Paving offers new options for mountain road

Blacktail Mountain’s staying power through all four seasons may be getting a significant boost over the next few years.

A pair of federal grants to pave the 14-mile, mostly dirt road leading to the top of the mountain could provide some relief to the ski area, which currently takes in the lion’s share of its revenue from skiers and snowboarders.

“If we had a paved road, that would be a game-changer for summer activities,” Blacktail ski area general manager Steve Spencer said. “The program is designed to improve access to recreation on federal lands; not just the ski area but the cross-county ski trails, hiking trails, the nationally recognized off-road vehicle trail, and because of that the Blacktail trails came to the top of the list.”

The grants are part of the Federal Lands Access Program, administered by the Federal Highway Administration. Flathead National Forest was awarded $1.2 million for the first grant, with Flathead County chipping in a 14 percent match in the form of asphalt worth approximately $170,000. About 3.5 miles of the road is already paved, with another two miles to be added this summer as the first phase of the project.

“The Forest Service is trying to prioritize some of our high-value tourism and recreational roads,” said Gary Danczyk, a staff officer for Flathead National Forest. “Recreation over the last couple decades in this area has become a four-season occupation for visitors and tourists alike, and Blacktail is a great example of that.”

A second grant, for $5 million, will pay for phase two of the project, which includes at least two additional miles of paved road. Dave Prunty, Flathead County’s roads manager, noted that stretch will be more expensive, and work farther up the mountain is possible if some of the grant money is still left over.

“The first two miles is really just taking a gravel road and turning it into a paved road with improved drainage. Phase two has some more intense engineering issues to deal with,” he said.

According to Danczyk, Flathead Forest is still looking into the possibility of paving the road all the way to the top of the mountain, but is still evaluating the construction impact to important cutthroat trout drainages, including Stoner Creek. He said a fish passage could be part of the final plan.

“We believe that we are on a three-year path to complete our environmental analysis on the remainder of the road, to determine if we’re going to pave to the top, or just to the forest boundary,” he said, adding that the agency must also determine the potential environmental impacts of increased recreation from the improved access.

“One of the concerns from some folks is we’re going to change the rustic nature of the area and add more visitors than they’re comfortable with, and people will be speeding up the road. We’re working closely with federal highways and the county to make sure we’re doing this in a safe way,” Danczyk said.

Construction bids for the phase one contract are due May 12, and Prunty expects at least an additional month before construction begins. The work could conclude as early as August, with at least one lane open to traffic in the construction zone in the meantime.

“If the construction closes the road, it’s for a very small duration, 15 minutes to a half hour,” he added.

As part of the agreement, the county will also take over maintenance duties for Blacktail Road, with Flathead Forest compensating by handling maintenance of county roads connecting national forest lands in the area.

Blacktail Road starts out as a county road, turning into a federal easement after the currently paved portion ends, then becomes a Forest Service road the rest of the way to the top.

Dancyk said that the project has participation from multiple agencies, including the state and federal transportation departments and the Federal Aviation Administration, which still runs a communication center on the mountain and helps with plowing costs in the winter.

“This is a good example of where I think federal, state and local road projects of this nature are going to go in the future,” he said. “Even the Washington office is observing a project like this to see how [we] can make this work and what lessons we can use to do more like this in the future.”