The City of Missoula, in cooperation with the Montana Department of Transportation (MDT) and the FHWA, initiated an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) in 2001 to evaluate alternatives to address the current and projected safety and mobility concerns on Russell Street and South 3rd Street. The Draft EIS (DEIS) alternatives include 3-lane and 5-lane cross-sections with traffic signals, single and multilane roundabouts, and access control along the 1.5-mile corridor. In response to public comments on the DEIS, the City requested a Traffic Analysis Update be completed for the Russell Street section of the DEIS.

KAI completed the Traffic Analysis Update, which included three project stages. Stage 1 involved developing a data collection plan, field visit, existing field measurements for calibration of the analysis models, and future year 2035 traffic volumes for the corridor using the TransCAD model. Stage 2 involved analyzing the DEIS alternatives for traffic operations, safety, and multimodal level of service. This analysis included developing a Synchro model, analyzing roundabouts using the procedure from the Draft 2010 HCM, analyzing safety using the procedures in the AASHTO Highway Safety Manual, and analyzing the multimodal level of service using the Draft 2010 HCM procedures to assess performance of pedestrian, bicyclist, and transit modes on the corridor. Stage 3 included the development of a VISSIM micro-simulation model for two scenarios and a final report. This project was completed in 6 months.