Deadline nears for dust control

The deadline for Flathead County residents to apply for the dust-control program on gravel roads is Friday.

County Public Works Director Dave Prunty reminds people who own property along a maintained county gravel road they can apply to participate in the program in which the county and the property owners split the cost of applying magnesium chloride on roads.

People can apply online via the road department website, at the road department office at 1249 Willow Glen Drive in Kalispell or by calling 758-5790.

Prunty said road department workers now are repairing some potholes with cold mix. The asphalt batch mix won’t start operating for a couple more months and pothole repairs then are done with hot mix.

The county may be able to obtain $58,000 from the forest Resource Advisory Council to pay for some overlay work on Star Meadows Road, Prunty said.

The council no longer exists but has that balance in its account and offered the money to the county if the county will match it equally for work on Star Meadows Road.

The council had provided money to help pay for road improvements on county roads that led to forest lands in years past.

It costs between $90,000 and $100,000 per mile of overlay. The county maintains 20 miles of Star Meadows Road.

Prunty also reported that street sweeping on paved county roads is expected to begin in late March and run for about a month.

Road department workers have begun grading gravel roads in the Lower Valley around Flathead Lake and will expand grading as roads dry out around the county, he said.