Sun Road now ready for traffic

The Daily Inter Lake

Summer gets under way today for Going-to-the-Sun Road and a new transit system in Glacier National Park.

Going-to-the-Sun Road will open in phases, interpretive specialist Bill Hayden said. The west side to Logan Pass will open before noon. Crews are still repairing storm damage on the east side, but visitors using the St. Mary entrance should see an open road by late afternoon or early evening, Hayden said.

The visitor center at Logan Pass will open as soon as staff can get there, he added.

The first shuttles depart from transit hubs at Apgar and St. Mary at about 7 a.m. Until the road is fully open, west-side shuttles will run to Avalanche Creek, Hayden said. East-side shuttles will go as far as the Gunsight Pass Trailhead.

The park has 22 12-passenger sprinter buses that will operate on the narrow and windy stretches of Sun Road west of Logan Pass, while eight 24-passenger buses will operate between St. Mary and Logan Pass and between Apgar and Fish Creek.

The free shuttles are scheduled to operate from 7 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. daily through Labor Day weekend, making regular stops at locations between the hubs every 15-30 minutes. Final departures from Logan Pass will be at 9:30 p.m. daily.

Shuttle schedule information will be available at the transit centers. The shuttle service does not provide guided interpretive information.

Interpretive tour transportation is available through Sun Tours and the red "jammer" buses operated by Glacier Park Inc.