Meeting on Fergus Co. roundabout set for Wednesday

An informational meeting about a proposal to build a federally funded roundabout at the juncture of highways 200, 87 and 19 north of Grass Range — a roundabout opposed by some local officials — is scheduled for Wednesday 6 p.m at the Lewistown Community Center.

Blaine County Commission Chair Frank DePriest said that while there have been several accidents and at least one fatality in the past 10 years at the site of  the proposed roundabout, he does not think the project is the right answer.

“My thoughts are that you are traveling 70 mph and you are going to have to slow down to 25,” DePriest said. “It just seems like (it would be) more of a bottleneck than it is right now.”

State Sen. Mike Lang, R-Malta, said Friday the meeting will allow those both in and outside of Fergus County, where the proposed $3.2 million  roundabout will be built, can give their opinion about the proposal.

“What this meeting is for is for people to come and comment and hopefully the government will listen,” he said.

Lang, an opponent of the proposed roundabout, said members of the Montana Department of Transportation will be at the meeting to say why they think the project should be built and people opposed to the project can express their views.

Lang said the meeting was requested by the Fergus County Commission.

He said a meeting was held in Fergus County in 2014, when the project was $2 million, but that meeting was poorly attended. Lang said commissions of Blaine, Garfield, Musselshell, Petroleum and Phillips counties were only recently told about the project, which is set to go to bid in February.

Though the roundabout will be in Fergus County and the Montana Department of Transportation did not break any rules, Lang said those in adjacent counties will also be affected.

“It isn’t in our county but we use that highway to got to Billings and go south and Billings uses it to go north  and nobody knew about it,” Lang said.

In a Jan. 10 letter the Blaine County Commissioners said they oppose construction of the round about.

Lang said he supports taking measures that will enhance safety at the juncture, but that there are more effective and less expensive ways of doing so such as reducing speed and including flashing signs.

Roundabouts are meant to increase safety in high traffic areas that have slower speeds than those currently posted at the juncture, Lang said.

In their letter, the Blaine County Commissioners said the money allocated to address other concerns such as the construction of a rest stop, improving narrow highways and building a pedestrian overpass at the Fort Belknap Indian Reservation Agency.

Lang said that, weather permitting, there should be a sizable delegation of lawmakers from Helena at the meeting.