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PROJECT HISTORY
early 2004 - 2030 adjustments
Lastly, in early 2004, MDT recognized that traffic conditions evaluated in the 1994 FEIS only considered forecasts to the year 2015 and that recent population increases in the Kalispell area could negatively impact future traffic conditions. To accommodate the changed traffic conditions, MDT began considering design modifications to accommodate year 2030 projected future traffic increases, thereby increasing the service life of the facility.
Potential modifications include replacing at-grade signalized intersections with grade-separated interchanges (overpasses and underpasses) to allow unimpeded traffic movement along the bypass. With these intersection and alignment modifications, however, the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) requires that changes to actions contained in an FEIS be re-evaluated to determine if they create significant new environmental impacts. Therefore, MDT initiated a process to re-evaluate the 1994 FEIS to determine if the proposed design modifications to the bypass would create new significant environmental impacts. |
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