Montana’s Beartooth Highway set to reopen ahead of schedule

BILLINGS – The scenic Beartooth Highway, portions of which were closed in May after a series of mudslides, will reopen Friday, eight days ahead of the Oct. 15 goal, the state transportation director said Monday.

Jim Lynch said officials tentatively plan to have the highway, officially known as U.S. 212, reopened for traffic at 10 a.m. Friday

Stretches of dry weather, no major incidents, double shifts and careful planning have put the project ahead of schedule, said Charity Watt Levis, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Transportation.

Initially, the Oct. 15 prediction for completion was viewed with skepticism by many, given the project’s size and complexity. Transportation officials knew the target was ambitious, but said they believed it could be achieved as long as there were no major surprises.

“Frankly, we didn’t know. It’s such a wild card up there on the mountain with the weather and magnitude of the job,” Watt Levis said.

Lynch credited the work of department employees and the private contractors working on the site with getting the work completed ahead of schedule.

So far, the project’s cost appears to be within the initial $12 million to $20 million estimate, she said.

Over the weekend, crews installed debris fences at several points above the highway. The wire barriers are intended to catch falling debris, and their installation means the major work is essentially complete. All that remains to do is some cleanup work and a few minor chores, Watt Levis said.

“There is snow on the mountain today, with more expected, but at this point we are confident everything will be in place by Friday,” Lynch said.

The portion of Beartooth Highway has been closed since May 20, when mudslides damaged 13 sections of the route about 10 miles south of Red Lodge.

In some places, the slides undercut the road and wiped out the base and surface. Elsewhere, the mud and debris severely damaged the road but left portions intact.

The road, which snakes to the top of the 10,947-foot Beartooth Pass and back down, is a key connection between Red Lodge and Yellowstone National Park. The road is especially important to Red Lodge and Cooke City, which rely on summer tourists to feed the economy.

The massive repair project quickly became a top priority for state transportation officials.

The project is one of the largest emergency repair projects in the transportation department’s history.