Bozeman Build #59

Hello and welcome back the 59th edition of the Bozeman Build Report discovering trade content from across the State of Montana and Northern Rockies. Hope everyone’s Easter weekend was stellar!

Last week around Montana, we found articles around housing price speculation, Noxious Weed Awareness Week, considering the split up of MT Health Department, energy bill increases for both WY and MT, proposed Styrofoam ban, Milk River water opportunity costs, MT and US wide hotel growth since 2019, workers comp changes, pop up construction demo for students, Montana passes bill allowing nuclear waste storage and processing, upcoming Missoula Forestry Days, many MDT updates and project starts, Kiewit Corp in Montana, Sherp vehicles, and Spud shipping. Near Bozeman, we heard about 19th Ave roadwork details, cavern tour dates, the Guthrie, two quantum computers at MSU, groundbreaking for new MSU PBS building, Belgrade Amazon is open, more Bozeman made computer components being launched into space, Big Sky projects, and rocks on the road. In the Northern Rockies, we briefly mentioned how the EIA projects max crude oil output by 2027, Yellowstone entrances open, and some weather.

Happy reading!

Daniel

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_{When and what is the Bozeman Build? The BB is a 1x/week free email newsletter delivered Monday mornings focused on Montana trade content and news. We are not a financial or building advisors.}

Montana and Bozeman Trade Pulse

Montana trade pulse

Apr 14, 2025 GREAT FALLS — Montana's housing market navigates a period of uncertainty in 2025, with rising home prices, shifting interest rates, and a fluctuating inventory. The decision to buy now or wait has become increasingly complex. "I hear my friends and people say, ‘I’m going to wait till next year when houses are cheaper.’ That’s not going to happen,” said Great Falls-based realtor and ReNeighborWorks Board of Directors President Jim Dea.He advocates for purchasing sooner rather than later, "I truly believe that houses will be 5 to 8% higher than they are this year; it’s not going to be cheaper." (KPAX)

April 14 2025 Join the Montana Department of Agriculture (MDA) in celebrating Montana’s Noxious Weed Awareness Week (MNWAW). This year, MNWAW will be celebrated Sunday, June 1, 2025 – Saturday, June 7, 2025. (AGR MT)

April 15, 2025 Committee tables bill to split health department Rep. John Fitzpatrick said Monday it’s time to break up the largest bureaucracy in the state. (Daily Montanan)

April 15th 2025 NorthWestern Energy announced Tuesday morning that it has reached a settlement agreement for its Montana electric and natural gas regulatory rate review with the Montana Consumer Counsel. According to a press release, a " typical natural gas residential customer using 65 therms per month would see a monthly bill increase of $4.74, or 9.14% from rates on July 1, 2024." (NBC Montana)

April 15th 2025 Montana Technological University will present the 2025 Early Impact Alumni Awards on campus on Wednesday, April 23, 2025. The awardees are Brianne McClafferty and Dr. Nick Gow. The Early Impact Alumni Award is given to Montana Technological University graduates who have already made a lasting impact on their community, Montana Tech, and their profession. (Mtech)

April 16, 2025 Montana legislators propose ban on Styrofoam in food businesses (Citizen Portal)

Apr 16, 2025 Montana Ag Network: The impact of the Milk River Project (Montana Ag Network)

• With 140,000 acres of farmland typically irrigated by the water flowing from the St. Mary Canal

• That brings the total projected loss to $33 million this summer if water access isn’t restored soon.

April 16 2025 Missoula County will receive $525,000 of grant funding through Commerce’s Community Development Block Grant Economic Development Program. The grant will be used to replace the roof at the Missoula Children’s Theater. (MT Commerce)

Apr 17, 2025 The Number of Montana Hotels Grows 9.1%, 15th Most in U.S. (KULR & Luxury Link)

• Change in the number of hotels (percentage): +9.1%

• Change in the number of hotels (total): +60

• Total hotels: 721

• Change in the number of hotel employees (percentage): +13.5%

• Change in the number of hotel employees (total): +1,658

• Total hotel employment: 13,919

• Among the nation’s largest metropolitan areas, the top five for hotel growth were located in Michigan, North Carolina, Georgia, and Kentucky. The Grand Rapids metro led all large metros with a 32.4% increase in hotels, followed by Charlotte (+24.0%), Raleigh (+23.6%), Atlanta (+22.0%), and Louisville (+21.7%). In contrast, four major metros with over one million residents saw net declines in hotel counts: Seattle (-6.2%), Hartford (-4.8%), Las Vegas (-3.1%), and Chicago (-0.4%).

