Park looks for traffic solutions as Sun Road reconstruction looms

Hungry Horse News

An "intelligent transportation system" using real-time information employing global-positioning software, plasma-screen displays, electronic smart-cards replacing cash, and prototype alternative-fuel shuttle vehicles - these are some of the ideas Glacier National Park is looking at as mitigation for reconstruction of the Going-to-the-Sun Road.

Park managers and consultants met with concerned citizens and gateway business owners for an informational meeting Oct. 27 to gather input.

"For those familiar with the level of construction now, it will increase five-fold starting in 2006," said park mitigation project manager Gary Danczyk. "A transit system with an intelligent transportation system must be in place and operating by then."

Current plans call for the bulk of the road work taking place from 2006 through 2014. Road construction costs are estimated at $100 million, but another $40 million is earmarked for mitigation - especially trying to keep traffic flowing over Logan Pass while construction crews work on the road.

Economic studies conducted for a citizens advisory committee estimate a 6 percent decrease in park visitors under the best case scenario - worth about $90 million to Montana's tourist businesses over eight years. In the worst case scenario - a catastrophic loss of the road - losses are estimated at $8.5 billion over a 50-year period.

"A catastrophic loss is inevitable without rehabilitation, especially along the alpine section of the road," Danczyk said.

Highway planners were limited in their options in deciding how to repair the road, Danczyk said. On a peak day, 5,000 vehicles could be traveling on the Sun Road, an historic landmark that runs through protected wilderness. Construction crews will work in tight, dangerous locations subject to rock slides and extreme weather, but there are mandates limiting traffic delays to only 30 minutes.

"In order to keep visitor impacts down to 6 percent or less, we need to get 10 to 20 percent of the traffic off the Sun Road," Danczyk said. "And whatever we do has to be voluntary."

"This is the biggest construction project in National Park Service history," said park facilities manager John Kilpatrick.

Kilpatrick and his staff of planners and engineers will oversee a number of related projects that will address transportation issues.

Assisting the park will be two engineering firms. Denver-based David Evans Associates will help the park choose a shuttle vehicle, while Science Applications International Corp., of McLean, Va. - the largest research and engineering firm in the U.S., with more than 44,000 employees - will help develop an intelligent transportation system.

Cost is a major factor, but with funding still uncertain, many proposals are conceptual at this stage. These include:

* Shuttle system.

The park's record of decision calls for 14 shuttle buses complementing the 32 historic red buses operated by Glacier Park Inc. A much larger system would involve tying into bus systems outside the park, linking airports and motels in the Flathead with the park's shuttle system.

Sixteen traditional bus stops across the park have been identified for the shuttle system, but additional locations are being studied, along with the idea of "flag stops," where users can wave down a shuttle either inside the park or in gateway communities.

Getting people to voluntarily give up their cars for shuttle buses may not be easy. Nancy Collard, part-owner of the Smoky Bear Ranch, said the buses must be good looking, and Dale Duff, part-owner of Rocky Mountains Transportation suggested making them free.

"If the shuttle buses are to work, they'll need more interpretive features. It can't be a featureless BART system," said Glacier Raft and Outdoor Center owner Sally Thompson, referring to the Bay Area Rapid Transit system in California.

A number of prototype shuttle vehicles have been brought to the park for a test drive. One model - featuring a roll-away roof and a "retro-looking" rear end reminiscent of the historic red buses - has been taken over by The Propane Consortium, said Danczyk.

"The Consortium offered to lease one shuttle bus to the park at $1 per year for seven years," he said. "But the vehicle is a little longer and wider than we want for use on the Sun Road."

With funding still up in the air, park managers are concerned about operational costs as well as initial investment.

"We want a business model for the shuttle system that won't bankrupt the park, considering the buses will be idle six months of the year," Kilpatrick said. "That's one of the tasks David Evans Associates will take on."

* Transit center:

A 7.2-acre site at the T-intersection near Apgar will be the site of a new transit center, where visitors can park their vehicles and hop aboard a shuttle bus. An existing facility at Saint Mary will be remodeled as an east-side transit center.

"The west side transit center will be built in stages and completed by 2007," Kilpatrick said. "Other than some geological boring, the compliance is all done. We will be contacting architectural firms in November. There's no concept design yet, but the funding is there to begin design and construction."

