HIGHWAY DESIGN

Highway 78 “BREWERY HILL” PATHWAY

Beartooth Trails is working with the City of Red Lodge and the Montana Department of Transportation to add a pedestrian pathway adjacent to Highway 78, known as Brewery Hill. Currently, there is no pathway along Highway 78 and pedestrian safety has become an issue. MDT has suggested that the City of Red Lodge apply for the 2025 Transportation Alternatives program (TAP) to pay for the project. Prior to submitting the application, Great West Engineering conducted a preliminary engineering study to determine the details of the project. The study was completed with the support of the City of Red Lodge, Red Lodge Country Club Estate Property Owners Association, Alpine Basin and Urban Renewal District. If you would like to support this project, please consider donating to Beartooth Trails.

HIGHWAY 212 PROJECT

Beartooth Trails partners with Bike Walk Montana concerning the adequate accommodation of bicyclists and pedestrians in the design of transportation facilities.

Federal Highway Administration guidance states it is “a presumption that bicyclists and pedestrians be accommodated in the design of new and improved transportation facilities.  In the planning, design and operation of transportation facilities, bicyclists and pedestrians should be included as a matter of routine, and the decision not to accommodate them should be the exception rather than the rule.  There must be exceptional circumstances for denying bicycle and pedestrian access by prohibition or by designing highways that are incompatible with safe, convenient walking and bicycling.”

ADDITIONAL HIGHWAY PROJECTS

Beartooth Trails worked with the Montana Department of Transportation (MDT) to insure that adequate shoulders were provided on Highway 78/Brewery Hill, from Lazy M Street to Hauser Avenue.  The MDT agreed to narrow the lanes to 11 feet in this section in order to provide five- foot shoulders.  A wider shoulder stripe further delineates the shoulder.  This project was completed in 2015.

Beartooth Trails also insured that rumble strips on Highway 78 near Red Lodge consistent with the MDT Rumble Strip Guidance were included and assisted the City of Red Lodge in securing an MDT encroachment permit for the installation of safety signage on the Highway 78 Multi-Use Pathway.