East Helena still awaiting federal review for Valley Drive project

East Helena drivers are still waiting for the city’s Valley Drive rebuild to move beyond paperwork, even as potholes, school traffic and daily commuter delays continue on one of the area’s busiest routes.

The city won a little over $10 million, about $10.2 million, in federal RAISE funding for Valley Drive in June 2024, promising a wider road and upgrades that could include a walking path, bike lane, curb gutters, storm drains and better crosswalks. Nearly two years later, no work has begun on the city-funded portion, and officials say the project remains in the federal highways legal review phase.

Mayor Kelly Harris said the grant process has three main steps and the Valley Drive project is in the second one. “We’re working through that process every day,” Harris said.

That slow pace stands in sharp contrast to the pressure on the road itself. Montana Department of Transportation data show more than 4,000 cars use Valley Drive each day, and two schools sit on the corridor: Prickly Pear Elementary School and East Helena High School. East Helena Public Schools Superintendent Dan Rispens said safer access matters because nearly 2,000 students travel to school each day and parents and students use multiple campuses along the route.

City officials say they know Valley Drive needs attention now, even if the major reconstruction is still pending. Harris said, “We try and patch the potholes,” adding, “We could do some major patching, but that would seem wasteful to tear it up afterwards, after we patched it now.”

The county’s part of the corridor is already complete. Lewis and Clark County began its Valley Drive Reconstruction Project on June 8, 2023, after nearly three years of planning and design, and finished the work in late August as scheduled. That segment covered about one-half mile from Plant Road to Canyon Ferry Road, with bridge widening completed in March before reconstruction wrapped up. County project pages still describe the roadway as a two-phased reconstruction coordinated with the City of East Helena, with the city handling improvements from Plant Road south to Lewis Street.

The delay matters more in a city that keeps adding people. Habitat for Humanity has a project aimed at bringing more than 1,500 new homes to East Helena, and Helena Area Habitat for Humanity’s Jacob Kuntz said the federal investment could help the city scale infrastructure to match that growth. The Greater Helena Metropolitan Planning Organization, which includes East Helena, Lewis and Clark County, Helena and MDT, helps coordinate transportation planning across the region.

For now, city leaders say they hope to start work in the summer of 2028. Until then, Valley Drive remains a daily test of patience for families, school buses and emergency responders moving through a fast-growing part of Lewis and Clark County.