Park official worried about road funding

The end of reconstruction on the Going-to-the-Sun Road is near, but a Glacier National Park official is worried there might not be enough funding to finish the last stretch of highway.

The reconstruction project is entering its sixth year and has cost about $130 million to date. This spring and summer, crews will be working on the west side from Avalanche Creek to the Logan Pit. On the east side, they’ll be working on nine miles of road from Siyeh Bend to Rising Sun. Federal budget sequestration did not impact reconstruction funds.

In 2015, the plan is to reconstruct the last of the east side of the road from Rising Sun to St. Mary. But after that, the funding outlook becomes a bit murky, Park landscape architect Jack Gordon said.

“If we don’t get additional funding, we’re a bit worried,” Gordon said last week during a public meeting in Kalispell.

That murky funding would cover the last stretch from West Glacier to Avalanche Creek. While that part of the Sun Road doesn’t have the intricate detail and special difficulties encountered on the alpine section, it is long — 16.4 miles. If funding comes through, the Park hopes to have the entire project done by 2016 or early 2017.

This year will mark the end to construction in the alpine section of the highway. By this fall, motorists on the west side should be able to drive to Logan Pass without any traffic delays, as the reconstruction from Avalanche to the Logan Pit should be completed in August or early September. Crews from HK Construction are working on the road four days a week from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Most of the Sun Road reconstruction started in 2007, when HK Construction was awarded the contract. Originally funded by a federal highway bill, the project saw an additional earmark of $50 million garnered by Sen. Max Baucus.

With Sun Road funding by then totaling about $82 million, federal stimulus money in 2009 boosted the project by an additional $27.6 million. The latest round of funding came from a two-year highway bill passed in 2012.

Baucus said during a recent meeting in Kalispell that one of his priorities before he retires in 2014 is to pass another highway bill.

The Sun Road project is very close to meeting its original cost estimates. The environmental impact statement for the project estimated the work would cost about $180 million. The Park now estimates completion costs between $150 million and $170 million.

This year, the earliest the road will open in its entirety will be June 21. The east side will close to Logan Pass on Sept. 23, while the west side will close to Logan Pass on Oct. 20, weather permitting.

The reconstruction project utilized more removable guardrail on the road’s 70 avalanche chutes. Made of crash-tested timbers, crews have to unbolt them from the road each fall and then re-bolt them each spring.

When asked if there were any plans to widen the road in the alpine section as vehicles, particularly trucks, keep getting wider, Park officials said no, it would be cost prohibitive. But the Park may have to revisit its vehicle width and length requirements, as it is becoming a problem.