• East Belgrade I-90 Interchange

    A Growing Community

    This intersection helped a booming part of Montana

  • East Belgrade I-90 Interchange

    Many Stakeholders

    State, federal and local governments worked with citizens and private companies to come to a solution

  • East Belgrade I-90 Interchange

    Future Traffic Needs

    A study was completed to analyze growth and traffic needs for the area

  • East Belgrade I-90 Interchange

    Traffic calming

    The design team used several roundabouts to ensure traffic flow

  • East Belgrade I-90 Interchange

    Underpass to the Airport

    The design solution incorporated an underpass as the most efficient route to the airport

  • East Belgrade I-90 Interchange

    Working with the Airport

    The team worked hand-in-hand with the airport authority on this project

  • bozeman airport expansion and improvements

    Racetrack to the Airport

    The interchange exits create an easy route to the airport

  • bozeman airport expansion and improvements

    Increasing Business

    The approach to the airport met a need for one of Montana's busiest airports

  • East Belgrade I-90 Interchange

    A New Entrance

    Bozeman-Yellowstone International Airport has a brand new look

  • bozeman airport expansion and improvements

    New Signage

    The project provided new signage to make navigation easy to follow

  • East Belgrade I-90 Interchange

    In the Loop

    The loop makes returning to the facility easy to access

  • East Belgrade I-90 Interchange

    General Aviation

    One of the airport's busiest areas is the General Aviation hangars

East Belgrade I-90 Interchange

Belgrade, Montana
Award: Grand Prize – 2016 ACEC Montana Engineering Excellence Award

Throughout the last several decades, the City of Belgrade, Montana, and Gallatin County have experienced significant population growth. This influx caused traffic congestion in the heart of Belgrade at the four-way stop intersection and the westbound off-ramp was reaching the saturation point. Emergency service providers were frequently blocked by trains as there were no grade-separated crossings in Belgrade.

Increased traffic was not the only issue facing local leaders; there had been strong growth at Bozeman Yellowstone International Airport (BYIA) since the mid-1970s. BYIA enplaned 500,011 passengers in 2015 and was named the ninth busiest airport in the northwest mountain region.

Morrison-Maierle prepared a study that evaluated future traffic conditions and intersection operations, and identified alternative interchange configurations.

Working with the Montana Department of Transportation (MDT) staff, Morrison-Maierle and its multi-disciplinary team of designers proposed a $16.4 million compressed diamond (dog-bone) interchange that included a new crossroad and connections, reconstruction of old Highway 10, two interstate bridges, a railroad shoofly and underpass structure, two-lane roundabouts at the proposed interchange ramp terminals, intersection signalization and street lighting, and extensive storm drainage improvements. In addition, improvements to the access roadways at BYIA were carefully coordinated between the two owners—MDT and the Gallatin Airport Authority. Balancing two projects at once, Morrison-Maierle used an accelerated design development plan for this project.