April 18 2025 Montana’s unemployment rate fell slightly to 2.7% in March, marking the sixth consecutive month of unemployment below 3%. Today’s report marks Montana’s 45th consecutive month of unemployment at or below 3.4%. Montana’s unemployment rate was 1.5% lower than the national unemployment rate, which was 4.2% in March. (MT DLI)

Apr 18, 2025 Montana authorizes comp treatment changes - Gov. Greg Gianforte on Wednesday signed legislation allowing physician assistants and physical therapists to serve as injured workers treating physicians. (Business Insurance)

Apr 18, 2025 Missoula and Bitterroot Valley high school students take turns going up in a boom lift during a Montana Contractors Association a pop-up event in Missoula on Wednesday, April 16, 2025. The event allowed high school kids to try their hand at various types of construction. (KULR8)

Apr 19, 2025 HELENA — Two bills that could open the door for a nuclear energy industry in Montana have passed the legislature and are headed to the Governor’s desk. House Bill 623, sponsored by Rep. Gary Parry, R-Colstrip, allows for the creation of nuclear waste storage facilities. House Bill 676, also sponsored by Parry, allows for uranium enrichment and processing facilities to be built in the state. The standards set by the national Nuclear Regulatory Commission require nuclear plants to have a location to store their waste. (KBZK)

Friday, April 25 & 26 2025 Missoula Forestry Days. Celebrating the skill and bravery of those who work in the time honored tradition of logging. With everything from logging competitions to antique sawmill and horse logging demonstrations, this event has it all (forestrydays.com)

MDT News

Montana Department of Transportation News announced last week

• 4/14/2025 Work set to begin on I-90 between Bozeman and Livingston

• 4/14/2025 Proposed bridge replacement east of Conrad along Sollid Road

• 4/14/2025 Construction resumes on South of Missoula Bridge Preservation

• 4/15/2025 Pavement reconstruction resumes on westbound I-90 near Taft

• 4/16/2025 US 93: Post Creek Hill, Ninepipe area projects advancing

• 4/16/2025 Montana Transportation Commission Meeting will be heled on April 24th.

• 4/17/2025 Safety improvements begin at US 93 and Minesinger Trail/Reservoir Road intersection

• 4/18/2025 Missoula Area Median Cable Rail construction resuming

• 4/18/2025 Crews to begin striping activities on Reserve Street in Missoula

Kiewit Corp mentions a Montana safety story

Was scrolling Instagram and found a post by Kiewit Corp mentioning Montana. Kiewit isn’t new to Montana having completed projects around the State from the Thompson Falls Hydroelectric Powerhouse, Stillwater Mine Expansion, Salmon Lake Highway Reconstruction, to the MT 200 Bridges Lewistown Area which started last month. Super impressive portfolio of projects Omaha, Nebraska based Kiewit has tackled.

Sherp all-terrain vehicle

Spotted one of these Sherp outfits parked at a residence near Harrison, MT last week. On the website it mentions 55 HP max hp, 26 IN clearance, 25 MPH max speed, and 4 MPH max speed on water.

Spud shipment

Droned the loading of potatoes from storage into these huge chain bottom semi trailers. Will come out with a video in future weeks.

Bozeman trade pulse

Apr 14, 2025 North 19th Ave roadwork (KBZK)

• The $8.5 million pavement preservation project, which begins Monday.

• The project includes lane reconfiguration at the I-90 eastbound ramp intersection with an additional northbound through lane, plus dedicated turn lanes at the intersection of East Valley Center Road and North 19th Avenue, and from North 19th Avenue to eastbound I-90.

• Construction will take place on North 19th between the Interstate overpass and the intersection with Main Street. Crews will begin work near I-90 and progress southward, with the project expected to be completed around July 15.

