Transportation

With a gross density of 6.2 people per square mile (compared to 80.5 nationally), Montana is a state with compact cities and towns (where most of its people live), and vast areas of open lands. Transportation choices made by Montanans over the next decade could have a profound effect on the future of the state’s cities and towns, and on its landscape.

America West Express will begin a daily, non-stop flight between Kalispell and Phoenix in June, the airline said Wednesday.

A $29 million runway upgrade allowing planes to take off and land in virtually all weather conditions could boost the Great Falls airport as a potential site for a whole new set of businesses, development officials say.

Frontier Airlines is returning to Billings. Beginning May 23 the Denver-based airline is adding two daily flights to Billings Logan International Airport. Frontier’s regional jet service called Frontier JetExpress will fly 70-seat CRJ-700 planes to…

"Big Sky’s long history of service to Montana, together with its proposed fair structure, code-sharing agreements, and connecting hub in Billings make it the ideal carrier to serve Montana’s rural passengers," said U.S. Rep. Denny Rehberg, R-Mont., in announcing the decision Monday.

SkyWest Airlines, a subsidiary of SkyWest Inc., said Tuesday it has been selected by the U.S. Department of Transportation to provide seasonal "essential air service" to West Yellowstone, Mont., for the next two years. http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,590039072,00.html…

A three-year-old program to get people out of their cars by offering communal cars by the hour appears to be gaining traction, according to a recent University of California, Berkeley, study of the City CarShare program.

In the very near future, a fixed bus route for the city of Hamilton will become a reality.

"Bombardier understands trains, airplanes, snowmobiles," Wardle said. "They don’t have the car industry’s need to make things out of pressed steel and glass. The next innovations will come from those companies that are far more flexible and liberal-thinking about how to make things."

"Missoula’s been a good market and if they see an opportunity to gain some market share they will,"