help determine which project component(s) may be eliminated. The survey results are presented below and are also available at www.mthighway64communitysurvey.com.

Thank you for your valuable feedback on this important project for the Big Sky Community. Please feel free to contact Sanderson Stewart with any additional questions about the project:

Danielle Scharf
Project Manager/Engineer
Sanderson Stewart
dscharf@sandersonstewart.com
406-922-4325