The Montana Department of Transportation has recommended rebuilding a dangerous section of U.S. Highway 2 through Bad Rock Canyon. The road includes the deteriorating bridge over the South Fork of the Flathead River, near Hungry Horse.
MDT made the recommendation in the Bad Rock Canyon Corridor Planning Study issued on Aug. 20. The report will be presented at a public meeting at the Hungry Horse Ranger Station on Aug. 28 at 6 p.m.
The two-mile stretch of U.S. Highway 2 between Columbia Heights and Hungry Horse has been the subject of a yearlong MDT study and numerous public meetings. In the last decade, it has been the site of more than 150 accidents, resulting in eight fatalities.
In April, MDT and engineers from DOWL HKM presented locals a gamut of reconstruction options. They inclued moving the highway to the north side of the Flathead River, diverting it up and over Columbia Mountain or even tunneling through it.
The plan released on Aug. 20 recommends rebuilding the highway and Flathead River bridge on its current right of way. The plan calls for three lanes of traffic at the east and west ends of the canyon and a four-lane bridge over the South Fork of the Flathead River. A two-lane cantilevered structure would be built over the embankment of the Flathead River in the most confined sections of the canyon.
“I’m glad they took out all the double bridges and tunnels and such (from the plan), because as a taxpayer, I don’t think we can afford a project like that,” said Dee Brown, who sits on an advisory committee for the study.
Brown owns Canyon RV Campground and Cabins and drives through the canyon nearly every day. While the road is particularly dangerous in the winter, it is the ancient South Fork river bridge that worries her the most.
The MDT report recommended replacing the bridge in the next 10 years, with full reconstruction of the corridor in the next 20 years. The bridge project was estimated to cost between $9.7 million and $24.2 million, whereas the total road reconstruction could reach almost $70 million. Other suggested improvements include the construction of a bike and pedestrian path and a wildlife underpass.
But for Brown, the bridge needs to be the top priority at MDT.
“It’s a critical issue that needs to be addressed,” Brown said. “It was designed for traffic (levels) of decades ago and now we have huge RVs and trucks … When it was all horse and buggies it was sufficient, but not in the 21st century.”
According to the report, funding for a full road reconstruction is not available, however MDT has tentatively identified funds for replacing the South Fork bridge. Funding for the overall project would be a combination of local, state and federal money.