Helena Still Eyeing Roundabouts; Drivers Still Eyeing Helena

Tue, 05 May 2026 07:00:00 -0600

The City of Helena announced this week that it is continuing to explore the possibility of installing roundabouts at several major intersections, a process that has now been underway for longer than some of those intersections have existed.

“We’re still in the exploratory phase,” said Helena Public Works director Gail Torrence. “We want to make sure the community is ready.”

The community, by all available evidence, is not ready.

A public comment period last fall yielded 340 responses, 312 of which included the phrase “I don’t know how to drive in a roundabout” or some grammatical variation thereof. Seventeen respondents suggested the city install traffic lights instead. Eleven suggested the city “leave it alone.” One respondent submitted a hand-drawn diagram of what they called a “square-about,” which was a four-way stop.

Student Pilot Lands Cessna in Helena Field, Receives Less Attention Than Helena's Potholes

Sat, 02 May 2026 11:00:00 -0600

An 18-year-old student pilot safely landed a Cessna 172 in a field south of Helena Tuesday after her engine failed at 4,500 feet, an act of extraordinary composure that was briefly the lead story on Montana news before being displaced by a discussion about road maintenance funding.

Makayla Jensen, a senior at Capital High School and student at Helena Aviation Academy, was on a solo cross-country training flight when the engine quit approximately twelve minutes after takeoff. She identified a suitable field, executed a textbook emergency landing, and walked away without injury.

Helena on The Bozeman Daily Bee

Helena Still Eyeing Roundabouts; Drivers Still Eyeing Helena

Student Pilot Lands Cessna in Helena Field, Receives Less Attention Than Helena's Potholes