About 3.7 miles north of Stevensville, just south of Wildfowl Lane and Moiese Lane, the Eastside Highway enters six miles that the Montana Department of Transportation plans to rebuild almost from scratch. Today Secondary 203 is 24 feet wide there. It has two 90-degree bends, one at Rathbun Lane and one at Ambrose Creek Road. The finished road will be 44 feet wide. It will have a center turn lane, a long sweeping curve at Rathbun, and a roundabout at Ambrose Creek.
MDT has been promising that road for a while, and the start date has moved several times. On October 8, MDT opened contractor bids on the project, which puts a price on it. The price, and the paperwork after it, also point to 2027 as the year this drive actually changes.
Four Bids on October 8
MDT opened bids on the North of Stevensville–North project at its October 8, 2026 bid opening, listed as contract 03926, UPN 6138000, Missoula District, Ravalli County. Four contractors bid, and MDT published the amounts in its as-read bid report.
| Bidder | As-read amount | Compared with the engineer's estimate |
|---|---|---|
| Engineer's estimate | $21,088,242.05 | baseline |
| Schellinger Construction Co., Inc. | $22,229,482.55 | about $1.14 million higher |
| M.A. DeAtley Construction, Inc. | $23,952,853.15 | about $2.86 million higher |
| LHC, Incorporated | $24,222,084.31 | about $3.13 million higher |
| Knife River Corporation, Missoula | $25,676,558.09 | about $4.59 million higher |
All four bids came in above MDT's own estimate. The lowest, from Schellinger, was about 5.4 percent over. The gap between the lowest and highest bids is close to $3.45 million. Contractors clearly priced this job in different ways. It includes a roundabout, a realigned curve, new drainage, and flatter roadside slopes along six miles.
An as-read report lists bids as they were opened. It does not award the contract. As of mid-October, MDT's awarded bid packages index listed 2026 bid openings only through September 17, so the October 8 package had not yet been posted there as awarded. Schellinger is the low bidder. Until MDT posts an award, it is not yet the contractor.
That matters for one reason. MDT has tied the construction schedule to getting a contractor on board.
The Start Date Has Moved Four Times
MDT's project updates page keeps every past update. Read in order, they show how the start date moved:
- February 21, 2025. Final design was underway. Utility relocation was set to start in spring 2025, and full construction was "still scheduled to begin in 2026."
- May 2025. Utility relocation was expected to start that summer, with right-of-way work done by July 2025. Construction was tentatively set for spring 2026.
- October 2025. Construction was set for summer 2026, across two seasons in 2026 and 2027. MDT held a pop-up booth on October 22 outside Super 1 Foods on Stevensville Cutoff Road.
- February 2026. Utility work was still going, with tree clearing and new right-of-way stakes along the roadside. MDT said it expected no traffic impacts and asked people not to move or tamper with the stakes.
- July 2026. Active roadwork was "tentatively scheduled to begin this November, with minor operations." A contractor would be chosen in early fall, and "major active construction won't be underway until 2027."
The plan started as a full build beginning in spring 2026. It is now minor work, maybe in November, with the heavy construction in 2027. The October 2025 plan spread construction over two building seasons, and the first of those seasons has largely passed without heavy work. The July update also says the phasing plan and construction schedule will be set and shared after the contractor is on board.
So the bid opening was the step everything else was waiting on. It happened in the second week of October, just about at the end of "early fall."
What the November Window Can Hold
As this post goes up, November starts Sunday. MDT's most recent posted word on November is the July update, which calls it tentative and limited to "minor operations." That same update says the phasing plan and construction schedule will be shared with the public once a contractor is on board.
The project needs an award first, then a contractor phasing plan, then a public schedule. That is a lot to finish before the ground freezes. Any November work will likely look like the work already happening along this stretch: utility crews and roadside prep. The two-lane road will stay mostly as it is through winter.
The full reconstruction is a much bigger job. The project overview describes it this way:
- Width. From 24 feet to a 44-foot top width: two 12-foot travel lanes, a 12-foot center two-way left-turn lane, and two 4-foot shoulders.
- Rathbun Lane. The 90-degree bend is replaced by a large-radius curve.
- Ambrose Creek Road. The 90-degree bend is replaced by a four-legged roundabout.
- Roadside. Flatter slopes, reworked ditches, upgraded drainage, and a revised vertical alignment.
- Finishing work. New pavement markings, signs, delineators, and rumble strips.
- Not included. A graded platform for a future shared-use path.
The overview also says the project needs "extensive right-of-way acquisition and utility relocation." That explains the long run-up. The stakes and tree clearing people saw along the road in early 2026 were preparation for a road almost twice as wide as the current one.
The Roundabout Gets a Detour First
The most specific clue about what 2027 will look like comes from the contractor bid materials, not the public updates. On October 1, a contact at LHC asked a question on MDT's contractor question-and-answer forum about topsoil on the "roundabout detour." MDT pointed to a detour summary on sheet 38 of the plans. It said 1.1 acres of revegetation had been counted for that detour, and that the cost is included in the line item to construct, maintain, and remove the detour.
In plain terms, the plans include a temporary road built around the Ambrose Creek Road roundabout site while it goes in. It will be taken out and replanted afterward. MDT's answer also referred to a special provision for wetland revegetation where wetlands are disturbed by the detour.
When that detour opens, how long it stays, and how traffic moves through it will be set in the contractor's phasing plan, which MDT has said follows the contractor's selection. Of everything in the bid package, the Ambrose Creek intersection is the piece most likely to change the daily drive north.
The Stretch South of Florence Was Repaved First
The rebuild connects to a stretch of road that already got work this year. In June, MDT and Knife River, Inc. announced the separate Florence–East pavement preservation project. It runs from half a mile south of the 8 Mile Creek Road roundabout to the US 93 intersection. MDT projected it would finish by the end of August, weather permitting.
The North of Stevensville–North work zone ties into the Florence–East section that MDT built in 2014. When it is done, the Eastside Highway from Stevensville toward Florence will be built to a much more consistent standard than the current mix of rebuilt sections and the old 24-foot road with its sharp bends.
Where the Schedule Will Show Up
MDT has said construction details will come out as work gets closer, and that the phasing plan follows the contractor's start. These are the places to watch:
- The project hotline: 406-207-4484, staffed during business hours.
- Project email: Becca MacLean of Big Sky Public Relations, the listed project contact, at [email protected].
- Live conditions: MDT's 511 map, which the department points travelers to for closures and impacts.
- Comments: the project's comment page.
- The award: MDT's awarded bid packages index, where an October 8 entry would confirm the contractor.
Bid documents identify the project as STPS-HSIP 203-1(16)4. MDT's overview page still shows the earlier number, STPS 203-1(15)4. Searching by UPN 6138000 or the project name, North of Stevensville–North, finds both.
If you own land along this stretch of the Eastside Highway or are thinking about buying there, a six-mile widening is something to understand before you list or sign. That includes right-of-way lines, new access points, and where the roundabout will sit. Montana Homes by Jani knows this corridor well and can walk you through how the project affects a specific property. When you're ready, start with Get Your Instant Home Valuation.
