Plan Dooms Roadside Parking Near Glacier Park Trail Critics Say New Lot Sounds Nice, But Would Cut Public Access To Attractions

A plan to reduce congestion around the Avalanche trailhead in Glacier National Park is drawing fire from critics who say it will mean less public access to the area.

The plan calls for construction of a 71-space parking lot on the east side of Going-to-the-Sun Road. It would replace the current 64 legal parking spaces - but it also would ban informal roadside parking, which now accommodates about 70 additional vehicles.

It also would eliminate a picnic area, erase eight campsites at adjacent Avalanche Campground, and remove the ranger station and the recreational vehicle waste-disposal site at the campground.

The trailhead provides access to the Trail of the Cedars, a short nature walk, as well as backcountry access to Avalanche Lake.

Art Burch, president of the nonprofit group Friends of Glacier, said there are limited, high-profile attractions along Going to the Sun Road, “and we’re not going to let them take them out.”

Park planner Bob Dunkley acknowledged that the project will mean a net loss of parking in the area, mainly because barriers will be placed on the shoulders of Sun Road.

At peak summer hours, he said, as many as 135 cars have been counted on the roadside and in turnout areas.

“I don’t think there is a loss of legal parking spaces,” he said. “We’re trying to remove parking alongside the Sun Road. We’re trying to avoid the presence of driving through a parking lot.”

Friends of Glacier favors a new parking lot, Burch said, but not if it means a net loss in parking and facilities available to the public.

The ability of the protesters to influence the plan is uncertain. The Park Service already held a public-comment period on the plan. That period has closed, and the Park Service announced its final decision July 21.