Kilpatrick said the transit centers will be more than a parking lot. There will be comfort stations, shelters and information kiosks for visitors. Infrastructure for the transit center will also be constructed with a future Discovery Center in mind, Kilpatrick said.

"A Discovery Center is a whole lot more than a transit center," he said. "It will include exhibits, movies and other things to enhance the visitors' experience of the park."

Kilpatrick said the park's general management plan estimated a Discovery Center on the west side could cost about $10-12 million.

"The Discovery Center is very much a part of our overall project, but it's a struggle to find funding, and it's a challenge to see how we can do all this," he said. "Right now we're focused on getting the transit center done."

* Alternative routes:

Western Transportation Institute director Steve Albert, who moderated the informational meeting, suggested traffic volume on the Sun Road's alpine section could be reduced by half if visitors returned via U.S. Highway 2 over Marias Pass.

Larry Vielleux, part-owner of the Izaac Walton Inn, said his business could benefit from a shuttle bus system that could connect the inn with other gateway communities like West Glacier.

Thompson suggested the Montana Department of Transportation could install more stops along U.S. 2, complete with interpretive signs, to encourage more tourist travel along that route.

"My idea of mitigation is getting people off Logan Pass and over to Two Medicine, Many Glacier and other areas," park inholder and red bus driver Robert Lucke said. "But we need to fix the Many Glacier Road so people will want to go there, and the road to Kintla Lake is so bad I'm afraid visitors will never get back."

Kilpatrick said trucks hauling gravel on the Inside Road have stockpiled enough gravel to repair the roads to Kintla and Bowman lakes some time next year, but he conceded the problem at Many Glacier won't be solved anytime soon.

"The road budget for the entire National Park Service is about $165 million," he said. "With so much focus on the Sun Road, major repair work on the Many Glacier Road might have to wait until 2010."

As for ideas about paving the North Fork Road as far as the Camas bridge, Kilpatrick said that was up to the state and the county, not the park.

* Intelligent transportation:

Communicating real-time traffic conditions will be a major element of a new shuttle system in the park. Vehicles can be tracked with on-board global-positioning system units, with information relayed to visitors on kiosks at bus stops and gateway businesses or via the Internet, AM radio or other systems.

An intelligent transportation system was field-tested several years ago in Acadia National Park, in Maine, where the Island Explorer shuttle system serves nearly 2 million visitors a year. Ninety percent of visitors surveyed said their trip was made easier by the system.

Kilpatrick said Glacier Park's intelligent transportation system can piggyback onto the park's new digital radio system. Work on that system, including new repeaters, will be completed by 2005, he said.

The same video screens that keep travelers informed about transportation can also be used for interpretation. For example, displays in shuttle buses can show updated information about local features as visitors travel through specific areas in the park.

Albert asked people at the informational meeting if the park should follow the Disneyland model and provide interpretation for people as they wait for shuttles at stops along the Sun Road. Some thought that was a bit too much for certain areas.

"So what if they're waiting in a construction zone?" said Thompson. "It's the most beautiful place in the world."

* Legacy transportation:

The capital costs of purchasing the shuttle buses, the transit center and the intelligent transportation system are included in the Sun Road project, but what will happen to all this after construction ends in 2014? Will the shuttle system continue to run?

Operating costs may be the determining factor, especially with for a system that is used only six months out of the year.

Glacier Park Inc. transportation manager Rich Bond estimated the annual cost of operating the 32 historic red buses at $800,000.

Drawing on his experience with Rocky Mountains Transportation's buses, Duff expressed concern about the number of trained workers needed to operate and maintain prototype vehicles.

Kilpatrick said the park was looking at about $1 million a year to operate its shuttle system.

"These are expensive systems," he said. "We are considering the shuttle system a legacy transportation system, but that all depends on operational costs."

Danczyk said the success of a legacy system will depend on the cooperation of the gateway communities.

"Based on the National Park Systems' experience with shuttle systems, they cost about $100 an hour to operate - that includes capital investment, maintenance, facilities and salaries," he said. "Our hope is that the gateway communities will voluntarily choose to share the cost of these buses."

Albert said studies in national parks across the nation showed 74 percent of gateway businesses benefited economically from shuttle systems. The exception was when visitors chose to stay in parks and did not return during the day for shopping or lunch at restaurants.

"From the response I'm seeing today, it looks like many gateway businesses would like to see a shuttle system here at Glacier Park," Albert said.