Soft road conditions prompt forest load limits

 Warm weather, melting snow and spring rains are creating soft road surfaces and spring break-up conditions on many Flathead National Forest roads.

To protect the road system, the forest annually implements temporary road closures and load limits. 

For the next few months forest road managers will check conditions and sign roads as  closed or assign a load limit as appropriate based on local conditions. 

“Temporary restrictions are an important tool we use to help protect the road surface and ensure that the road drainage works properly,” Flathead National Forest Supervisor Chip Weber said in a news release. “We ask all forest users to respect these spring break-up restrictions. Traveling on soft road beds can cause damage which often results in longer-term closures to fix the problems.”

For updated information on temporary road restrictions on the Flathead National Forest, contact the individual ranger district:

v Hungry Horse/Glacier View: 387-3800

v Tally Lake: 758-5204

v Swan Lake: 837-7500

General forest information can be found online at http://www.fs.usda.gov/flathead.