Highway bill needed for Sun Road project

Sen. Jon Tester recently re-emphasized the need for Congress to pass a long-term highway funding bill, as important road projects hang in the balance, including reconstruction of the Going-to-the-Sun Road in Glacier National Park

“We needed to pass it two months ago,” he said.

The current highway bill is an extension of previous funding measures and will expire at the end of this month.

“No more extensions,” Tester said.

Park Service contractor HK Construction is expected to wrap up $21 million of reconstruction work this year on the east side of the Sun Road from Siyeh Bend to St. Mary.

The focus of Sun Road reconstruction is expected to shift back to the west side next year, as crews will begin working on the Sun Road from West Glacier to Avalanche Creek.

Original plans called for spending $24 million on the work for the last six miles, but the Park Service only has about $8 million left if no more federal highway dollars are forthcoming, the Park Service said last year. That work is scheduled to be completed by 2017.

All told, Sun Road reconstruction has cost about $140 million to date. There has been a patchwork of funding over the years.

It initially kicked off in 2005 when Sen. Max Baucus inserted a $50 million earmark for the road in a federal highway bill.

Coupled with $32 million in Park Service allocations, the project was well underway. In 2009, the project received $27.6 million in federal stimulus funding from Congress as the nation entered the recent recession.

Completing the Sun Road project could prove difficult if Congress doesn’t pass a highway bill. President Obama has released a highway funding plan that uses taxes from corporations’ overseas profits.

Others have called for raising the 18.4 cents per gallon federal gas tax. The tax once paid for highway infrastructure, but it’s fallen short in recent years with people driving more fuel-efficient cars and driving less.

Continuing road construction on the east side of the Sun Road means the full length of the road won’t be open to motor vehicles until June 19 at the earliest. In the past, however, the Park Service has made Logan Pass accessible from the west side while crews worked on the east side.