The City of Helena is applying for a $4 million federal grant to plan for a tunnel under the Montana Avenue railroad crossing.

“I am so excited about this,” City Commissioner Emily Dean said at a Sept. 18 administrative meeting. Her fellow commissioners echoed her, saying an underpass would be a boon for Helenan quality of life.

The money is officially called the Railroad Crossing Elimination Grant, and it comes through the Federal Railroad Administration.

If Helena gets the funds, it’ll be used to plan an underpass beneath the Montana Avenue railroad crossing and transform Malfunction Junction — the turbulent five-way intersection at Montana, Lyndale and Helena Avenues — into a two-lane roundabout.

A train rolls through the Montana Avenue crossing in a file photo from 2017. 

Specifically, it’ll fund preliminary engineering and environmental review of the projects. Already, the city expects the change to lessen the city’s carbon footprint with less idling emissions from waiting cars, city documents said.

Assuming the city of Helena receives the grant and sees no significant delays, it could expect the underpass to be added in five years.

Part of the grant’s requirements would be price matching $800,000 from local funds, which the city, Montana Department of Transportation and Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway agreed to split. That puts a $266,666 charge on Helena.

The Montana Avenue crossing has been a point of concern for years, Mayor Wilmot Collins pointed out in a letter of support for the grant application.

Two lanes of a cars are halted by a train on Montana Avenue. The image is a reflection of a rearview mirror.

Montana Avenue is one of the most frequently driven roads in the city, averaging over 14,000 daily trips and splitting schools, workplaces, medical centers and homes, he said. Train crossings both interrupt daily commute and risk delays for emergency responders. Both of the city's fire stations are south of the tracks.

Beyond reducing risk of delays, an underpass would boost pedestrian and bicyclist safety, he said.

Some complaints received by the Independent Record allege train crossings lasting over 30 minutes.

“Our business and our customers depend on BNSF to keep our trains moving,” BNSF spokesperson Kendall Sloan said in an email. “The crossing at Montana Avenue is in close proximity to our Helena rail yard. When crews are conducting switching operations, it can impact the crossing for longer than usual.”

Commuters are held up on Montana Avenue as a train passes through Helena. 

Transportation Systems Director David Knoepke recommended the city hold off its plans on extending Centennial Trail, which would provide easier pedestrian crossing on Bozeman Street, until they heard back on the grant.

Because the Centennial Trail project targets the same core issue of Malfunction Junction’s awkward crossing, he wouldn’t want to needlessly spend $600,000-800,000, he said.

The Montana Department of Transportation announced a proposal to upgrade the pedestrian railroad crossings on Benton Avenue. Proposed improvements include installing new railroad crossing gates, upgrades to the existing curbwalks, and connecting Centennial Trail to the trail on North Benton Avenue.