The Columbia Falls City Council is asking state officials to consider paving an 11-mile section of the North Fork Road on the western boundary of Glacier National Park.
On March 23, Mayor Don Barnhart and the entire city council voted to send a letter to the Flathead County Commission, Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke, Montana’s Washington D.C. delegation and others, encouraging them to support paving the route south of the Camas Road, one of the lesser-used gateways to Glacier.
“People have been talking off and on about paving the North Fork Road for 30 years, and I think it’s time we continue to have that conversation,” said City Manager Susan Nicosia.
The North Fork Road, also known Montana Highway 486, connects Columbia Falls to Polebridge in the northwestern corner of the park, a distance of about 35 miles. About half of the road from Columbia Falls to the Camas Road entrance of Glacier Park is paved. While some have advocated for the entire road to be paved, others have rallied against such ideas in a desire to help maintain the North Fork Valley’s rustic and rugged character.
But Nicosia and others in Columbia Falls believe if at least the southern section were paved, the community could benefit from park-bound visitors rolling through the downtown area.
“Getting more traffic onto Nucleus Avenue is a big goal for us,” Nicosia said.
In the past, the Montana Department of Transportation has studied the North Fork corridor, most recently in 2010, but as of right now there are no plans on the books to pave the road. The dirt road is currently maintained by Flathead County.
Columbia Falls officials note that the North Fork Road could also become a critical alternative route to the park over the next two years as MDT tackles two large road projects: rebuilding U.S. Highway 2 in Columbia Falls and the construction of a new Highway 2 bridge over the South Fork Flathead River in Hungry Horse. A paved road would also reduce the amount of dust created by traffic, Nicosia said.
But paving the North Fork Road and encouraging more visitors to use the Camas entrance to Glacier could have major impacts on infrastructure inside the park. Glacier Park Spokesperson Lauren Alley said the Camas Road would need significant improvements if more people start using it. She also noted that the entrance point at Camas is not staffed, although there has been talk of building a manned gate there in the past. Alley said park officials would likely weigh in if the effort to pave the road gained steam.