U.S. 2 reopens with speed reductions
The winding segment of U.S. 2 along the Glacier National Park’s southern border reopened to through-traffic Tuesday afternoon, after heavy snows closed the mountain corridor for over 24 hours.
Kalispell division maintenance chief Justun Juelfs said crews have cleared enough snow to allow for two-way traffic, but that speeds would be reduced to 35 miles per hour between Essex and East Glacier as snow-removal continues.
“It’s still pretty narrow in spots,” Juelfs said, adding that the stretch of highway between Essex to Devil’s Creek was especially tight. “We got 52 inches of snow up there ... We’ve got several days’ worth of [snow] blowing, but I would anticipate, say in 24 hours, we should be able to maintain the statutory speed limit.”
He added that motorists should take extra precautions when traveling through the area, as highway crews are still at work and ice and patches of snow remain on the road.
Several feet of snow dumped throughout Northwest Montana over the weekend, causing snowdrifts and avalanche danger that prompted the Montana Department of Transportation to close the mountain highway between West Glacier and East Glacier early Monday morning. BNSF Railway shut down rail service between Whitefish and Shelby on Sunday.
Glacier National Park announced Tuesday morning it had approved a permit for the rail company to perform avalanche-mitigation work Tuesday in the John F. Stevens Canyon area and along the road and rail corridor skirting the park’s southern boundary. The Flathead Avalanche Center continued to warn of “high” avalanche danger in the region, which includes southern Glacier Park and the Swan and Whitefish mountain ranges.
The permit allowed the rail company to move forward with plans to use a DaisyBell device, which uses a cylinder suspended from a helicopter to deliver a controlled pressure wave above the snowpack.
BNSF spokesman Ross Lane said the work wrapped up early Tuesday afternoon, but crews were still clearing debris and plowing snow from the tracks by about 2:30 p.m.
He said the company hopes to reopen the rail line by early evening.
Reporter Sam Wilson can be reached at 758-4407 or by email at swilson@dailyinterlake.com.