Many Glacier Road work on schedule

Work on the Many Glacier Road went well through the summer with a total of 59 culverts inside Glacier National Park being completely replaced.

With no traffic due to the east side of the park being shut down because of the coronavirus pandemic, crews haven’t had to worry about starting and stopping work for vehicle traffic.

Right now, they’re finishing up ground work on the parking lot at the hotel, noted project manager Kris Anderson of Missouri River Contractors of Helena.

A crew of 12 workers spent the summer on the project, with eight of them being locals, Anderson noted. The contract is for just over $18.2 million.

He said the project is on schedule to be completed next year. The one delay has come with rip-rap and other work on the shoreline of Lake Sherburne because the water level is too high.

The lake is typically a trickle this time of year, but because of work on the St. Mary irrigation project, little water has been let out of the dam.

When completed, most of the road and the parking lot at the hotel will have the same look as it did previously.

Most of the work is under the road surface, where drainage has been improved in an effort to keep the road from slumping.

The one big change in the road is a 380-foot retaining wall at sheep’s curve, where a wall didn’t exist previously. The wall is done in stone masonry like the Going-to-the-Sun Road.

All told, about 12 miles of road are being reconstructed, including portions outside the park to the town of Babb.

In the event the east side reopens next year, folks should be prepared for traffic delays, as the project won’t be completed until November.

Visitors should expect travel delays up to 40 minutes each way from Babb to the Many Glacier Hotel, with even longer delays at night.

The road will also see a complete closure in 2021 the spring from April 1 to May 16 and in the fall from Sept. 20 to Dec. 16.