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MDT Aims to Make Highways Near Flathead Lake Safer

By Beacon Staff

The director of the state Department of Transportation launched a highway watch program Wednesday along Montana 35 and U.S. Highway 93 near Flathead Lake after a recent string of tractor-trailer crashes in the area.

State DOT Director Jim Lynch and Barry “Spook” Stang, executive vice president of the Montana Motor Carriers Association, unveiled one of four signs that will display a toll-free number motorists can call to report unsafe driving.

The Highway Watch Program will use signs and radar in an attempt improve safety and address concerns about large truck use on Montana 35 on the east side of Flathead Lake.

An April 2008 truck crash that spilled thousands of gallons of gasoline near the lake and forced five families from their homes for more than a year renewed calls from many east shore residents to ban or restrict truck traffic along the highway. The residents said they wanted the traffic rerouted to the wider and more modern U.S. 93 on the lake’s west shore.