Repairs done on Glacier road

GLACIER NATIONAL PARK, Mont. – Construction crews have completed emergency repairs on lower stretches of the Going-to-the-Sun Road that were damaged by a massive rainstorm last month.

The storm, which dumped more than 9 inches of rain over a three-day period, washed out parts of the popular 52-mile road across the Continental Divide.

“There’s still a lot of work ahead of us,” said John Schnaderbeck, project engineer with the Federal Highway Administration in Columbia Falls. “But at least we know we’re going to be able to get up the hill in the spring.”

Hardest hit was an area east of the Continental Divide. Just below the East Tunnel, 108 feet of the road washed over the side.

Repair work for the entire road is expected to cost about $4.7 million, said Glacier Superintendent Mick Holm. So far emergency crews have spent about $400,000 on repairs, Schnaderbeck said.

On the east side, crews from Sandry Construction of Bigfork have filled in two road washouts near Jackson Glacier Overlook with about 1,500 tons of rip rap, he said.

“That gives us a reliable road up to the major outages,” he said.

Among the problem spots for next spring are huge mounds of debris at The Loop and Haystack Creek that could fill 300 10-ton trucks.