A busy and dangerous section of U.S. Highway 2 between Columbia Falls and Hungry Horse is now the subject of a Montana Department of Transportation study and a committee is looking into possible ways to improve the road.
The two-mile section of road winds through the tight confines of Bad Rock Canyon and has been the site of 153 car accidents in the last decade, according MDT. Six of those crashes resulted in eight fatalities.
“The issue is that it’s a very dangerous section of Highway 2,” Flathead County Commissioner Jim Dupont said. “It’s narrow and when the weather is bad it’s God awful out there. Something has got to be done, but it’s just a matter of timing and costs.”
In May, MDT gathered comments and met with local citizens to hear their concerns about the stretch of two-lane highway, the first step in what will be a two-year study. Some suggested the section of road be widened, but others were concerned about preserving the character of the canyon area.
Phase One of the study gathered public comment and, according to Lori Ryan, public information officer for MDT, the final study will be released in the fall of 2012, which will recommend what changes or improvements could be made. Two weeks ago a committee was formed consisting of MDT and local officials to work on the study. Dee Brown, owner of an RV park in Hungry Horse, is a member of the board and said rebuilding the stretch of Highway 2 through the canyon is long overdue.
“We know the good, the bad and the ugly,” said Brown, a 40-year resident of the canyon. “We’ve been in blizzards in the winter and stuck behind long lines of cars in the summer.”
The road has also seen more traffic in recent years. According to the MDT phase one study, on an average day in July more than 13,000 cars travel along that section of road, a daily increase of about 1,000 cars since 1998. That number drops to about 3,000 cars a day during the offseason.
Brown said she is also concerned about the narrow bridge crossing the South Fork of the Flathead River, a structure she said is “just crumbling away.” The bridge is part of the two-mile section of road being studied by MDT, which goes from the House of Mystery near Columbia Heights, through the canyon and over the South Fork, into Hungry Horse.
But some people oppose the idea of widening the road if it is going to harm the character and environment of the canyon. Bill Baum has lived along the river for 10 years and said he moved to the area to “get away from it all.” Baum admits that it is a dangerous stretch of road, mostly during the winter, but widening the stretch of highway wouldn’t change much.
Baum attended the community meeting in May and suggested building a double-deck highway through the canyon. Baum said elevating one lane of traffic would be beneficial if the Flathead River were to flood, keeping access open to Columbia Falls and Kalispell for the small communities along Highway 2.
“If everyone wants it, I won’t stand in the way,” he said. “Just so long as it’s a safe operation.”
According to the public comments released by MDT this summer, almost 90 percent of comments received by the agency were in support of road improvements through Bad Rock Canyon.
Currently, the Bad Rock Canyon road improvement committee plans on meeting every three weeks via teleconference to discus the progress of the study. Another public meeting will be held in the spring and the report is expected to be released next fall. Once the report is complete it could still be three or four years before any construction begins.
“Let’s get her done,” Brown said. “I mean we’ve needed (these improvements) for a long time and not everyone is going to get what they want but we’ll put our heads together and figure something out.”