Sun Road cost jumps $100 million

By JIM MANN/Daily Inter Lake

The price tag for Glacier National Park's long-term overhaul of Going-to-the-Sun Road is projected to increase by at least $100 million because of skyrocketing, nationwide inflation in the construction sector.

The park's 2003 plan for the project outlined a seven- to eight-year construction schedule and a total cost of between $140 million and $170 million.

But studies recently completed for Sun Road and other federal highway projects now put the cost at $240 million to $270 million over the next eight to 10 years.

The long-term road rehabilitation officially started last summer after nearly a decade in development. Glacier has about $80 million for the project to continue for the next three years, but congressional action will be necessary to see it through.

"This is significant, but I think we've said all along that the target costs were kind of a range of prices," said Amy Vanderbilt, Glacier's communications manager. "And we do have funding for the next three years, so this is the long-range picture that we're looking at."

A recent Federal Highway Administration report attributes the raised Sun Road cost projections "almost entirely to steep jumps in construction costs" - an estimated 19 percent in 2005 and 20 percent in 2006 nationwide.

Since the last Sun Road "sequencing study" was finished in 2004, average construction costs have increased by about 50 percent, according to the highway administration.

Highway projects have long been routinely reviewed for expected cost increases, but annual inflation has fluctuated by just a few percentage points from 1990 until just the last few years.

Doug Hecox, a spokesman for the highway administration in Washington, D.C., said the cost increases are almost entirely due to international demand for oil and steel.

"When you have oil that is at twice the cost of what it was 15 to 20 months ago, it quite naturally has an effect on the projects that depend on it," Hecox said.

"This is not a unique problem to Glacier," he said, adding that federal and state highway projects across the country are facing similar challenges. "Everywhere there's a road project, there's a higher price tag than there was just five years ago."

Hecox said routine cost studies are mainly aimed at informing project planners "so they don't have to stop halfway through because they don't have the resources they need."

Stephanie Dubois, Glacier's acting superintendent, said that so far, the Sun Road project has not deviated from goals and objectives established in the 2003 construction plan.

But some adjustments are now expected, particularly in the way the project is sequenced through eight construction segments that have been identified along the 50-mile road corridor.

A project oversight team of National Park Service and Federal Highway Administration managers will meet in March to consider adjustments.

"The project team will continue to monitor and analyze future construction trends in order to provide timely and appropriate management guidance. The Sun Road is one of our great national treasures, and we will do everything possible to preserve this engineering marvel for the future," said Dubois, named the park's acting chief after the recent retirement of Superintendent Mick Holm.

Project managers expect to continue working on the more challenging alpine section of the road, rather than sticking with initial plans to alternate between the alpine section and stretches of road at lower elevations.

Last summer, reconstruction work got under way between the Sun Road's West Tunnel and Haystack Creek. Now, it appears work will continue toward Logan Pass rather than moving to a lower section of road, Vanderbilt said.

"All of the sequencing and the project timeline will really be forthcoming after that March meeting," she added.

The Sun Road project involves rebuilding rock retaining walls, drainage structures and the subsurface of the road itself, along with road paving and rebuilding guardwalls.

A major component of the overall project is a plan aimed at mitigating impacts to visitors.

That plan calls for maintaining at least one-lane traffic through construction zones during the peak summer visitor months, with limits on traffic delays, while allowing both lanes to be closed in construction zones during the spring and fall "shoulder seasons."

The centerpiece for the plan is an enhanced transit system aimed at reducing vehicle traffic on the road while providing continued access to Sun Road destinations. The transit system involves an expanded fleet of free buses and shuttles, along with a new transit center at Apgar.

The expanded shuttle system was first used last summer and visitor use of the system far exceeded expectations of park managers.

Reporter Jim Mann may be reached at 758-4407 or by e-mail at jmann@dailyinterlake.com