MDT seeks comments on I-15 fencing proposal near Helena

Montana Department of Transportation asked for public comment June 22 on a proposal to replace highway fence on both sides of Interstate 15 for about 24 miles north and south of Helena. The project reaches from the Lewis and Clark and Jefferson county line to near the mouth of Wolf Creek Canyon, putting drivers, ranch land and nearby neighborhoods in the Helena area in the footprint of the work.

The fencing proposal is still in the planning stage. MDT said the project would move ahead only after design and funding are finalized, giving landowners and regular I-15 users a chance to weigh in before any construction schedule is set.

For commuters, freight traffic and people traveling between Helena, East Helena and the wider I-15 corridor, the change could alter how the highway edge looks and functions. Interstate fencing shapes roadside safety, wildlife movement, access points and maintenance needs, and on this stretch it runs through country where the freeway sits close to homes, ranching land and recreation areas. That makes the proposal relevant not just to Helena drivers, but to anyone who uses the interstate for daily travel or to reach services across Lewis and Clark County and Jefferson County.

The comment period also comes after MDT’s recent work in the same corridor. The department began the I-15 Helena North pavement preservation project in June 2025, covering about 11 miles from the South Helena Interchange, Exit 190, near the Lewis and Clark and Jefferson county line to just north of the Lincoln Road Interchange, Exit 200. MDT said that project was completed in October 2025 after crews crack-sealed six interstate bridges and applied a scrub seal to the pavement.

MDT’s spring 2025 STIP materials say public comments are considered in departmental decision-making, and the agency’s corridor planning documents for this part of Montana emphasize access, mobility, emergency services and regional planning needs. That makes the fencing proposal part of a larger pattern of Interstate 15 work around Helena, where even a routine infrastructure project can affect how people move, how land is accessed and how the highway corridor is managed over time.