Dispute On Renovation Ties Up Trail Job Volunteers At Odds With Forest Service Over Cost Of Making Tunnel Route Safe

Unless the U.S. Forest Service abandons its “gold-plated” renovation requirements for the Taft Tunnel bike and hiking trail, two trail officials said Thursday, the popular project will die.

“If the Forest Service continues on its current course, it means no trail,” said Ken Kohli, a trail proponent.

Dave Wright, supervisor of the Idaho Panhandle National Forests, says that’s simply wrong.

“The basic problem is that nobody’s got any money to make it happen,” he said. “(But) it’s not a dead deal by any stretch of the imagination.”

The problem boils down to a dispute over what it takes for the scenic 20-mile former railroad grade to be safe for hikers and bikers. Of particular concern are the trail’s eight trestles and 11 tunnels, one of them 1.7 miles long.

The trestles have no handrails, and some of the tunnel concrete has crumbled. The trail runs from Lookout Pass to the North Fork of the St. Joe River, spanning the Idaho-Montana border.

Making the trail safe, the Forest Service says, would cost $1.4 million.

“This is the design that we feel provides the basic requirements for safety,” said Wright. “We will not compromise that, period.”

Kohli and trail advocate Jim Fowler scoff at that, saying their eight volunteer engineers have approved safety repairs that aren’t as pretty - but cost only $225,000.

“The Forest Service has their heels dug in on another gold-plated federal design,” said Kohli, a member of the Taft Tunnel Preservation Society’s board of directors. “We can have just as safe a project without all the bells and whistles.”

For example, he said, the trail group wants to install used galvanized cable as trestle handrails. He said the Forest Service insists on new cable.

The group also had experienced miners - not hard to find in Shoshone County - volunteering to patch the tunnel. Instead, Kohli said, Forest Service regulations likely will require a well-insured contractor.

Fowler, a partner in the nearby Lookout Pass ski area and a leading trail advocate, said he’s also frustrated. Unless the Forest Service changes its mind, he said, “My personal opinion is that the project will die.”

He said there’s no way the nonprofit group could raise $1.4 million. But it could easily raise $225,000, he said, and have bikes coursing along the mostly downhill trail by the Fourth of July.

“We don’t want a handout, we want a hand to get the federal bureaucracy out of the way,” he said.

He cited the Forest Service’s risk assessment. In its current condition, the report said, the 1.7-mile tunnel likely would cause one person to get hit with one three-inch rock, not resulting in serious injury, over the next 10 years. Simply traveling to the trail in a car, the report said, is far more dangerous.

But Wright said federal design standards must be met, otherwise the Forest Service leaves itself open to liability lawsuits from injured trail users. And turning the trail over to Shoshone County via an easement, which Fowler and others have suggested, wouldn’t absolve the Forest Service from liability.

“We know what needs to be done out there. Our failure to adhere to that would result in automatic liability - negligence,” Wright said.

He said the Forest Service has gone out of its way to compromise and speed up the process. The agency dropped its requirement for asphalt paving on the trail, and for lighting in the tunnels.

In a relatively quick two years, he said, the agency wrote an environmental assessment, surveyed the trail and designed the needed work.

He said it’s highly unlikely the Forest Service will provide the needed $1.4 million. But the project was designed in phases, he said, so stretches of the trail - including some of the smaller tunnels - could be opened for a couple of hundred thousand dollars’ work.

“The opportunity’s spelled out and is laying there,” Wright said. “The problem is that nobody’s sitting out there with money. Things don’t just come down from heaven.”

Until the money comes through - or until someone can meet the standards more cheaply - the project is in limbo, Wright conceded.

But, he said, “It’s not a limbo created by the Forest Service.”

Meanwhile, Shoshone County officials are anxious for the much-touted trail to open. It’s expected to draw tens of thousands of visitors to the county’s east end each year. Hotels, restaurants and gas stations would rake in badly needed dollars.

“It’s there, it’s built, and people know about it,” said commissioner Sherry Krulitz. “You hate to see people showing up and finding it barricaded.”

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