Your view from the Going-to-the-Sun Road could be delayed this summer and next due to scheduled road maintenance/NPS, Tim Rains
Road maintenance could impact your visit to Glacier National Park in Montana this year and next, so read the following carefully and plan your vacation accordingly.
Crews will be working to apply a protective coating to the Going-to-the-Sun Road and some other routes in the park this summer and next, and that will impact when the roads will open for traffic. The treatment is expected to protect the $200 million investment in the Going-to-the-Sun Road, including preserving significant roadbed and pavement work that was undertaken during the Going-to-the-Sun Road rehabilitation project over the last decade.
The $9 million project will focus on both the east and west sides of the Going-to-the-Sun Road, Chief Mountain Road, the west portion of the Camas Road, Apgar Village Loop, the Swiftcurrent Motor Inn Loop and Parking Area, and other minor areas. Pavement preservation requires warm temperatures and dry conditions.
Pavement preservation will impact spring hiker and biker access and restrictions will likely be in place on both sides of the pass between Avalanche and Rising Sun. The park will update its road status webpage with restrictions, and issue more information about restrictions once the work schedule is known.
In 2019, the Going-to-the-Sun Road will not open to Logan Pass before June 21, and in 2020, the road will not open before June 22 if necessary in order to complete pavement preservation activities. Road and snow conditions vary from year to year, and these dates should not be relied upon to anticipate the actual road opening date. Weather and plowing conditions typically allow for a road opening to Logan Pass sometime between mid-June and mid-July.
This coming fall, night work for pavement preservation is planned to begin on September 2 on the Going-to-the-Sun Road with traffic control and intermittent night closures. A full closure will likely be in place from September 16-29 between Avalanche and Logan Pass. Logan Pass will remain accessible from the St. Mary Entrance during this time period. Traffic control will be in place at Logan Pass so pavement preservation can occur in the Logan Pass parking lot. The road is anticipated to reopen in its entirety on September 30 before its routine winter closing scheduled this year for October 21, weather dependent.
The park worked with the Federal Highway Administration to select a pavement preservation material that would be compatible with multiple road uses, including bicycle access.
In 2020, the park in partnership with the Federal Highway Administration will award a contract to finalize the multi-year rehabilitation work on the Going-to-the-Sun Road. Final work includes repairs to some masonry features, additional log rail replacement, and signing improvements.
Pavement preservation will not occur on most of the Many Glacier Road. That road is undergoing evaluation to determine the effectiveness of a new drainage system before long-term improvements are attempted. The road is in poor condition. However, last year with a donation from the Glacier National Park Conservancy the park purchased a durapatcher that was able to temporarily repair some of the most significantly damaged areas.
Comments
WE booked a trip 2 months ago and NOW just finding out that Logan Pass eill be closed when we are there due to road construction. We are staying at Swiftcurrent Motor Inn and Rising Sun Lodge. How are we suposed to get to our destinations? Also it would have been nice at the time of booking that we were told about this. Even the nps-gov/glac.org site have this listed.
If you're coming from the west, drive around the "bottom" of the park along highway two. Stop and walk the grounds and interior of Glacier Park Lodge in East Glacier. Seek huckleberry pie. Enjoy the beauty of the twisting divides as you head up the east side of the park. If you have time, stop through Two Medicine. GTSR is beautiful indeed-- and it is not the only sight to be seen. Enjoy! You'll be in Glacier, and it will be amazing.
PJHORVATH, the Many Glacier area/st. Mary area are two of the best hiking areas of Glacier. I'd suggest you still go.
Go! You won't have difficulty reaching your lodging and Swift Current is in an amazing location to hike Iceberg Lake, Red Rock Falls, Grinnel Glacier, list is endless. Rising Sun, if I read this correctly, will have to be accessed from the St Mary side of the Park, but sounds as if you are focusing on that side of the park anyway. It will be the time of your life! No worries, our first visit, we couldn't get to Logan Pass either due to snow, but it only served as a reason to go back!
As we are doing a road trip we were planning to start in Havre and arrive in Kalispell on 2019-06-15. We thought we could start in St. Mary in the west and arrive in the area of Apgar in the east. Will that be possible or do we have to plan a detour?
As I understand: We probably have to take highway 2 in the south to arrive in Kalispell. Will it be possible to drive to Logan pass an then turn around? Thats not what we planned but should still be great.
We will be heading there the middle of June, i do not believe the Going to the Sun Rd will be completely open, what is the best way to travel on the parts that are closed? We have six adults and one child that is 15. Can you rent side by sides, bikes or scooters? Are we better to hike it or can you go horseback riding?
6 Motorcycles going North to Alaska, we are to be at Going to the Sun on June 16........should we cancel Glacier NP?
"The road (i.e. The Pass) will not open before the 22nd." The only remote possibility to see the pass under 6-12' of snow that early, is sometimes on weekends when the Road Crew is not working, you can hike or bike to the pass. Often, during those last weeks of opening, they work OT to get the road open, so even then it would be closed. Arriving before July 1st is a often a risky proposition to be able to drive over the pass. Safe travels.