BOZEMAN — As summer approaches, the city of Bozeman is gearing up for a bustling construction season with over $26 million invested in 12 major capital improvement projects. The projects aim to address traffic congestion, improve safety, and upgrade the city's infrastructure.

“Going down 19th at like 5 pm is a nightmare right now,” says one local.

At one of the various Town Pump stores around Bozeman, I ran into Edith. She moved to Bozeman around 5 years ago and has now been in town long enough to see: “The traffic has gotten really bad over the past couple of years. And people don’t really know how to drive around here sometimes,” says Edith.

Which is why Edith is dreading this coming construction season.

“I’m not looking forward to it, but sometimes construction has to be done to make things move a little faster, and flow a little better,” Edith explains.

Some of the key projects include an $8.5 million pavement preservation project on North 19th Street, a rehabilitation project on 11 miles of Interstate 90 through Bozeman Pass, and the addition of a crosswalk and median on Oak Street near Gallatin High School. Additionally, the city will be connecting North 27th Street from Baxter to Cattail to reduce cut-through traffic in neighborhoods and redirect more traffic to North 19th.

“This is definitely a heavy year for us” explains Nick Ross.

Ross, the Director of Transportation and Engineering for the City of Bozeman, says this year, more than $26 million has been invested in 12 capital construction projects. That money? Coming from a mix of grants, Impact Fees paid by development, and city assessments paid by residents.

“On the street side, we are really making a commitment this year to a lot of transportation safety projects,” says Ross.

Three safety projects: adding a crosswalk and median on Oak Street near Gallatin High, as well as completing construction of a bike safety project on Black Avenue. Another major project – connecting north 27th from Baxter to Cattail.

“To make that connection and have a more direct path that prevents some cut-throughs in the neighborhoods, and then also pushing more traffic onto North 19th," says Ross.

Repaving of South 19th from Main Street to Kagy Boulevard will also take place this summer, but don’t worry, that construction won't take place until the North 19th construction has ended.

Along with roadway construction, there will be a number of utility renovation and replacements, in Bozeman’s sewer mains, water mains, and storm mains. As well as adding the riverside community onto Bozeman’s waste water system, removing their lagoon treatment system.

As for Nick, he acknowledges the challenges and asks for the public's patience.

"We certainly understand however the great thing about southwest Montana is that our construction season is very short. So we appreciate everybody's patience," he said.

For more information on this summer’s construction, Nick tells me the city has updated their projects page, which can be accessed here: https://www.bozeman.net/departments/transportation-engineering/transportation-and-engineering-projects