Businesses, Glacier, talk Sun Road solutions

Glacier National Park is looking to ease visitor pressure on the Going-to-the-Sun Road, and it listened to Canyon and Columbia Falls business owners on ways to do just that during a meeting last week.

Business owners said there's plenty the Park can do to help their bottom line, but whether it would ease congestion in Glacier remains to be seen. The Park recently released preliminary draft alternatives on ways it thinks it could ease traffic along the Sun Road.

Two alternatives call for a timed entry into the Park, which would control the amount of traffic in and out of the Park. Business owner Stacey Schnebel said that would be highly problematic for visitors as they'd have no guarantee they could get in the Park.

"It's so unpredictable," she said.

Deputy Park superintendent Kym Hall noted that if the Park went that route, it would have to completely redesign the entrance stations. Even Park staff had reservations about whether such a system would work, but Washington offices directed Park staff to put the option in the document.

Schnebel was also concerned about alternative five in the plan, which calls for an "adaptive management" strategy, where certain crowd control measures would be implemented as traffic ramps up. That alternative has the same element of unpredictability, Schnebel maintained. In the end, maybe the Park simply has to become more accommodating, she suggested.

"More shuttles, more bikes and more parking, and businesses would be really happy," she said.

Much of the discussion centered around the Park's free shuttle system. The Park initially proposed charging a fee to ride the shuttles, but Washington offices said that couldn't be done because the Park already includes the shuttle cost in every entrance fee. Charging twice for the shuttle service was considered "fee layering," Hall said.

So why not charge for the shuttle without including it in the entrance fee?

"History has shown ridership goes down," Park planner Mary Riddle said.

At the same time, the free shuttle has proven so popular that some trails in the Sun Road corridor are overcrowded, and wait lines for shuttles are so long that people decide to drive their cars, which adds to congestion on the highway.

Riddle noted a private company tried implementing a shuttle system in the Park years ago and lost money on it. An entrance fee increase expected later this year will address at least some of the shuttle's costs, Park officials said.

The proposed corridor plan will likely keep intact a ban on overnight and long-term parking in certain areas along the Sun Road. People staying at backcountry chalets or campgrounds often leave their vehicles at trailheads at least overnight and sometimes for days, taking up valuable parking spots at places like the Loop and Logan Pass.

A shuttle service outside the Park could also be a future business opportunity, with parking and a shuttle to Glacier Park. A Whitefish group will operate a shuttle from Whitefish to Glacier Park this summer.

Business owners also want to see the Park Service and the Forest Service work together more on the matter. The Flathead National Forest could help absorb some of the overcrowding in Glacier if Forest Service trails were better maintained and more commercial opportunities like guiding were available, they said.

Bob Jordan of Wild River Adventures took note of the larger problem - the world's human population has doubled since he started in business more than 30 years ago. He was happy to see Glacier Park was at least listening to businesses.

"A lot of us for many years felt sort of like a nuisance," he said.

Business has the same problem as the Park, Jordan said, and he felt their dilemma.

"We share the same challenges," he said. "Everyone comes at once."