Lakeside highway project wraps up for season

Crews from the Montana Department of Transportation are putting a pause on their construction work along U.S. 93 between Somers and West Shore State Park until 2022.

On Monday, a press release declared the highway construction “substantially completed” for the year.

Road work is expected to restart on the corridor in spring 2022.

The remaining work left to be completed includes installation of rumble strips and application of a final epoxy paint, as well as sealing cracks in the roadway. The state agency reportedly planned to finish these activities this fall, but cold weather arrived before crews were able to finish.

“Current forecasts for consistent cold weather conditions have made that work impractical this year,” MDT explained in a press release.

Rumble strip sealant and epoxy paint work need warmer temperatures to cure properly, the press release explained.

“Next year’s work to wrap up the project will have some impacts to traffic,” District Construction Engineer John Schmidt said. “However, it isn’t expected to have as much of an impact on traffic as this year’s work.”

MDT will provide notifications prior to work resuming in 2022.

To sign up for text messaging notifications text "LAKESIDE93" to 1-866-434-0866 (toll-free). For more information about the project visit: https://www.mdt.mt.gov/pubinvolve/us93lakeside/