Highway 2 paving might not happen this year

The U.S. Highway 2 construction through Columbia Falls is on schedule, but paving might not happen until next spring, representatives from Knife River Construction and the Montana Department of Transportation said recently.

Colder, wetter, weather as of late has slowed construction and crews need warmer temperatures to put down new asphalt.

They continue to work on sidewalks along the highway from North Hilltop through the city.

Currently crews are working on the south side of the road, but they expect to transition to the north side soon.

Traffic is restricted to one lane where crews are working on the sidewalks.

The paving could still happen this fall if the weather cooperates, noted Jason Livingston of MDT. Paving is a 24-hour process. A milling machine will grind up the surface and new asphalt will be put down behind it. Paving will occur at night.

If it doesn’t get done this fall, crews will wait until next May when the weather is better.

As an aside, the South Fork Bridge project is also on schedule.

There have been minimal traffic delays with the work, as traffic simply still uses the old South Fork bridge. That project is expected to be complete in the fall of 2018.