New Proposal to Connect Highway 3 to the Billings West End is Too Expensive

After Zimmerman Trail was closed for a couple months this year, there's been a lot of talk about building a new road to connect Highway 3 to the Billings West End.  Last night, a meeting was held to discuss possible solutions and here are some of the highlights.

Some folks suggested that Zimmerman Trail should be widened to four lanes and the steepness should be decreased from a 5 percent grade.

Another group argued that we'd be better off digging a tunnel through the Rimrocks and constructing a new road.  Of  course, both proposals included a plan for bike trails and walk ways because we can't build anything with a bike trail these days.

What wasn't mentioned was how they plan to pay for these projects.  Here's what Mark and Paul think:  There's no way we can pick up the tab for a $100 million project like constructing a new tunnel.  Paul would like to have a new granite island in his kitchen, but he can't afford it right now.  Same goes for building a tunnel.

And don't even get us started about the environmental hoopla a project like that would stir up.  Every granola eating tree hugger in the state would be protesting that road.

As for rebuilding Zimmerman Trail, just imagine how long that process will take.  When Zimmerman was closed for 2 months, some people nearly lost their minds.  A massive rebuilding project will defeat the very purpose it's intended for, which is to make it easier to get from one end of the town to the other.

And is it really that bad now?  Sure, you may have been inconvenienced when the trail was closed.  But somehow, you managed to survive.  If permanently closing the Trail was the worst thing that could happen, then we'll just have to take a few extra minutes and drive up Rimrock Road. All things considered, that would still be better than another insanely expensive tax payer funded project.  We have enough of those already.