County needs rain to grade gravel roads

The Flathead County Road Department has wrapped up its summer road upgrades and road bosses are hoping for enough rain to grade gravel roads before the frost sets in.

"We did very little grading in September because it's been so dry," Public Works Director Dave Prunty told the county commissioners on Monday. "The roads are in tough to terrible shape. We started last week putting water trucks out, but we need some rain to do the fall blading before winter sets in."

The county spent more than $1.4 million to overlay and chip-seal numerous paved roads this summer. Portions of 40 county roads were chip-sealed for a total of $716,616.

The bigger chip-sealing jobs included Belton Stage, Browns Meadow, Star Meadow, Swan River and Trumble Creek roads; West Valley and Church drives and Tamarack Lane.

Portions of 31 roads got overlay upgrades, for a total of $731,355. Among the largest overlay jobs were Woodland and Ranchetts roads, Elk and Goat trails; and Lakehills and Peaceful drives.