Public weighs in on Sun Road options

Extending a trail from Big Bend to the popular Highline Trail, implementing an actual bike path on the Going-to-the-Sun Road and rotating days in which the famed road is a one-way westbound or one-way eastbound during peak summer season in Glacier National Park.

These are just three of many suggestions Flathead Valley residents floated to park officials to alleviate human and vehicle congestion in the park, both of which have become more evident amid exponential visitation growth in recent years.

The thoughts were shared during a public meeting Tuesday evening at the Flathead Valley Community College where park officials presented the basics of the recently released Going-to-the-Sun Road Corridor Management Plan. Dozens of attendees voiced a mix of concerns, suggestions and praise for the 184-page plan that has been in the works since 2012.

The long list of actions in the plan are subject to revision, and according to Glacier National Park Superintendent Jeff Mow, there are no set plans for how to fund the actions nor is there a target price tag for any of the potential undertakings.

“These are just tools in our tool box,” Mow said. “There is no sense that we want to implement all of those things all at once.”

Before taking public comment, Mow discussed findings from congestion management efforts by the park that launched some three years ago and officials noticed some parking lots were reaching capacity as early as 7:30a.m. — a point of contention for many who attended the meeting. They looked at what type of visitors were coming into the park, for what reasons they were coming, and why parking turnover was so slow.

For the types of visitors who have taken interest in the park over the years, he first pointed out a shift in the “selfie generation,” which has attracted a more “urban demographic.” He emphasized that social media has led to backups in foot traffic on certain trails as people wait in lines to get a perfect picture in the perfect spot.

“I hear more and more about whole segments of tourists whose trips aren’t complete unless they have a photo in the same picture as their magazine,” Mow said.

Aside from visitors pining after certain pictures in famous corners of the park, Mow said the congestion management efforts mainly focused on why lots fill so quickly.

He compared traffic along the Going-to-the-Sun Road in the early morning hours to “an Indy 500,” in which the majority of people aren’t stopping along pullouts to take photos in the corridor but are racing to the top to secure a parking spot at Logan Pass and other areas.

And the majority of those who snag a spot embark on hiking excursions along Highline Trail or other popular areas that can take hours or sometimes days, leaving little opportunities for parking turnover.

“The people who are getting displaced are those who want to take their time, do the pullouts, take pictures or just have lunch in Many Glacier,” Mow said.

And Mow also made one thing clear: simply adding a new parking lot wouldn’t be enough to address the challenges. For example, data collected by the park detailing “parking misses” at Logan Pass showed high volumes of cars were unable to secure a spot, even after long wait times. He said even if another lot was added “it would fill up just as quickly.”

THE PLAN suggests multiple options for addressing congestion on the road and on the trails, including transforming a portion of the Avalanche campgrounds into parking spaces as needed, turning the Highline Trail into a one-way trail, prohibiting overnight parking in certain areas, implementing day-use parking, expanding the shuttle system, encouraging biking by adding bike racks along the corridor and more.

Ideas for Highline Trail, the Avalanche area and alternative forms of transportation consumed the lion’s share of public discussion. Many spoke in opposition to enforcing one-way travel on the Highline Trail. One woman highlighted the trail as one of very few in the park that accommodates young kids, older adults and those looking for an easy hike — certain demographics she said would be displaced if trail-goers couldn’t turn around when they wish.

Many people at the meeting showed overwhelming support for expansion of the shuttle system headed by Eagle Transit. One man suggested Glacier National Park operate similarly to Zion National Park by completely eliminating private vehicle travel and switching to a shuttle-only system.

Lisa Sheppard with the Area IX Agency on Aging, the county department that oversees Eagle Transit, submitted a public comment in the form of a document that entailed a complete overhaul of the current shuttle system at the park. At its core, she said Eagle Transit envisions a fleet that would successfully connect all of the “gateway communities” including Kalispell, Whitefish and Columbia Falls to the park. The plan is ambitious and would require partnering with city governments, businesses and most importantly, the park.

As for biking, a mix of positive and negative commentary was exchanged. Mow pointed to how “nobody designed that road (Going-to-the-Sun Road) to accommodate both vehicles and bikes.” One woman, however, asked if the park would consider adding an actual bike path — a suggestion that might address the concern of another attendee who said bikers on the road “scared the living daylights” out of her on a recent trip.

Mow also said the growing trend of electric bicycles is “on our doorstep.” He elaborated that the park has some of the “most restricted roadways in Montana in terms of bicycling,” leading officials to weigh the possibility of electric bicycles more seriously.

Other comments from the public included one from a former ranger with Many Glacier who challenged the planning team to expand the corridor planning to include more of Many Glacier, saying “it can’t be segregated out.” Several suggested that officials organize a public meeting on the east side of the park to allow community members on that side to weigh in.

The online comment platform for the plan closes Oct. 6 at midnight. To submit comments, the public can go to https://parkplanning.nps.gov/document.cfm?documentID=98289