Road work soon switches to high gear
The Daily Inter Lake
Access to pass will be limited starting Sept. 15
Access to Going-to-the-Sun Road in Glacier National Park will soon change considerably to accommodate an accelerated fall construction schedule.
Starting Sept. 15, Logan Pass will be accessible only from one direction to allow for construction work in two zones.
The road will be closed from Avalanche to Big Bend just below Logan Pass from Sept. 15 through Sept. 22, allowing for paving between the West Tunnel and Crystal Point. The road then will reopen to Logan Pass for the remainder of the fall season, which will end with snow or other hazardous driving conditions.
Starting Sept. 22 on the east side of Glacier, both lanes of the road will be closed between Jackson Glacier Overlook and Logan Pass to allow for paving. That closure will remain in effect for the rest of the fall season.
The two-lane closures allow for work to proceed at a faster pace, said Glacier Superintendent Chas Cartwright, who noted that work schedules were delayed by protracted winter conditions that caused a late July 3 opening of the road over Logan Pass.
HK Contractors Inc. of Idaho Falls, Idaho, is the primary contractor for the comprehensive Sun Road rehabilitation project.
The firm also is constructing a bypass lane at the West Glacier entrance. Improvements include relocating utilities and widening the approach to the entrance station to provide for use by construction vehicles, park landowners, concessioners, employees and other authorized users to streamline traffic entering the park.
The work has minimal impact on traffic and is scheduled to be completed by Oct. 1.
The cost of this work is estimated at $800,000. Later in the fall, West Entrance improvement work will focus on architectural changes and upgrades to the entrance station building.
For the rest of the fall, Sun Road travelers should anticipate one-lane directional travel with a maximum delay of 30 minutes for a trip across the road from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m.
Delays can last up to four hours during night construction Sundays through Thursdays from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. and 2:30 to 6 a.m. on a 3.5-mile section of road between West Tunnel and Birdwoman Falls Overlook.