What: the City's downtown safety, access and mobility project on Higgins Avenue, which some residents call a "Higgins Avenue diet"; the City keeps a project page on its engagement website.
Where it stands: on 2026-09-21 Council passed the accounts payable claims, which included an expansion amount for work on the project, on a roll call of 8 yes, 1 no and 1 abstaining. The no vote came from Bob Campbell, who called it a bad project for downtown business; two members disclosed professional connections to a firm involved and one abstained.
Next: no further step known.
Details
The exact expansion amount and the project's final cost were not clearly audible in the transcript and are not recorded here.
Sources
Transcript of 2026-09-21 (City Council): Whisper speech-to-text, linked from the meeting page.
Public comment from a downtown business owner on the project: difficulty learning when the working group meets, a remaining gap of about seven million dollars over the federal grant, a planned spring construction start pending federal approvals, and a public open house expected in the fall. A Council member pointed to the City's Engage Missoula page for updates and design information.