Vehicle access to the Many Glacier area of Glacier National Park traverses a road long in need of substantial repairs, and while patchwork efforts have addressed some of the most serious needs, it will be another year before significant rehabilitation of the road will get under way.
The Many Glacier Road was built between 1927 and 1931, and in 1984 it was rated to be in "fair to poor" condition, a rating that remains today.
"The roadway surface and parking infrastructure at the Many Glacier Hotel have significant asphalt cracking, rutting, potholes, and some slumping—all of which indicate inferior road base material," according to the park staff. "In addition, there are numerous active slide areas that intersect with the road."
Park staff say the road is in poor condition due to historic and ongoing soil movement at specific locations along Sherburne Reservoir. Slides occur when water saturates the soils underneath the road bed, resulting in the earth slipping towards the reservoir, causing depressions or “slumps” in the road. Some slumps can extend dozens of feet below the ground, and hundreds of feet in length.
The movement along the roadway dates back to the construction of the Sherburne Dam between 1914 and 1921. Over the years, attempts to fix the slump areas have resulted in significant pavement placed on the road, adding to its weight and exacerbating the problem.
Last year the park used a $77,500 "durapatcher" donated by the Glacier National Park Conservancy to temporarily fix some significant potholes. The park, in partnership with Federal Highways Administration, is also piloting a horizontal drain system to evaluate drainage solutions at some portions of the road that experience significant hydrologic issues.
Minor work will continue this summer. Next year, the FHWA will begin rehabilitating other sections of the Many Glacier Road that are outside the horizontal drain areas, a release from the park said.
The project includes the road from Babb to the Swiftcurrent Developed Area in the park. A portion of the project is outside the park on the Blackfeet Reservation but within a NPS right-of-way.
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Comments
It makes people slow down at least ! Definitely if a good toad is ever built reduce the speed to 35 to as low as 25 mph and have info signs saying "speeding. "
The road after the park entrance is pretty good. The road on the way is absolutely terrible.. and the fact that it's been rated as fair or poor condition since 1984 is inexcusable. I don't care if it's on reservation land - the Blackfeet nation sees a fraction of the money the NPS gets from all the visitors to Glacier park every year, so I'm glad they're stepping up to make these long overdue repairs.
They'd be better off ripping the concrete out and going with a dirt packed road. This will retain the added benefit of keeping the traffic to the Many Glacier entrance slow, and when the soil shifts it will be easier and cheaper to repair.