Centennial Sun Road Infrastructure Project
With One Lane under construction near Haystack Creek, tourists cruise past the work zone along Going-to-the-Sun Road in Glacier Park in summer 2004. The $200 million reconstruction of the alpine highway is about halfway completed. Reconstruction work will continue through 2019.
While construction crews are busy this summer in Glacier National Park, it doesn't mean the work will end anytime soon.
The Sun Road reconstruction project is scheduled to continue through 2019 and Glacier has tens of millions of dollars in work that needs to be completed on everything from employee housing to docks for boats at ranger stations to continued rehabilitation of the Many Glacier Hotel.
A look at the Sun Road schedule alone is daunting.
Through 2011, crews will be working a six-mile section of highway along both sides of Logan Pass.
Then from 2011 to 2013 they're scheduled to work on the section between Haystack Creek to Big Bend. In 2013 and 2014 the plan is to work on a section between Avalanche Creek to the West Tunnel.
In 2015 and 2016, Glacier hopes to work on the east side of the road from Siyeh Bend to Sun Point and then from 2018 to 2019 from Sun Point to St. Mary.
Funding for this work is far from certain, however. Stimulus funds this year will complete work from Logan Pass to Siyeh Bend, and federal highway transportation funding has contributed more than $80 million to date.
But both those funding sources run out soon and it's largely up to Congress to dedicate more funding to the road.