Billings, Montana

On June 20, 2010 (Father's Day), [[2010 Billings tornado|a tornado]] touched down in the downtown core and Heights sections of Billings. The [[MetraPark Arena]] and area businesses suffered major damage. In the 2010s, Eastern Montana and North Dakota experienced an energy boom due to the [[Bakken formation]], the largest oil discovery in U.S. history.<ref name="marketwire.com" /><ref name="wallstreet-online.de" />

On June 20, 2010 (Father's Day), [[2010 Billings tornado|a tornado]] touched down in the downtown core and Heights sections of Billings. The [[MetraPark Arena]] and area businesses suffered major damage. In the 2010s, Eastern Montana and North Dakota experienced an energy boom due to the [[Bakken formation]], the largest oil discovery in U.S. history.<ref name="marketwire.com" /><ref name="wallstreet-online.de" />

The 2010's brought steady growth to nearly every neighborhood and all directions.

Downtown Billings has several new mid- and high-rise developments in the works, something that hasn't happened since Montana's tallest building was finished in 1983. By 2030, the amount of vertical space could at least double, with construction of a new 14-floor regional hospital, a 7-floor Marriott hotel with rooftop dining (a first in the city), a 12-floor mixed use tower with apartments above two floors of retail/office space. Additionally, multiple prime lots are currently in development talks, former homes to fast food restaurants and parking lots.

Major transportation upgrades include a new scenic six-mile road with a separate pedestrian path completed in 2024 called Skyway Drive winding through the pine forest, hills and sandstone north of the Yellowstone Valley, where most of the city lies. This was badly needed, as available land suited for lower density residential development has nearly ‘run out” in the valley, where urban sprawl competes with some of the most fertile land in the country. Where the new road was built, there is mostly sagebrush covered hills with scattered pine forest, more suitable for building. This road is part of a loop around the city that should be complete by 2027. The I-90 freeway will be widened to three lanes from Laurel, Montana at the west to Lockwood at the east, where a new interchange and bridge over the Yellowstone River will connect Lockwood to Billings Heights via the new Billings Bypass. This will connect to Skyway Drive, which will link Billings Heights to the sprawling West End. Perhaps the most dramatic of all the new growth is the sudden revitalization of the area between downtown and Billings Heights, historically the most overlooked—The Billings Industrial Revitalization District, or BIRD. Infrastructure has been thoroughly updated with stylish street lamps, bike lanes, and busy one-way arteries are being converted to two-way in order to slow traffic and make the area more appealing for residents and pedestrians. Recently several dozen murals have been added to the sides of buildings sprinkled through the area. Growth has been slow, as the area struggles to transform itself from the run-down area people raced through to get somewhere else, to becoming a colorful and diverse destination neighborhood. Recent developments include the Old Town Flats, the first major residential new-build in the city's core for decades, and where Montana Avenue ends, million dollar condos have taken over a meat packing plant.

As of 2025, each of Montana's seven largest cities is growing much faster than the national average, an unprecedented phenomenon that has rendered much of the more populated areas of the state unrecognizable for many, when compared to the early 2000's. Montana and Billings have officially been “discovered.” Billings comfortably remains the largest, with a new motto: “Montana’s City,” but Bozeman and Missoula are experiencing explosive growth.

==Geography==

==Geography==