Safety Plan Approved for Missoula’s Reserve Street

The busiest through street and intersection in the state of Montana could be heading for some major safety improvements in the years to come.

The Missoula Metropolitan Planning Agency is giving its approval to the Reserve Street Safety Plan, completing a multi-year effort to try to make the busy corridor safer.

Transportation Planner Aaron Wilson says the plan is an attempt to begin making improvements and preventing crashes and even fatalities.

"Speed is a challenge, especially speed combined with all of the intersecting streets and driveways, and turns. Typically, when you get to a street like Reserve, and you have those higher speeds, you want to start to control those accesses." -Missoula Transportation Planner Aaron Wilson

The four-tier plan would start with more steps to control the flow of traffic and pedestrians, to prevent conflicts and sometimes deadly crashes, based on thorough analysis.

Wilson says the plans attempted to answer several questions, based on hard data.

"What does the data tell us? What's happening out there? And then what are people experiencing, and what does that perspective tell us about, how we might approach safety?

     🚦 In addition to speed control, intersections like Reserve and Mullan could see improvements, depending on future funding.

Judge orders a stop to the Flathead dock

The battle over a long dock on Flathead Lake takes another turn, with the Flathead Beacon reporting a judge ordering further construction on the 159-foot dock in Lakeside.

Citizens for a Better Flathead convinced the judge that the project may violate the state's lakeshore rules. The county approved the dock last year.

Charges filed against man who opened fire in Missoula alley

A 23-year-old man is being charged with criminal endangerment and possession of drug paraphernalia after firing ten shots during a confrontation in a Missoula alley earlier this month.

Tyler Sisler-Mack was arrested after an extensive investigation by Missoula Police, with help from the FBI. Investigators say he's been involved in past gang activity.

Great Falls shooting investigated

Great Falls Police are sorting through details of that weekend shooting, where a family disturbance turned into something much more dangerous.

Sunday night, officers were called to the 600 block of 17th Avenue South, which became a critical incident as shots were fired. Fortunately, no one was killed, but one person was injured and taken to the hospital.

READ MORE: Man Arrested After Making School Threats

Prison time for Montana fentanyl smugglers

Five more defendants have been sentenced in that extensive federal drug investigation, part of a ring of 13-people prosecutors say were smuggling fentanyl from Arizona to Montana.

Monday, 37-year-old Sadie Cheryl Sawyer was sentenced to 48 months in prison, and Zane Nicholas Schafer was sentenced to 30 months. Tuesday, 52-year old Carrie Jean Bishop, 50-year old Spring Marie Davis, and 43-year old Diana Michelle Karnes were ordered to federal prison. Bishop will be locked up for more than 9-years.

All five had pleaded guilty. Prosecutors say the ring would mail and transport the drugs to Montana for local sale.

Can judges stay non-partisan?

Petition drives are underway to find support for a ballot measure that's the latest development in the ongoing debate of whether judges are non-partisan.

Traci Taylor has the details.