• Construction hours will run from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. Sunday through Thursday

April 16th 2025 Last Tuesday, Bozeman City Commissioners voted to uphold the approval of the Guthrie. (NBC Montana)

Apr 17, 2025 Lewis & Clark Caverns State Park announces tours for 2025 season, opening May 1 (FWP)

Apr 17, 2025 The QCORE center now has two quantum computers, the first of their kind in the United States. A $26.7 million grant from the U.S. Air Force allowed QCORE to purchase two quantum computers, the first of their kind at any university in the U.S. (MSU Quantum Research)

April 17, 2025 Montana State University will welcome the public to a groundbreaking celebration for the planned expansion of Montana PBS on Tuesday, April 29, at 3 p.m. “In the six years since, Montana PBS has raised nearly $32 million. (MSU News)

18 April 2025 Virga Capital Announces Grand Opening of Home2 Suites by Hilton Bozeman Four Corners, MT (Hospitality Net)

April 18 2025 Governor Greg Gianforte joined U.S. Senators Steve Daines and Tim Sheehy, R-Montana, to cut the ribbon on Montana’s newest Amazon operational facility in Belgrade. The 50,000-square-foot warehouse is Amazon’s latest $27 million investment and third delivery site that supports Amazon’s “last-mile” delivery operations, receiving packages from larger regional fulfillment centers and sending them out for final delivery to customers within a 50-mile radius. (Governors Office)

April 18, 2025 BOZEMAN – An instrument designed and built at Montana State University to measure X-rays in solar flares is headed next week to the International Space Station, where it will spend the next year continuously measuring hard X-rays emitted by the sun as the ISS orbits Earth. The device is part of a 6,700-pound payload that will be carried by an unmanned SpaceX Dragon spacecraft on a Falcon 9 rocket. (MSU News)

Big Sky Work in Projects

I went skiing last Thursday and wanted to capture some of the newer builds taking place around the ski hill, let me know what’s missing, there’s too much to keep track of! See also Big Sky completed projects and Big Sky Future Projects

Also on the note of Big Sky, I heard some rumors floating around that Big Sky plans to shorten its ski season, I confirmed the rumors at bigskyresort.com/season-passes “Daily November 26, 2025 – April 12, 2026, with Friday-Sunday access April 17-26, conditions permitting.”

Rocks on the road

Hyalite Canyon road is closed every year from Early April-Mid May - every year there’s always a few boulders that roll their way onto the road. Read about the road closure dates at USDA Custer Gallatin

Northern Rockies

15 April 2025 US crude oil output is likely to hit a peak of 14 million barrels per day by 2027, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) said Tuesday in its Annual Energy Outlook. The US agency sees the nation’s output climbing each of the next two years before hitting the 14 million bpd mark in 2027 and holding steady through 2029. However, the EIA predicted US production will gradually decline before dipping below 13 million by 2035. (Upstream)

April 16, 2025 Rocky Mountain Power has another double-digit rate increase, adding another $14 to an average residential customer’s bill. The 10.2% rate increase, approved Tuesday by the Wyoming Public Service Commission, will draw an additional $85.5 million from consumers and is the latest in a string of double-digit rate increases. With this increase, Rocky Mountain Power has already caught up to and exceeded the almost 30% rate hike it had sought in 2023 but was partially denied. (Cowboy State Daily)

April 17, 2025 As international visitors stay away, Yellowstone tourism industry banks on Americans.

• Overseas travel to the U.S. nosedived 11.6% in March

• Moreover, at the South Entrance to the world’s first national park, the Jackson Hole Chamber of Commerce reports a dip in the 60-day outlook for already booked hotel rooms compared to 2024.

• At Yellowstone’s East Entrance near Cody, lodge owners have seen “a little bit of a drop,” in reservations

April 18, 2025 Yellowstone National Park opened two major roadways on April 18 and plans to open more in the coming weeks. The West Entrance at West Yellowstone is now open, as well as the road from Mammoth to Norris. (Wyoming Public Media)

April 18, 2025 Officials in politically red states Wyoming and Utah are talking about teaming up with Idaho to rely more on fossil fuels to meet future electricity demands. They could break from PacifiCorps and its base in politically blue West Coast states (Cowboy State Daily)

Montana Weather

History

Desert Inn Motel's second story addition - West Yellowstone. (MT History Portal)

See you next Monday in the 60th edition,

Daniel

bozemanbuild.com & blockbiome.com