Glacier Drive project nearly complete

The drive to Polebridge is a little easier this summer and should get even better by the end of the month.

The Glacier Drive project should be done by the end of July, a representative from the federal Highway Administration said during the North Fork Interlocal meeting last week.

The road runs from the Polebridge townsite to the Polebridge entrance station to Glacier National Park.

For years the relatively short road was one of the roughest roads in the North Fork and it flooded in the spring.

The project installed new culverts, raised and improved the roadbed and placed asphalt millings from the Going-to-the-Sun Road down.

Work started last summer. It’s part of a $5.33 million job to fix not only Glacier Drive, but 5.5 miles of the North Fork Road from above Trail Creek to the Canada border.

That project will wrap up later this fall.

Funding came from a Federal Lands Access Program grant, with matching funds from Flathead County and other federal agencies.

In addition to that work the county received a $137,000 Good Neighbor Authority grant for three years of magnesium chloride dust abatement on the North Fork Road, from Camas south to just above Glacier Rim. That section of the road, about 9 miles or so, hasn’t been treated in years.

Flathead County Public Works Director Dave Prunty told the crowd that the lower road isn’t as smooth as he’d like, but heavy rains in late June didn’t help and now that it’s hot, the magnesium chloride doesn’t work as well.

Still, the road is significantly better to drive than most summers.

The funding for the lower road comes through the Good Neighbor Authority program, which allows states to use federal dollars for forestry and other projects.

The county has treated the upper section from Camas to Polebridge for years now. It’s in good shape.

In addition to the road surface, the county is also hoping a federal community funding project request by Montana Congressman Ryan Zinke goes through.

Zinke has requested $1 million from the program to fund new guardrails on the North Fork Road, many of which are battered by years of abuse.